I cry easily. This doesn't mean I'm a sad person, because I am not; I'm actually extremely happy. I cry easily because I feel things deeply. I feel things in my own life, in my friends' lives, and in complete strangers' lives. The joy happening in the world I am a part of brings happy tears to my eyes. The tragedies occurring in the world I am a part of bring sad and confused tears to my eyes. The evils I see on the news bring angry tears to my eyes. I cry a lot, and I cry for everything. I feel things deeply, and that's why I am okay with being a chronic crier.
I cry ninety-nine percent of the times that I laugh. I recently cried from laughing that my best friend's dog has twenty-two claws instead of twenty. I cry when I laugh at my own jokes. Sometimes I can't even finish telling funny stories because I start laughing and crying so hard. There is an unending cycle that comes with crying from laughing, because I start to laugh at myself for crying.
I almost always cry when I watch the news. Typically these are either sad or confused tears. I can remember sitting on my aunts couch when the Paris attacks in November of 2015 were playing on the news. I remember sitting in stunned silence with tears streaming down my face. I was in no way personally affected by these attacks — no one I knew was there and no one I knew was injured — yet I cried for those 137 lost souls. When evils occur, all I can do is ask, "How can someone do that?" or "Why?" Most of the time, there is no answer.
And then there are the angry tears. These regularly make an appearance while watching political debates. They also tend to show up when I'm being scolded, talked down to, or when someone is too stubborn to look at others' perspectives. I can't tell you how many times I ran laps at soccer practice with tear streaked cheeks. I often leave heated debates feeling the need for a good, angry cry, especially when we differ in opinions on some political issues they're incapable of looking outside of themselves for. Angry tears allow me to relieve stress.
I also cry when I receive good news. I cried when I received the best mentor ever — also known as my big — in my sorority. I cried when I received an email from my Assistant Managing Editor (ie: my Odyssey boss) asking whether I wanted the position of Editor in Chief or not. I cried when my favorite English professor told me that he always saved my papers for last to have something to look forward to. For some reason, my body decided that crying was the best way to express my happiness.
Being a chronic crier can be hard. I feel things deeply, which means that I feel pain and anger just as strongly as I feel happiness. Sometimes it's frustrating that my body decides to express all emotions through tears, but it is so worth it. Despite feeling pain deeply and having to buy only waterproof makeup, it really is worth it. All the times that I find joy in life — and cry from that joy — outweigh the hard times.
