Feel like you're the only student on campus who's spontaneously burst into tears while transitioning into a new semester? Good news—you’re not alone. The culture shock of shifting from eating cookies on your parents’ couch to taking a full course load of classes can be extremely overwhelming and stressful, especially when you’re still exhausted from the previous semester. And while you may not be able to avoid the occasional urge to cry, you can learn from the experience and prevent yourself from falling into a cycle of depression.
So first things first: Crying doesn't make you weak, it makes you human. We all get sad because that's part of the human experience. Anyone who tells you otherwise has been conditioned to repress their emotions and is probably struggling more than you can imagine. But, and this is important--if you ever catch yourself shedding a few tears but aren’t really sure why…figure out why. Discuss your emotions with a friend, a significant other, or a counselor. Tossing around a few possible causes for your unhappiness aloud can help you mentally clarify what’s wrong, and the person you’re talking with might have suggestions for how to help. If your problems feel too personal to share, write them down. Seeing on paper exactly what’s bothering you can help shrink your problems to size, whereas leaving them unwritten allows them to remain abstract and larger than life.
A side note is that it is common to misattribute your sadness to the wrong source if you’re not actively working to understand it. You may begin to blame a significant other or even yourself for your unhappiness, when maybe it was just school related stress all along. And if you continue to blame the wrong sources for too long, you could become thoroughly depressed and resentful without knowing why, which would make the healing process much tougher. It is crucial to acknowledge your feelings frequently and honestly so that you can reduce sources of stress as soon as possible.
This brings us to the topic of damage control. While crying itself can sometimes be very therapeutic, as well as talking about it, there is usually more that needs to be done to fix the root of the problem. Once you’ve established exactly what it was that made you cry, see to it that you resolve whatever that issue was. It’s not enough to simply say to yourself, “I was crying because I’m not getting enough sleep and I’m exhausted.” You must then see to it that you change your sleeping habits! Go to bed sooner, or get prepared for the next day the night before so that you can hit ‘snooze’ a few more times in the morning. All too often we complain to others about problems that we know we could fix. There’s no need to go through life feeling miserable because you’re convinced that “this is just the way it is.” If something is wrong, make it right. Get help if you need to. As soon as you take responsibility for your own happiness you’ll start living a fuller, richer life. And you’ll never look back.
