Have you ever been in a moment, a frozen moment, and felt your whole world crash around you?

Or have you felt your palms sweat and shake, your heartbeat grow louder and your temples pound?

Have you ever been in a moment when how you wanted to respond was with a plane ticket out of that situation?

Have you been in a moment when all you wanted to do was cry?

I’ve been there, and I did cry.

Crying wasn't what I had wanted to do in that moment, but I couldn't help it. You can only hold it in for so long before it just become impossible to try and hide it any longer.

When I know I don’t have control over a situation, I freeze. Then all those emotions and feelings and negative thoughts start rushing back to me and I can feel myself losing control. I can feel the tears welling in my eyes and I can feel the heat on my cheeks.

I can feel the stares and the eyes on me, as I know the dam breaks. I can feel the judgment before it even happens. But why is it that there is judgment? What rule is there that says that I shouldn’t react the way that my body is naturally reacting? Why do I feel shame?

I can feel the looks and I can register the reactions on people’s faces. I can mentally see the thought process going on and I assume that my fear is true. For having such a natural response to something, I get shamed and judged for it. It may be subconscious or it may be premeditated, but it still hurts. I’m already emotional, so why not just add to it?

The emotions I have, however, make me who I am. Just because I have my moments of weakness doesn’t mean that I am a weak person. Just because I have my moments of dark thoughts doesn’t mean that I am a dark person. Just because I have my moments of happiness doesn’t mean that I am always a happy person. I experience every emotion, every day.

A singular moment I have does not define my entire personality and it does not dictate how I will react in the future. Just as everyone else does, I have my ups and I have my downs. I have really fantastic days but I also have truly horrendous days. Look deeper into a person before you shame them for how they respond or act in a single moment.

My tears mean that I am human. I am grateful for the tears because it means that I care enough to let my emotions get the better of me. It doesn’t happen every time, but it does happen. Please don’t rush to judgment about why someone is shedding tears, instead look at the situation and understand why they are responding that way.