We’ve ALL been there. Something tragic happens. Things build up, family starts tripping, breakups, you bombed that test that you sorta studied for, car craps out, bank account hits the negative, etc. Basically, something bad happens. What do you do about it? As for me, I usually get uber self-reflective and contemplate a tidal wave of dark thoughts, usually starting out with the granddaddy of dark thoughts, death, to more light topics like eternal misery, burning in Hell, global torment, warfare and being homeless. This is exactly what I do, almost every time that something bad happens to me. Until this time.
I used to be a HUGE crybaby growing up. I would cry at any and everything. Growing up a sensitive kid is basically asking to be a target around certain kids, but thank God I found a way to get over being so emotional. But even through all of that, I never completely buried my emotional, sensitive, “tender” side. This side has found itself creeping out more and more over my recent years into the path of early adulthood. Sometimes I’ll find myself driving in traffic, and some random flashback to my childhood will take over my semi-ADHD mind and send me flying 10-15 years back in time, envisioning some cruel, soul-crushing statement or act done towards me. The child version of me would get upset and sad, but the growing side of me would respond with anger.
This is the exact reason why I’ve embraced the concept of crying. The ultimate display of weakness, vulnerability and the worldwide sign of expressing pain, crying has developed quite a historic and national context. Everyone’s cried. Jesus did it. Obama did it. Believe it or not, Trump has done it (at some point in his life). The chick that Steve Harvey messed up at Miss Universe last year is probably still doing it. Our weakest, most vulnerable state has so much beauty behind it that we often fail to appreciate. Two days ago, thoughts hit me like a ton of bricks and I couldn’t contain it anymore. I began SOBBING while going 75 on the interstate. I couldn’t control anything for about 10 glorious seconds of emotional release. Those 10 seconds, my body was physically ridding of all the tension, the sadness, contemplation, paranoia, self-doubt and feelings of failure through my eyes and my mouth. Months of emotional pressure that I had been building up…vanishing in 10 seconds flat.
Crying is a spiritual purge of any emotional overload, and we should all embrace the concept of such a simple, beautiful practice. Some of us do it more than others, which is perfectly fine, but there is no weakness in a tear. There is sheer beauty in the resilience of the human existence being able to take the brightest and the dimmest moments of our life and to encapsulate those overpowering moments into a physical gesture as innocent and pure as crying. So if there’s anything bothering you, weighing you down or making you giddy with excitement…maybe you should follow the words of my friend Frank Ocean and, “Maybe have a good cry…?”
