Dear Girl Who Cries A Lot,
Another proposal video pops up on your newsfeed. You cry. There’s one of a dad coming home from the armed forces to surprise his wife and meet his newborn for the first time. You cry. That Adele song plays. You cry. Your nail polish chips. You cry. Someone calls you beautiful. You cry. You think about something sad that happened five years ago. You cry. You’re tired. You cry. You have a bad day. You cry. You have a good day. You cry. Literally nothing at all happens. You cry.
And that’s okay. So do I. We’re girls that cry on a regular basis, and sometimes for no real reason.
So maybe we cry more than the average person. Maybe little things set us off. But is that really so bad? I’d like to think not. You and I, we are just more in-tune with our emotions. We feel things more strongly, perhaps, and we need to let it out. I know I do. When I'm happy, I'm extremely overjoyed. When I'm angry, I am really mad. And when I'm sad, I am miserable. It's no wonder I cry at the drop of a hat... How else can I be expected to handle the overwhelming array of emotions I go through on a daily basis?
Furthermore, it’s been scientifically proven that tears are good for our health. I repeat, because this is important: Crying is healthy. Tears help your vision because they lubricate your eyeballs, apparently. They remove toxins and kill bacteria. It’s supposed to lower your blood pressure, too!
And most of all, don’t you generally feel just ever so slightly better after you’ve cried it out? That’s because it is supposed to lighten your mood and lower stress.
Let's get one thing straight; We don't cry because we are depressed. I have a beautiful life. It's full of love and blessings and so many little things that make me smile. Every day I think about how lucky I am to have what I have, and I can say without hesitation that I am so happy with where I am at right now. And I'm sure if you step back, you could say a similar thing. It's not because we are generally sad at all.
And another thing. There is no such thing as ugly crying. I don’t care what you look like as those tears fall from your face. You are beautiful and don’t ever believe otherwise. So maybe you don't have waterproof mascara. So maybe your lips do a weird pucker thing. So maybe the heaving that comes with the sobs is a little loud. You are you. And expressing your feelings is always better than hiding them.
I’ve been told not to cry. “Don’t let them see you cry, because your friends don’t care,” the person said. If your friends don’t care or tell you not to be open and express your emotions, they are not your friends. True friends offer you tissues, or give an unnaturally long hug, or just sit on the floor with you until you're feeling okay again.
I cry almost every day. Sometimes it’s silly things, and sometimes it’s not. It’s a weird day if I don’t cry, honestly. And I'm perfectly okay with that. So you should be too.
Remember what Elizabeth Gilbert taught us with "Eat, Pray, Love," “Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.”
Sincerely,
A Girl Just Like You
