A Love Note to Crying

Honesty moment- I. LOVE. CRYING.

I did just say that, yes.

In all fairness, I don’t always love the reason for my tears (painful things aren’t necessarily what I call ‘fun’ or ‘fantastic’), but I love crying. The fact that the human body has the capability to create tears in the first place, completely fascinates me. Add in that the brain sends signals to the heart and the heart beats and emotions flow and OH MY HEAVENS. Mind blowing. Bliss.

Along with my fascination of the chemistry of crying, the physical act of it is just as tantalizing. I always ALWAYS feel an immense release when I shed some tears. It’s like cleaning out a purse after a week’s worth of receipts and life have gathered at the bottom or finally getting rid of all those ‘things you’ve been meaning to’ in your house. There is a sense of lightness, clarity, freshness, and pride.

I am proud of my tears. Yep, I just said that too.

My tears illuminate me. A few select loves of my life  have chuckled once or twice at my highly emotional being. They didn’t actually ‘make fun’ of me, more so they just wanted to see what sort of emotions they could pull forth in that moment. Those tricksters. One of these said tricksters did admit to me that my emotional comfort is one of his favorite things about my existence. I cried at the compliment, naturally.

I love a good cry any time, no matter what I’m feeling. Crying doesn’t just equate to sadness/pain/frustration for me. Crying equates to LIFE. Tears make the world vulnerable, strong, and open. They have this beautiful way of existing so that I can function. So that WE can function.

What’s all this really about?

Crying is ok. It’s more than ok. It’s NECESSARY. Crying is sacred, let no one (or yourself) convince you otherwise. The next time you shed a tear or have an all out ugly-face sobbing match, realize that you are free to release those emotions. Realize that just because you are crying, it doesn’t make you mad-bad-out of whack-crazy-too sensitive-too emotional-unbalanced-unrealistic-fake-freaky-fearful. It makes you human. It means you’re alive and alert enough to feel something. Feelings may be a little scary and even the good ones can be overwhelming, but not crying? Now that’s just terrifying.

My eyes welled up while writing this for you. Yes, I cried too.

“…smiles come best from those who weep. Lightning, then rain-laughter.” -Rumi