The older I get the more I cry. It’s almost as if it’s the only emotion my body allows these days. I’ll cry happy tears, sad tears, frustrated tears, angry tears, all the tears. I’m a tear making machine. Sometimes I hate it, but tears are just tears. A completely normal way to express your emotions.
As I watched my daughter sing the other day I was all in my emotions and tears started welling up. Dang me and my overly emotional self. Her singing is like music to my ears and she’s always singing. In the shower, in the car, in the store, everywhere she goes. She’s very passionate about it ad her passion is definitely noticeable. I quickly stopped myself from crying because we were at a friends house and how embarrassing to cry because my daughter is singing. It’s nothing new to me. I was just so proud and amazed by her in that moment. Crying a completely normal emotion and I still shut myself down.
My mother in law passed away last year in January. It was the biggest devastation my kids had ever felt. It was completely unexpected and telling our kids was awful. My son cried until he was hyperventilating and my daughter cried so hard she almost threw up. It was so hard that they struggled when they went back to school and both ended up crying at school. My daughter was made fun of and called a cry baby. My son was told to ‘be a man.’ They were both also told to get over it. To say I was livid would be an understatement.
Now I know everyone deals with situations differently and they deal with their emotions differently, but it got me thinking. Why does it feel like crying is unacceptable sometimes? Crying should never be a shameful thing. It should never be shut down. It’s a completely natural way to express your emotions. Crying is like a cleansing of the soul from all the pain and hurt you feel. It’s also a way to show someone how thankful you are or how proud you are. Crying can signify so many things. The only thing crying isn’t is shameful.
Stop shaming people for crying. Stop making fun of people for crying. Stop telling people especially young boys it’s not okay to cry. It’s a perfectly normal emotion to express. We need to do better and normalize crying. We need to teach our kids crying is normal, a perfectly acceptable emotion to have, and that it’s never okay to make fun of someone for crying. If you need to cry, cry. Everyone does it.
