You feel the hurt from deep within, a sudden, agonizing jolt of pain that begins at your heart and spreads over your entire body within seconds like a jolt of lightning. The tears that form in your eyes threaten to spill down your cheeks and create a waterfall of unfairness and suffering. You hold them in, blinking them back as fast and as ferociously as possible, but they cascade down your cheeks without any warning. The jolts of pain in your chest return as you sniffle and weep, and you hate how it sounds. You hate how pathetic you look.
You’ve experienced this so much that in some way, the hurt transforms into numbness in your brain, and even though you feel the sobs physically ripping you apart, your logic seems to roll its eyes at you and think: not this again. You’re sure that’s what everyone else around you feels, too, because how could they not get tired of someone who cries over such insignificant things so often? You’ve been conditioned to think that whenever you’re crying, it’s because you’re being overly sensitive, so it must be your fault; they must all hate you for being your delusional, ugly self.
Except that’s not how it is. The people around you give you hugs and ask you if you’re okay, and they surround you with a type of warmth that you feel you don’t deserve. But they hold you tightly in their arms and tell you, loud and clear — “It’s okay to cry. I’m here.” These words make you start crying all over again, but these tears feel different. Somehow, you’re given the strength to make it out of this mess alive, because you heard the words you’ve always wanted to hear from the people you love.
Believe it or not, crying is hard. It can hurt so much that it rips your heart apart, giving you a type of pain that you simply cannot describe to anyone else. But believe it or not, crying can be good for you. It’s a way to release your emotions healthily — don’t ever let anyone tell you that you’re not allowed to cry, because you are, and it’s going to be okay because you’re going to make it through this mess and emerge victorious. Crying is a form of self-care that works more than any amount of face masks and massages, and it’s something that nobody can make you feel inferior for.