It’s Brave To Acknowledge Sadness

How many times have you tried to mask or hide sadness? Ever since we were little, society has told us that we should not acknowledge sadness, that we should be brave. We must always be strong. We must not fail. We do not learn anything from being sad. Society tells us that joy is the only desirable, healthy feeling. But inner happiness, of course: nothing euphoric.

Of course, sadness is a negative feeling, but .. What if we make it a feeling that does something positive for us? Acknowledging sadness is hard, but what if we did it and learned something from it? Instead of shutting it down, what if we gave it some space?

Acknowledging sadness: a basic feeling

The loss of a family member, a breakup, the loss of a job, illness when we do not meet our own expectations… These are some situations that often make us sad. It may not always be an instant sadness, for what comes out in the first place is anger at what caused our loss.

There is a very important difference between grief and depression. The latter is not a feeling. Rather, it is a disease that lasts beyond a particular event or moment. In addition, for a diagnosis, there must be a state of persistent and more intense grief along with other symptoms. Despite this difference, which is very important, grief is seen as something reminiscent of depression, so people try to “recover” from it.

With depression, one is not only very sad for a while, but also experiences sleep disturbances, inability to enjoy activities previously performed, lack of desire in daily activities, loss of concentration and guilt. If this sounds like you, then it’s time to seek professional help.

Sadness, however, is a unique opportunity to get to know ourselves better. It is a feeling that some studies relate to greater activation in our body, which helps us respond after a loss. In addition, it is a feeling that creates a need for support and help from our loved ones. Non-clinical treatment.

Acknowledging sadness… The meaning of tears

Despite all the tears we as humans have cried, we still do not fully understand the mystery they contain. Yet all studies suggest that like the social beings we are, the job of tears is the liberation and communication of our need for care.

It is normal for there to be a complex web of emotions when we cry, not just one. The circumstances when we cry are also quite varied. We can cry out of happiness, out of empathy with people around us, out of anger or when we watch an emotional movie. Each tear tells a story that matters.

Holding back our tears or seeing crying as something bad does not make us stronger or better people. We simply behave based on what others might say about us. And at this point we must ask ourselves; has that person never even cried? If they do not have it, then there is something wrong with them.

It calms us from crying, lowers our anxiety level and makes us breathe better. Crying is an act that makes us faithful to our own feelings and it connects us to others. Besides that, it also removes bacteria and thereby protects our body. So, what’s wrong with tears?

“Do not weep, be strong,” when we do not acknowledge sadness

If you are prone to tears, how many times in your life has someone so ridiculed you for it? Said you have to be strong, that crying is for weak people, that you are ridiculous or even worse, that you are childish because of it. Unfortunately, many of us have heard it so often that we have internalized it. We censor our own tears.

That said, we can sometimes well understand why they say these things. Maybe they do not have bad intentions. After all, these are just words we hear and learn about throughout life. They are in our repertoire. We use them automatically without thinking about it.

But as I said, these banal sentences are not harmless. The reception and socialization of these messages will pass on to new generations coming after us. Children are usually quick to pick up on this censorship, as if it were a necessary step toward adolescence and adulthood.

We have a responsibility: to acknowledge sadness and show understanding of the role of all our emotions, regardless of their value. It is about accepting them and letting them breathe so that they can play their healing or motivating role.

On the other hand, it can theoretically be very pedagogical to separate our emotional side from our logical side. But at the functional level, we must not forget that these processes tend to mix with each other and create a completely different whole than just the sum of their parts.

In short, sadness is one of our emotions, and if used wisely, it is one of our best allies. Do not make sadness your enemy, do not fight it. It will only give you more suffering.