Have A Good Cry. It Will Make You Feel Better

Okay, when I was a child, I was quite the drama queen.  Hard to believe, no?   (More than a hint of sarcasm.)

I grew up in a family of five girls and I probably had more drama than the other four put together.  And when I was sad, I cried.  When I was mad, I cried.  And it drove my mom crazy.  And I mean, over-the-top crazy. It touched off something in her and she just couldn't handle it. To be fair, I wasn't a soft, little, sniff-sniff cryer.  I was a howling, weeping, balling-my-eyes out mess.

My mom's response was often, "If you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about."  That generation of parenting skills was dark ages, right?  Who would say that now?  But, trust me, I wasn't the only kid who ever heard that line.

It wasn't until I got older that I understood her side a little better.  My mom never could be calm enough to sort out the problem.  As Bill Cosby said, "Parents don't want justice.  They only want peace and quite."  So true in my mom's case.  And, as she didn't have much of either, I can see the frustration in my wailing taking up what little she had.

Then interestingly enough, I have had other key people in my life who can't seem to handle tears any better than my mom did.  Who knows?  Maybe it really is the way I cry that sets people off.

So I learned to fight back the tears.  In fact, for a while I really never cried.

But now I'm learning to cry again.  And do you know why?  It really does make you feel better.  When emotions are building, steam-kettle wise, a good cry is a wonderful, cheap way to let those emotions out.  You are left with an empty, settled, tired feeling inside and the world becomes a little clearer and easier to deal with.

Lest you think I mean this as a downer, I don't.  I guess the point in sharing is that it's a surprising lesson to me.  That little girl knew how to take care of the pressure and now the adult is having to re-learn it. Instinctively, that five-year-old little girl knew that it helped.  Now the fifty-five year old girl knows it, too.

So here's to a good cry!  Nature's natural therapy.