One of the smartest things that young children can do is cry . They have no shame or guilt about suddenly bursting into uncontrollable tears. They may have a much more accurate idea of their place in this world. They understand that they are small creatures in a considerably hostile and unpredictable world. Control is not something that they can rely on and there are many reasons for someone like them to feel distressed and confused. So is it that unnatural to, at times, give in to the tears that are caused by the sadness of being alive?
Regrettably, the intelligence that exists in the smaller versions of ourselves is lost as we age. We slowly learn to avoid being what is called the most revolting version of ourselves: The cry-baby. Many of us associate maturity with the idea that we are undoubtedly strong and resilient in the face of what’s happening. This is, obviously one of the most dangerous ideas that we can have for our emotional health. The realization that at times we can no longer handle it is an integral part of true resilience. The moments in which we lose our courage is part of having a brave life. If we can’t allow ourselves to bend we will eventually break.
When we feel like crying, we should consider giving in like we would do when we were younger. We should go to a quiet room, close the door and let the waterfall of tears fall from the despair that we feel. Let us not forget we spend a lot of emotional energy trying to repel sadness. Nothing should be too dark after we give in. Give in to the thoughts that have been tormenting us. We are no good. Everyone is mean. Our life is meaningless. We must go to the very bottom of ourselves and make ourselves at home in that place.
After all of this, if we have done the work successfully, an idea will pop into our head during the intense misery. This idea will make a small argument for the other side: We will maybe think that it would be very enjoyable and attainable to take a hot bath, that we have good friends in this world and there is a very interesting book that we have not finished reading. At this point, we will know that the sadness has come and passed.
At our homes, we should all have signs that we hang outside our doors to declare to visitors that we are inside doing something inherently connected to our ability to be a grown-up: crying like a little baby.
