Have you ever had a lump in your throat, tears in the corners of your eyes that you’ve chosen to push back? Have you ever thought about how showing such weakness makes you vulnerable, something that needs to be held back? I’m here to tell you that crying is not only okay, but crying can also be good for your mental health. Yes, those tears could be doing more for you than you think. Crying is an entirely human emotion that makes you feel good in ways you don’t expect. Whether it’s a small sob, a public weep, or that ugly cry you reserve for the comfort of your own bedroom after a hard day or a triggered tearjerker, allowing yourself to cry is empowering and serves as maintenance for good mental health.
This article will teach you why crying is good for you, how it will relieve stress, releases emotions, and even strengthen bonds with others. By the end of this article, you’ll understand crying as something good for your mental health.
Crying Helps You Released Pent-Up Emotions
Crying is good for you because it helps you released pent-up emotions that could otherwise stay inside. There are all sorts of emotional traumas we face day to day—from a hard day’s work to an argument with a partner to dissatisfaction in life. Holding all of this emotion inside can lead to bad feelings building up, like a suitcase filled with rocks. The longer you walk around with it, the less you are able to carry it.
Crying is the pressure release valve. Just as we’re encouraged to blow off steam after something bad happens, when we cry, we find ourselves released of those feelings that weigh us down. Ever feel like a new person after a good cry? It’s not all in your head. Crying helps you release the depression and frustration that would keep you weighed down, like the feeling you have after clearing out a junk drawer—there’s more space to breathe.
This doesn’t mean that only sad criers are released. Think of the criers at weddings, the criers upon reconnecting with a long lost love. Positive emotions can come to tears just as much as negative ones, and while they might not feel inspirational or revelatory in the moment, they serve as escapes from being trapped inside ourselves, expressing how we’ve overcome or processed an experience. It’s our minds and body telling us, “I’ve processed this and now I’m ready to move on.”
Crying Reduces Stress
Crying is also fantastic because it reduces stress. There are enough stressors in life, whether your heartbeat increases or your shoulders become tense—the day might be so packed that something you feel you should be doing is left undone or you have a flat tire or missed train—regardless, stress builds faster than anticipated and without an outlet to relieve that stress, one will always be on edge, about to become overwhelmed.
But when you cry, stress is relieved. Have you ever noticed how your breathing becomes less labored after a good cry? No wonder, because crying lessens the nervous response and allows the brain to take a break from whatever was stressing it out. When people are stressed, they’re in fight or flight mode; and their body and minds are equipped to tackle the problem at hand. But crying deactivates that; it tells the brain that it’s ok to not be so tense and that the stressor is no longer there. It acknowledges the situation and the body and mind say, “The threat has been endured; now it’s time to relax.”
Similarly, crying helps people achieve catharsis with negative situations so they don’t become deeply embedded. For example, think about when you have a really bad day and you feel like the universe is against you. Without crying to acknowledge that experience, you walk around feeling like the universe is against you for hours/days afterward. But with the opportunity to cry, it doesn’t mean you feel better after; it means you’re less tense and more inclined to carry on with your day without need to worry about in the moment.
Crying Empowers Others Around You
Not only does crying help you; it helps those around you. Ever notice when someone cries, you want to help? Crying in public or with someone else makes you more of a person in someone else’s eyes. They understand you’re vulnerable—but genuinely, authentically vulnerable—as it’s not a show. This give-and-take works well because people are in touch with their emotional selves. When they see you crying, you’re conveying, “I feel this way, and it’s truly occurring right now.” They can respect and appreciate that.
Think of a time when you saw someone cry. Think of any person you know—especially a loved one. When they looked at you, you probably consoled them, hugged them, or sympathized with the situation. You likely felt closer to them in that instance. The give-and-take occurs here, where it’s helpful when crying can help others help you through courtesy disclaimers, sympathetic actions, kind words, or shoulders to cry on.
Such moments make otherwise isolating interactions feel like collective experiences in the best way. Crying also helps you get better in touch with other people. When willing to cry, you’re more in touch with your emotional side to better connect with other people’s emotional needs. No one is without emotion—and thus sadness and vulnerability often elicit the same compassion from others. Tears should not be seen as weaknesses; showing tears fosters relationships and community, trust within loved ones. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Crying Makes You Happier
Crying might seem like a way to get sadder, but it actually sets you up to be happier in the long run. When you hit a low level of sadness or anger, it’s easy to get caught up in your own head and spiral. But crying is the way to get out. It’s like the rain that makes you feel clearer; afterward, something feels just a little bit better.
How many times have you watched a sad movie or experienced a bittersweet moment at someone’s wedding and cried? Even when you’re in the middle of crying, when it’s all over, you’re left with more appreciation than feeling worse for wear. That’s because crying provides the metaphorical and literal release from under intention and brings to the forefront what ails you instead of letting it linger in the dark corners of consciousness. It’s the release of air from a balloon instead of waiting for it to explode. It gets all the air out and lets you breathe again.
Crying gives you access to getting through something and feeling better on the other side. And it’s not just sad tears that make you happy; happy tears—having your breath taken away at some generous act or overwhelming joy—make you feel even more like connected to that happy time. Whether you’re crying for a broken heart or crying because someone surprised you with a puppy, the happy tears or sad tears give you positive memories or resolutions in the moment and allow for easier breathing afterward, validating how important it was to feel those emotions in the first place.
Crying Helps You Heal
Sometimes life is terrible. You have a death in the family, you get dumped, you have some catastrophic failure that is beyond your capabilities to deal with at the moment. You are vulnerable, exposed and hit with the worst that humanity has to offer. Yet one of the predominant ways in which humanity can relieve itself from such situations is through crying. Crying is the band-aid we put on our hearts so that it may not be healed at this moment, but at least the process of healing can begin.
When one cries, they recognize what is going on. They don’t pretend, and they don’t dismiss their feelings in a way that challenges the emotional impact they’ve already faced. Instead, they acknowledge how they feel and this is an admirable quality about life—even if it doesn’t feel admirable at the moment. When one allows oneself to cry, they allow themselves to succumb to loss, failure, sadness, disaster or tragedy. It’s like someone performing first aid on a nasty cut. It hurts in the moment, but it’s the first step to getting someone back on track to healing a wound or making themselves feel better.
Crying helps someone move from where they were otherwise stagnantly sitting in sadness. If you don’t let go and if you don’t cry, you’re going to keep those feelings trapped in your mind and body forever, never allowing yourself to truly escape sadness. However, once you cry, it creates an opening, like a turning of the page. You don’t forget what has happened; you acknowledge that it has happened and that you’re ready to move on to the next chapter because you know that eventually, you will be okay. Eventually, those tears will make you feel stronger in the long run.
Crying is a Sign of Strength, Not Weakness
Crying is considered weak; but it’s the opposite. It takes effort to allow yourself to feel. In a world that’s always championing a strong face, it takes courage to break down and let the tears flow. Have you attempted to hold back tears publicly? It’s exhausting and distracting! Thus, allowing yourself to cry is a sure sign of strength because it shows your appreciation for vulnerability.
You’re not giving up when you cry; you’re not capitulating to the forces of evil. You’re revitalizing yourself. Crying is like going to the gym but for the mind; crying works out your emotional muscles so they build up and work better than what’s going on under the surface. Thus, when you cry, you’re acknowledging that you’re strong enough to tackle the present situation, no matter how messy it may appear.
This is important for those who feel like champions all the time. You don’t want people to worry about you, so you try to maintain a strong façade; you’re the one people can rely on for support all the time and feel that your issues must stay internal. But when you go against your emotional makeup and try to avoid crying, it only makes the conflict easier. But being able to concede and cry—even in the safety of your own home or with trusted loved ones—proves that it’s okay to be human and that’s the strongest feeling of them all.
Crying Helps You Learn More About Yourself
Crying can teach you more about yourself. Tears are a reflection of what’s going on inside and sometimes when you cry, you learn about things that you weren’t even aware of. For example, have you ever found yourself crying and not knowing why at first? That’s your mind and body telling you something—you’re more stressed out than you think, or there’s a cupboard in your subconscious mind that’s left ajar from a situation in your past or in the backdrop of your present.
Crying involves a break, an intermission, a period of reflection of what’s going on, and it can help jar emotions to the forefront that the universe has been trying to convey to you for quite some time. You might cry because you’re not ready to let go of something that will no longer be part of your future and something that was such a big part of your life, or you’re starting to realize how much you’re overwhelmed and need to get up and take a breath. Allowing yourself to cry brings attention to nuanced emotions that help connect you to yourself better.
Then, when you’re aware, you can take action moving forward. If you cry because you’re burned out, you’ll know it’s time to ease back on responsibilities and stretching yourself too thin. If you cry because it reminds you of someone you love, you’ll be able to reach out to that person. Crying helps get in touch with yourself so that intentional compassion can take its place in the future.
Crying as Self-Care
In a world where you’re expected to do more, do better, and be constantly on the go, why not let crying help? Crying provides an opportunity to step back from the madness and check in. When was the last time you consciously thought about what your brain is doing and let it cry for a moment? It’s almost like pressing pause.
When you create opportunities to cry, it makes the act more valid, contrary to simply feeling down; it satisfies an overall picture of good mental health. Whether intentionally choosing to watch a tear-jerker or listening to a heartbreaking song—crying is cathartic like showering and washing your hair. Sometimes, you’re left feeling refreshed afterward.
Creating situations to cry makes the effort to acknowledge life even more contesting of the compassionate self. It’s a good sign to allow oneself to be human. Therefore, in the face of mental health issues, instead of making a weaponized endeavor off of your assessment of crying and how much it might hurt you, flip the script and let it help. Just how you cry to feel clean intentions of diet and exercise, sometimes you cry for good mental health.
Conclusion
Crying is more than just tears; it’s a natural, healthy way to ensure proper mental health. From stress relief to reacting to positive and negative feelings, crying brings equilibrium. It strengthens social bonds, enhances positive emotions and facilitates post-trauma developments. Crying is not a sign of weakness or vulnerability; instead, it’s the epitiome of acknowledgment of one’s strength to face and manage emotional feedback. It’s appreciation for who you are in that moment and a self-loving gesture for who you might be later on.
So, the next time those tears brim at the lash line, don’t stop them. Let them flow. Whether you’re crying out of sadness, joy, or just release, they’re good for you—they help you release, calm down, and move forward. Think of one time in your life that you have found crying to be beneficial. Think back on it—and allow yourself the next time, because it’ll be great for your mental health.