One thing I have never been good at is crying. Not only am I not good at it, I am an ugly crier, and I will literally do anything to avoid crying- even if it means exercising for hours. I despise crying- period.
For any of you who read one of my previous articles about depression and anxiety, you know that I struggled with it. The antidepressants I was prescribed prevented me from crying altogether. This may sound weird, but antidepressants are not happy pills like everyone assumes, they just bring you to a medium where you are not sad, you're not happy, you are kind of just there. At first it makes a huge difference when you are extremely low emotionally, but long term, you end up feeling numb. When I finally decided (after consulting with a medical professional of course) that I no longer wanted or needed to take my antidepressants, all I did was cry and I wasn't able to understand why. It basically felt like I was emotionally constipated for weeks, and then I caught an emotional stomach bug.
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After many, many boxes of tissues, and far too many introspective sessions about why I was crying, I discovered that there are many different types of cries, just in how they feel. I think the most important thing I have learned throughout my personal experience, and throughout writing this article is that crying is a normal response to many things. Crying is not reserved for women, emotional people, babies, or softies. Anyone can cry and its a great way to release an excess build up of strong emotions. Hopefully this will give you a lighthearted insight to my learning experience.
1. Sad Cry.
This is the most common type of cry. When you feel sad you let it out for however long, whether it be two minutes or two hours. At the end you feel rejuvenated and you can continue about your day, week, month relatively normal. It's like taking a really nice shower (in your own salty water....?) and you feel like a new person after.
2. The Sob.
The sob is this uncontrollable cry, accompanied by the lower lip making that awful sucking noise you wish you could stop, and that uncontrollable urge to breathe in like you are not getting enough air. I have only experienced this type of cry maybe two times total, and you will cringe to know that one of those times was when I watched the Lion King. I mean hopefully this isn't a spoiler alert to anyone, but I lose my cool every single time I watch Mufasa die.
3. The Dry Cry.
Yeah, I guess this is poorly named because this cry is not really dry, but it happens when you're so angry or frustrated that you cry. You are not really sad by any means, but your body is so overwhelmed with emotions you have no choice but to cry. Overall, you look pretty emotionally distraught and people know not to mess with you. You know who does a really good crazy angry cry? Taylor Swift.
4. The Shriek.
This is that scary cry, like the one you have when you learn that a loved one was lost. No noise, or tears, or air is really coming out. You are petrified and trying so hard to cry but if anything, only a little shriek has the ability to come out. This is the type of cry no one wants to experience, or see someone else experience. They are tiring, and hard to watch, kind of like if you muted a horror movie and watched the people scream, that's the gist of it.
5. The Marathon.
This is one of those cries that kind of goes hand in hand with any other cry, it just lasts like what seems to be forever. By the time your crying episode is over it feels like you just ran a marathon. You will probably need to eat a large pizza solo style, then sleep for at least a week to recover.
6. The Runny Nose.
Experiencing this type of cry is just weird. I'm pretty sure throughout the process your nose runs more than you actually cry. Be prepared because you will probably need a whole box of tissues.... maybe two.
7. The PMS.
While being emotional does not always mean a woman is having her period, but it is common for women to have a surge of hormones prior to menstruating that tend to make them more emotional. For me, I cry. And sometimes you find yourself sitting in your dorm room doing your organic chemistry homework, crying. Not because you are actually doing organic chemistry, but because you needed to randomly cry over how sad your post it note looked in that moment. And that's okay.
8. Crocodile Tears.
These are funny to watch because you know that they are not real. They are most commonly occurring in children, or that one really immature person you know, so they can get their way. But when you know they are fake, they can be kind of funny.
9. The Resurrection.
You let out an emotional cry and you are feeling really good, then something small comes around and you are crying all over again, thinking, really?.
If you are more scientific like me, you will be interested to know that scientists discovered that physically tears are composed different based on the emotion you are feeling when you cry. You can read more about that here. Crying is a very interesting response to a wide range of emotional or physical experiences. Just remember its okay to cry.
