Feeling Depressed? Try having a Good Cry

I was feeling depressed on Tuesday. I’d been struggling with Chronic Fatigue for over a year, and it was one of the bad days when I woke up feeling like I’d been run over by a bus that just kept backing up and having another go me it over and over. I’d also spent over a year writing and publishing an ebook which wasn’t selling as well as I would have liked. I was having a bad day and felt lousy.

Australian society doesn’t do a great job of encouraging us guys to express how we feel, especially when we’re down. Our English stiff-upper-lip cultural heritage combined with the rugged blokey mentality tells us that if you’re a guy and you cry, there’s something wrong with you. Yet crying is our natural way of releasing emotions of sadness or loss. When you have a good cry, it might feel painful and embarrassing at the time, but you feel better afterwards. If we’ve spent a lifetime suppressing our sadness, we may actually need some practice crying in order to get back in touch with how we feel.

The best way I know to trigger a good cry is to watch Find My Family on Tuesday nights on Channel 7. This show is all about reuniting children that have been separated from their parents and adopted out many years ago. You’re pretty much guaranteed that unless you’re made of solid granite, this show will get your tear ducts flowing. The pain that the people on the show revisit as they describe the heartbreaking loss of being separated from their parents or children so many years ago, combined with the joy of being reunited makes it an emotional roller coaster to watch. We’re guaranteed a happy ending and somehow the tears of joy at the end always leaves me feeling like I’ve had a good cry. I haven’t personally experienced what it’s like to be separated from a parent physically and adopted out, but somehow just watching and hearing their experiences triggers something in me that never fails to make me cry. And ironically, like on Tuesday, I always end up feeling better after a good cry; so I felt better afterwards.

If you’re out of touch with your emotions and find you don’t cry when you feel down or sad, give Find My Family a watch and get those tear ducts flowing!