The definition of emotions is defined as; a natural instinctive state of mind coming from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. With January, known to be one of the most depressing months of the year, being almost over it allows for people to try to remove themselves from a numb state left by the holidays and the stress that comes with them. Often when people are stuck in this previous state, they feel trapped because of the unspoken rules in society. These unspoken rules are known to ignore any sort of discussion, or expression of emotions, particularly sadness.

I’ve seen it growing up, people doing their best to hide anything that could give away any pain they feel. Students and peers that are around us daily sometimes don’t know how to communicate what they’re feeling because of that stigma that surrounds it. Whether it be a fear of being judged, or having grown up being taught that showing emotions wouldn’t make you strong, people have grown to ignore the expression of sadness. 

With that, they grow up to associate those ‘negative’ emotions with negative connotations. So they stop talking about it, and sometimes they feel as if there’s a part of them that feels like something is truly wrong whenever they feel sad. That feeling as if something is wrong, proves why all emotions should be embraced. 

Without people truly expressing themselves, or finding a way to express some of the most saddening moments in life would leave us in a bland world. It would limit the amount of music that we can listen to, and truly relate to. It would limit the amount of artwork we could see, and interpret in our own way. It would limit that communication we have to understand other people’s worst moments. It would limit our ability for passion, we’d be so focused on staying busy that we’d lose the cause.

Truly talking to people, whether it be about the small ups and downs in life does truly benefit people. It isn’t bad to be sad, it’s an emotion that’s natural and needed for us to grow into the people we can become.