Sadness

Emotions

Some people desperately seek out happiness in the wrong places, only to come by more sadness and disappointment in their search. But when they finally realise where true happiness lies - from within- they feel at peace. And that is when they figure out that negative and positive emotions go hand in hand. Though no one want's to feel sadness, sometimes it's actually a healthy emotion to feel. Sure, most of us at one time or another have wallowed in self-pity a little too long and a lot of us have found a weird comfort in being unhappy. Perhaps holding onto sadness can make you feel like you're still connected to that person or situation that you don't want to let go of. Maybe it's because you won't feel disappointed if you're always unhappy. Sometimes being in a negative state of mind can actually be addictive. And even though we don't fully understand what emotions actually are we know that they are definitely important for human function. Just try not to get stuck on one emotion for too long.

The Role Emotions Play

Emotions are natural. We have them from the moment we're born and over time we develop a better understanding of what they mean, why we feel a certain way in different situations and eventually we learn how to control our emotions. They help us relate to and understand other people. We can feel sympathy for others and animals because of our emotions. They usually have a big impact on the decisions we make and can affect our behavior. Without emotions, life wouldn't be the looping colourful rollercoaster we experience daily. Life is eventful because of our emotions, even negative emotions play an important role in our lives. They sometimes can be the most important ones we need to experience.

Sadness and depression are different.

Side Note: Just like social anxiety and shyness can be confused as being the same thing, so are depression and sadness but they're different. Depression is a mood disorder, a mental illness that affects people's lives in a negative way. Whereas sadness is a normal emotion to feel and doesn't impact your life in such a powerful way as depression would.

The Importance of Sadness

From a young age, we are taught that sadness is something we need to avoid but it is indeed an important thing to feel. We don't usually think 'hey I want to be sad because it feels so good' and you shouldn't seek to be sad on purpose. When something happens that triggers sadness usually we want to avoid the pain that it brings, but fighting back emotions can only lead to complications. Emotions want to pass through you and then move on, they don't want to linger and become stagnant, so avoid fighting back your feelings.

Now I'm not saying stay in a situation that brings about sadness, that would be silly. No, I'm simply saying that the experience and the emotions it triggers is valuable. Because if you didn't ever experience any type of emotion other than happiness then how can you value true happiness? After a rough time isn't it nice when things finally settle and you can feel good again? I'm also not saying you need to go out and experience something awful on purpose. It could be something as simple as getting a rejection from a job or spilling your coffee everywhere. Does it make you feel crappy? Yes. And now you will value that fresh cup of coffee even more.

These type of emotions should also motivate you to be a little more sympathetic and kind or to work harder at your goals if you recently were faced with disappointment. And you'll be less judgmental too. Unfortunately, people who don't deal with their painful emotions properly tend to cause chaos for other's instead of becoming a kind, caring person. But the majority of us do tend to become kinder after experiencing something sad.

The fact is too much of something can become dull over time, yes even happiness will eventually bore you whether or not you have strived to achieve it for so long. That's why when life gives you lemons you can finally put the cup of happiness down and make lemonade, change is nice. Sorry, I'm really bad at these but you get my drift.

Thanks for reading, and remember emotions are complicated so don't be hard on yourself when you can't seem to get a grip of them. Take some time to work on yourself, seek help if needed and don't put all your effort into finding happiness because that can lead you down some shitty paths. Happiness is found within and is a state of being, just be sure to make room for other emotions too.