Why Do I Watch Things That Make Me Cry?

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Certain movies or tv shows are just gonna make me cry. I have “my” movies that I watch from time to time that just cut me to the core. “Hope Floats,” “P.S. I Love You,” “The Notebook.” These are the heart wrenching movies that get me each and every time. I know I am going to cry when I watch them. The tv series “Friday Night Lights” nearly killed me. I don’t cry as intensely with the tv show as with the movies, but the different episodes would pull my heart-strings so hard that tears would emerge at times that I would be stunned. I knew it was a great show, but wow! It was really a great show!

So why do I do this? I KNOW  I am going to cry when I watch. I prepare myself with tissues and lots of water so I can rehydrate. Maybe I watch them when I need to just release some emotional tension that I can’t otherwise let go. But why do I need to cry? Why do I need something that is so emotionally charged? I love to watch them but I can’t watch them too often. I’d be an emotional mess all the time if I watched them more often than I do!

I ask why I do it, but I do think I have an idea. I think I like watching someone overcome struggles and find happiness. I know these are scripted. Maybe it would be better if life was. Hmmm…now there’s a thought. I want to believe there are people who overcome hardship and find happiness. I always root for the underdog. I guess most people do.

So does anyone else do this? Surely they do! Right?

Related articles

• Even more crying. (inmychest.wordpress.com)
• CONFESSION: I Am a Crier. (weddingbee.com)

When Happiness Was Easy

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Remember the days when happiness was that big ol’ 64 pack of Crayola® crayons? You could have a coloring book or just a lot of paper. It didn’t matter. Happiness was creation. And if you had that 64 pack of crayons  you could do anything! Right? Well, then they came out with bigger packs of crayons and then 64 wasn’t good enough. I wanted the bigger pack with MORE colors so that I could do more!

While the 64 pack made us happy for a while, we began to long for more and better. I think that pretty much sums up adulthood, too. We are briefly satisfied and then we start wanting more. Then we get a little more. It’s basically an addiction. You get a taste and you want more! Why? Because more equals better in most people’s eyes. It may not really be the case, but that is the way the majority of the world sees it.

Some days I just want that fresh pack of 64 crayons and some paper. I wonder if I’d be satisfied? Maybe momentarily. I know I would love the smell of those things. It was intoxicating. And I loved the fresh blunt point of a brand new crayon. I wasn’t happy when I had to peel the crayons to sharpen them. But I loved the sharpener. I mean, how cool was it having a built-in sharpener?! I think I have learned through crayons that happiness is not always more. Yeah, it would be nice. But sometimes you’ve got to be happy with what you’ve got.

The Right Time And The Right Place

I think that most of the people who are in our lives are there for a purpose. I don’t think this applies to everyone but for most. Some people just show up and they should have never come to my life party. They crashed. But my thought on this is that people are in our lives at certain times and places for reasons. And sometimes people come into our lives at a time when they shouldn’t necessarily be there but we know they should be in our lives at some point.

What I mean by this is that I have had people come and go in my life. Some needed to go. They were toxic for me. And if someone is bringing negativity to my life I really don’t want them around. But sometimes I think we need that negativity to make us appreciate positivity. Make sense? And then there are times when people enter our lives prematurely and things get screwy and then they’re gone. But something happens and they come back for some reason. You may never understand why or how but they’re back. I have had this experience more than once and it is such a heart-warming feeling. You knew that person belonged in your life. You just didn’t know how or why.

Yes, I overanalyze things. I think a lot of this comes from all the comings and goings in my life. I have an abandonment issue from earlier in my life so I get antsy about people passing through my life. But I have come to realize that some people can’t stay a part of my life, while others need to come back. It’s the ebb and flow of life. Life has to ebb in order to flow.

As I have taken stock of these things and wondered why a million times or more I realized that everyone who has passed through my life has taught me something, whether good or bad. And we all go through things and relationships can’t stay the same forever. We change as life changes. It’s natural. People who don’t change are not growing. The people who come through my life assist me in this personal growth. And sometimes losing them really hurts, but sometimes I need to lose some people to make room for others. And these can be new or old people. And I welcome them into my life because I will learn something. The important thing to realize is that timing is everything and certain people will be in our lives at a time and place for a reason.

Not Everyone Gets The Life They Want

I was watching a tv show and this was one of the lines. While I have always known this, it was the way the character said it that really made the words have such an impact. I was like, “Wow! That is such a horrible thing. It is not right or fair.” We aren’t promised right or fair in life. I know that. You know that. But it doesn’t change the fact that we don’t like it.

I know a lot of people who don’t have the lives they want. It may look like it to the world, but I know the truth. Some people have the materialistic things but don’t have love. Some people have love but don’t have the materialistic things. Some people have talent but don’t have much else.

Life doesn’t deal us fair hands. There are days when I wish life was fair. Then there are other days when I am glad it isn’t. I don’t know that I would like to get what I really deserve. But then some days I feel like I deserve better than what I have. I think we all feel that way. I wish more people had happiness. I wish the right people had married the right people. I wish people had enough money to pay their bills. I wish there was more laughter in the world.

Not everyone gets the life they want but I sure hope they get a life they can tolerate and that brings them some joy. Everyone deserves some joy.