It's okay to cry at work
Get in the car, we're intellectualizing Housewives again...
It’s Pisces season, folks. So it was only fitting we talk about FEELINGS.
I’m a highly sensitive person by nature and self-diagnosis, which has made workplace environments generally complicated and difficult places for me to navigate. (Because, capitalism.)
When I was working in a corporate job, I had a playlist called Don’t Cry at Work. It was basically just Bitch Better Have My Money, Big Sean’s Dance (A$$), and Beez in the Trap on a loop — but it was pretty effective.
To be honest, I cried a lot at work when I was in that company, and, as a writer, I couldn’t mentally handle listening to Nicki Minaj while cranking out articles and marketing emails. I saved the playlist for times I had to interact with someone who wouldn’t take well to my transparent display of emotions in the office.
I thought the reason I was crying all the time was because I was miserable in my job (which, was probably true). But moving on to other roles, I realized I’m just a full-blown crier in most circumstances, regardless of misery or stress levels. It’s as if … I’m not a robot?
Despite being filled with human beings who have emotions, our society isn’t very comfortable with sensitivity.
I was doing my weekly Thursday ritual of coloring while watching Real Housewives of Miami when the SoFlo ladies started doing a ‘rage release’ exercise on the beach during a trip to the Bahamas. The healer/facilitator in charge instructed the women to go to the edge of the water and scream.
Many of the women laughed it off with discomfort, but my favorite “friend of” addition, KiKi, totally went for it. She screamed, cried, left it all on the sand while her fellow Housewives proceeded to laugh and poke fun at her in their confessionals.
It’s not that the other women didn’t have rage to release. Divorces, backstabbing, interpersonal turmoil — par for the course for any Bravo franchise! For whatever reason, they weren’t willing to go there in that moment, which is their choice to make. Unfortunately, instead of celebrating KiKi’s breakthrough, they chose to brush off her courageous display of emotion as a joke.
The moment reminded me of something my dear friend and former coworker Neelamjit once said to me when I was having a *moment* on the job: “You’re not too sensitive, the world is just not sensitive enough.”
I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s okay to cry at work. In fact, I think it’s one of the most kind and productive things you can do for yourself.
And if you don’t believe me, just look at this article from HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL.
It’s the third category, emotional tears (which flush stress hormones and other toxins out of our system), that potentially offers the most health benefits. Researchers have established that crying releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, also known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals help ease both physical and emotional pain.
Crying gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't.
Act (and cry) accordingly, my fellow fishy friends.
Peace, love and workflows,
Andrea