Negative Emotions Deserve Space To Exist Too

I'm sitting in my bedroom on this Sunday evening missing someone who caused me a lot more pain than joy. But that doesn't matter tonight, because his absence is making me quite sad at the moment. So I'm staring at his contact in my phone, knowing that the erasure of this feeling is only one gentle tap of my screen away. And of course, as a music enthusiast I have my saddest playlist crooning in the background (linked below, if you also want to deliberately make yourself sad). So, I am really deep in this longing for him right now. I haven't pressed that icon to call him though and I'm wondering why would I? 

Too many times we desire to alter emotions in their natural state. We're happy/sad, we drink to amplify the joy or escape the sadness. We're heartbroken and we immediately run to someone else to use a bandaid to mask that pain. We feel the absence of someone and we immediately wish to get rid of that sadness, a very natural feeling that comes with the end of something that was present in your life for a while. The need to escape these feelings is what often leads to us causing much more harm to ourselves than the original emotion ever would. 

There is something really beautiful about feeling... anything. Although it doesn't always feel good, it's proof that you experienced something powerful enough to leave behind such a strong reaction. And that knowledge is enough. 

So feel it and cry, or be sad, or be down, or take a day or two. Let it be.

Give the "negative" emotion some space to exist because it is nothing but the extension of the positive emotion you're longing for.

Playlist: 🎧 break my heart pls