"Emotional" gets a bad rap.
Miriam Webster defines maudlin as, "showing or expressing too much emotion, especially in a foolish or annoying way"
Who gets to decide what's "too much emotion?" When did following your heart and having love and compassion become "foolish" or "annoying?"
Are we SO WRAPPED UP in the cool, collected image of pretending everything is fine and holding ourselves out as completely together that we can't recognize the power and universal beauty that is opening ourselves up to love one another, even if it tears us apart at times?
I'm beginning to understand that having the ability to connect with others, feel freely, and empathize is a gift. For myself, that is what I call emotional. Yes, it totally sucks when I have to stop what I'm doing for a tearfest. And it used to completely take me under. Because I used to always feel embarrassed for my display of emotion...what would people think?
I can't speak for other cultures or communities, but what I can say from my own experience is that middle-class suburban white kids are taught to pretend like everything's ok when it's not. Some of us (myself included) were even taught to hide our own tears at a funeral. How is that even remotely better than the alternative - when we bottle up our emotions and walk around like stiff, robotic, soulless shells searching for meaning? Ready to snap at any given moment?
Tonight, I'm reclaiming my own power. Being emotional may be annoying to those who don't appreciate all we can offer. But I believe those are the ones who need us most.
I declare it #maudlinmonday.
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