Member-only story
The Contagion That is Sadness
For now, it's all I have
Society loves happiness and celebrates positivity but sadness is pushed to the sideline, labeled as a negative emotion to be avoided at all costs. We are conditioned to believe that being sad is a sign of weakness, but I am sad yet the strongest person I know. I go through so much and I get through them every time.
We’re made to think that sadness is a burden we should not burden others with but I carry other people’s burdens on top of my own and yet my neck stays still.
Sadness is seen as a contagion, the emotion that ruins everything, something to be hidden away or ashamed of but what if sadness is beautiful and serves a purpose too?
When I feel my sadness wrapping its arms around me, why push it away? I feel that way. I see and I hear and I feel and I know my sadness from the inside out. I know when it’s coming and when it wants to leave. I feel my sadness deeply but it doesn’t make me less of a human being. It makes me human. Its pain makes me feel alive.
People love happiness, but underneath the facade of my happiness, there’s a sadness, a solitary ache, that has taken deep roots. Its gnarled branches reach deep into my heart for warmth and connection.
