I consider myself to be a sensitive person. I feel things very deeply, I overthink, and yes, I cry. I cry when I’m sad, I cry when I’m mad… Heck! Sometimes I cry when I’m happy! I can be a bit of a baby; I will be the first to admit it!
But I will also admit that when I watch emotional, powerful movies… I don’t usually cry.
I know that a lot of people do. I hear this same line all the time: “I cried so much watching this movie!” And sometimes, I would say the same thing, but usually, on my part, it’s an exaggeration. Because to be honest, I usually can’t find it in me to cry during a movie.
To my recollection, I’ve only really genuinely cried for four movies: Beaches, Dead Poets Society, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
It may sound silly, but it used to bother me that I don’t cry watching movies. I thought I was heartless or something! A lot of my friends would look so surprised whenever I told them that I don’t usually shed tears during movies. They’d usually respond saying that they cry a lot during so many of the films they’ve watched. And I’d feel kind of awkward about it. It’s not that I don’t feel anything at all watching movies – I just… don’t always cry! But to some people, it’s a big deal!
When I was younger, whenever I watched an emotional movie, I would think to myself, “Okay, sad part’s coming up. All I have to do is shed a few tears… It’s not working!” Turns out, I can’t force out tears so easily!
I remember in high school, I was spending a day with a few friends at one of their houses. They were talking about a movie (I can’t remember which movie it was) that they said they’d cried so much over. I admitted that I didn’t cry.
Cue the shocked expressions!
“How did you not cry watching that movie! Do you even have a soul?”
Cue my awkwardness!
But this time, I actually had an answer! Not really thinking about it, I responded, “Because I feel more than I cry.”
And they understood me!
I felt kind of proud of myself and of my answer.
I know it’s really dumb to let something like this bother me. But it honestly used to! I thought that I was void of feelings and emotions.
Really, though, it doesn’t matter if you cry watching a movie or not. In fact, you don’t necessarily have to cry for anything to show your emotions or to even have them! What matters is that you feel them.
Obviously, of course, it’s okay to cry during a movie. A lot of us do! It’s normal. Honestly, in my opinion, crying is probably the most human thing you can do. However, not crying doesn’t make you any less human either.
Pat on the back to 16-year-old me!