I have always wondered why people are afraid to cry, especially in front of others like friends or family. It is a normal human emotion.

[newday2020]

Originally Posted by ryanLRC2015

I have always wondered why people are afraid to cry, especially in front of others like friends or family. It is a normal human emotion.

I don't know if I'm afraid to cry it just doesn't happen. When it does happen it comes from somewhere deep down.

[Skywalking]

It's humiliating and people make fun of you for it and treat you badly because of it.

[Kat20]

For me I was raised that crying was self pity and not being strong. It also just went against household rules since we had to keep the appearance of one happy perfect family. I just turned 40 and still struggle to cry, sometimes even alone. I try to instill in my goddaughter that it's alright to cry and she is entitled to her feelings, that are lines like she can't throw a tantrum because she didn't get a toy, but I want to reinforce in her everything g opposite I learned. Asking for help =weakness, "what happens in this house stays in this house", so I am frowned upon being the only one in my family in therapy. I finally began to cry in therapy yesterday and those old voices came back to leaping me to stop feeling sorry for myself, I think I had it bad, could have been a lot worse....so for me it was pounder in my head that ring =self pity, shame, and selfishness. However I try to hear others when they are crying, just be a shoulded, or show compassion so it is a two way street, but I am slowly learning but it is far from easy. I actually applied those who can cry and see the courage and strength it takes to be vulnerable let and authentic

[connect.the.stars]

Like Kat said, it's this need to keep up an appearance of being happy. We don't want others to know we don't have it all together all the time.

My dad absolutely hated it when I cried. He would yell and scream at me to stop. Which would only prompt me to cry more because I didn't know how to stop crying.

Now that I think about it, he was probably projecting his own insecurity of feeling not able to cry. Always needing to be "super-dad" to the rescue.

He was frustrated I had no "self-control." Or that I couldn't handle one little criticism because of the way my parents raised me to be a perfectionist.

People see crying as weakness. Not as the strength to admit that you don't know the answer sometimes.

[yunomi]

Crying in front of people only makes me feel weak, pathetic. Feels like letting them know more about me. I'm emotionally cold. I barely cry and nobody has seen my tears either, not family, not even best friends. There's no benefit of letting people see my tears.

[nicoleflynn]

It makes one vuleranable...I never feel weak or pathetic....just vuleranable.

[Cris80pitt]

I don't think it is about being afraid. Some people just cannot. And some feel blockade.

[magical loser]

because people call you a baby and tell you to grow up...

[mountain human]

Originally Posted by yunomi

Crying in front of people only makes me feel weak, pathetic. Feels like letting them know more about me. I'm emotionally cold. I barely cry and nobody has seen my tears either, not family, not even best friends. There's no benefit of letting people see my tears.

Yes, this...

[shezbut]

Crying makes me feel very weak, and frustrated with myself. I always become extremely angry for being so pathetic.

Funny, peculiar.... because I don't look at others crying in the same way at all. I always become very compassionate and tender with them.

[ikbeneenmens]

When someone else cries I never know what to do, when a person cries to much or things I never cried about ever, I can get a little bit annoied. My friends never cry and also get annoied sometimes. I know there is a difference between crying because you fell, and crying because you feel bad. But when I cry I feel weak and stupid. And when I am alone and I cry I tell myself I am faking it. I know if I would cry next to my friends, they would support me. But the feeling just runs too deep. I also was raised not to cry. Like when you got hurt, your mother doesn't immediately cuddle you, but waits for you too get up, and then tells you everything is going to be okay. Nothing wrong with that, just explains it more. Sorry for my bad grammar, I'm not English.

[Macd123]

Sometimes crying is the only alternative.

For me I think it's about being in control.

When I had depression I cried a lot, sometimes for no reason. Upon waking there would be tears down my face and on the pillow and I had no memory of why.

In my regular non-depressed state I don't cry, last time I came near to it was a funeral, even then it was just a prickle which I choked back quickly.

Interesting topic thanks.

Originally Posted by shezbut

Crying makes me feel very weak, and frustrated with myself. I always become extremely angry for being so pathetic.

Funny, peculiar.... because I don't look at others crying in the same way at all. I always become very compassionate and tender with them.

I feel the same way about others crying. I work in caring profession and have a lot of compassion for those who need it, certainly I don't view it as a weakness at all. In a way it takes strength to allow oneself to be vulnerable.

[avlady]

i never cry anymore i think i cried my tears all gone. a friend of mine told me years later i used to cry to her, but i don't even remember it. that was years and years ago, i guess. my monthly made me cry alot too, but i had an operation to stop them and alot of the sad day symptoms went away.

[Hellion]

Well I don't know I guess to me it's showing vulnerability, which is a human thing...but its still hard for me to cry in front of people even if they probably won't judge too much. Unfortunately as a kid I got bullied a lot and sort of got to the point in my mind its like showing a vulnerability just leaves me open to some kind of insult or mockery....so its ingrained 'getting upset=people using it against me, so best not to show it.' Even though I know its not really true nessisarily, but yeah I even will get away from family and such even if they wouldn't judge if I feel the need to cry...but much of the time its hard to even do that anymore too used to trying to hold it all back.

[avlady]

if you have a friend you could cry on their shoulder, whoever they may be , you're lucky.

[AnxiousGirl]

I can definitely relate to that. I'm terrified to cry in front of others, almost like a phobia actually. I see a therapist and one session was right after I lost one of my closest family members and I didn't shed a tear. She was so shocked, but little did she know that I cried before to the point I couldn't breathe and even now, a few months after, I still cry myself to sleep. She knows the fear and always tells me it's normal to cry but no matter what I cannot cry in front of others. I just feel so weird and weak in front of someone who isn't crying.

[Senna_Cotto]

Because whenever I cried as a child I got yelled at. If it was in public I got told that everyone was wondering what was wrong with "that [insulting word in my language that I don't know how to translate]".

Then when I started school I'd start crying whenever I made a mistake since I was sure I'd get yelled at. Then my classmates started bullying me for it. Not crying just seemed like the safer way of living.

I'm 23 years old now and just last week I was watching a movie in the cinema. It was just me in the middle and a group of maybe 5 people in the back. I found the main character's situation to be unusually relatable. By the end of the movie she was clearly sure that her sister would be furious with her. Instead her sister gave her a big hug. My eyes just started stinging and watering and I had to get my 3D glasses out of the way. Then the movie ended. The group behind me got up to leave and I got scared. Completely out of reflex I turned my head away and pretended to be looking for something in my bag.

[divine1966]

I cry a lot. Good and bad. And support others when they do.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good article on the benefits of crying here:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...benefits-tears