Sadness still a valuable emotion, and it’s OK to be sad. While it might be uncomfortable, letting sadness in can come with many benefits.

It’s common to label sadness as a “negative” emotion and avoid it as a result. You might find yourself using distractions, like browsing your phone or snacking when you’re not hungry, to keep that heavy feeling in your chest at bay. Sometimes, avoiding sadness can even look like lashing out when someone brings up a topic that’s sensitive to you.

Avoiding sadness can also come with a side helping of toxic positivity. Toxic positivity is when you banish difficult emotions and only acknowledge more favorable ones, like happiness. It can seem helpful, but toxic positivity may cost you your authenticity and take an emotional toll.

While running from sadness can keep you stuck in a rut, acknowledging and processing it can make it easier to move forward meaningfully in life.

Letting yourself feel sad doesn’t mean wallowing in self-pity. Choosing sadness brings a variety of benefits. For instance, it means accepting the reality of your current emotions and taking the first step toward processing them.

It connects you with others

One function of sadness is that it encourages others to treat you with empathy. This means that embracing sadness could connect you with compassion and care when you need it most.

Expressing sadness can also bring people together by creating a shared sense of values and belonging to a group. Many cultures even have specific practices and rituals for expressing sadness as a community.

Participating in a communal expression of sadness, such as attending a memorial service or vigil, is one way sadness could help you feel less alone.

Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensure discussion or debate.

Thank you …. It helps you process complexity

Sometimes sadness causes you to seek space from others instead — and this may actually be another benefit.

When sadness urges you to disconnect, you’re experiencing a protective mechanism meant to keep you safe during a vulnerable time. A bit of solitude when you’re feeling sad may help your body and mind cut down on unnecessary stimuli. This can give you space to process intense or complex feelings.

Sadness is an aspect of grief, the natural process for responding to and managing loss. Experts suggest that sadness may be a phase in the cycle of grief that promotes reflection. This means that sadness may actively help you make sense of the strong feelings that grief can bring.

Expressing sadness by crying can also signal to those around you that you’re experiencing grief and could use support and understanding.

It allows you to adapt

Sadness can help you respond to the thoughts and feelings it has helped you process.

Rumination, when you go through the same thoughts over and over, is often seen as an unhelpful behavior. But when it comes with sadness, it may actually help you come to terms with letdown or loss and build a new strategy for moving through it.

Sadness is also connected to post traumatic growth, which can happen after difficult life circumstances. Post-traumatic growth could lead to a deeper sense of spirituality or motivation to enact positive change.

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It can teach you about yourself

Because sadness is often a response to feelings of failure or loss, it’s also a reminder of what you care deeply about and of the qualities that make you human. These include your:

Values, goals, and beliefs

Capacity to love

Interdependence with others

Sadness may allow you to not only dig deeper into the conundrum at hand, but also expand your self-knowledge.

In some cases, sadness may be a sign that something in your life, like a relationship or job, isn’t working out.

For example, lingering sadness and depression can be signs of burnout. Burnout is an indication that your energy is being depleted and it’s time for a change. Tuning in to that feeling can be the first step toward making a change that serves you.

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When is sadness really something else?

Sadness is a natural emotion. But if you experience it for long periods or it gets in the way of your daily functioning, it could be a sign of a mental health condition like depression.

Expressing sadness to an empathetic loved one can be a great way to process it, allowing you to feel less alone.

If you’ve experienced loss or a setback alongside another person, it may feel even more natural to share your sadness with them. Setting aside time to speak candidly about disappointment or grief may foster a sense of closeness with that person.

Talking through feelings of sadness with a mental health professional is another option. Therapy could help you confront feelings of sadness and offer support as you unravel them.

Being present with sadness can be an opportunity to investigate the emotion a bit further. Using an emotions wheel could help you narrow down the broad feeling of sadness to something more specific to your situation, whether that’s discouraged, hurt, or gloomy.

Letting sadness in can help you process life’s difficulties and connect with others in times of hardship. You might just find that letting yourself feel sad in the short term brings you to a happier place overall.

When you experience a low mood, it can affect every part of your life. It can be challenging trying to determine whether what you’re feeling is sadness or something more. Grief after the recent loss of a loved one can make it even more complicated.

While there’s no clear difference between sadness and depression, it’s known that depression causes a greater number of symptoms than sadness.

Whether you’re living with depression or sadness, there are ways you can improve your well-being, including self-help strategies, medications, and psychotherapy.

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