Bini Dahal

Whenever my vacation begins, I treat myself in my ‘me-time' when I watch a movie or a documentary having a convincing story plot. In one of my vacations, I still remember coming across a certain Hindi movie that deals with India’s contemporary social issues. I found the movie so heart touching that I could not help shedding tears.

And this happens every freaking time. For me, movie nights are equal to wasting a lot of tissues. There were times when I had become concerned with my own overflowing emotions. As a result, I had just forbidden myself from watching anything so that I could be in control. So, whenever people were curious about the kind of movie genre I enjoyed watching, I would blatantly inform them that I had no favourites, and to be precise didn’t watch anything. However, this kind of thought put me in limitations as I did not have to remain busy doing many activities during my ‘me-time’.

Realising this, I went on using Google to find out the real meaning behind crying while watching a movie with even a single emotional scene. For someone who enjoys understanding human psychology, I had a great urge to understand myself. The search results took me by surprise. Researchers stated that people who cried while watching movies were highly empathetic in nature. They displayed higher levels of emotional intelligence and even were psychologically stronger. These characteristics are something a potential leader should have. Connecting the dots, we see that crying does not exactly project weakness, rather portrays the hidden strength of an individual.

Had I not self-reflected and searched for these researches, my perspective towards myself would have been quite negative. Now thanks to the research, I have rediscovered myself. I feel proud to have been able to feel the emotions and even cry out. There are times when I don’t even need to watch an hour-long movie. Even an emotional scene lasting for a five-minute movie scene can make me feel like the world has ended. But the mind and heart gets refreshed after crying and that is the biggest happiness ever.

People might be rolling their eyes, smirking and laughing at you for being a cry baby while watching a movie. But those who remain stoic and proudly say that they don’t cry funnily might be lacking emotional intelligence. After having gone through the research, I had asked people around me if they felt the same way as I did. And the answers were varied. While some said they could not cry, others presented it as more of a weakness and less of strength.

One of them gave a comic reply of how he cried internally. Most of them were unaware about the linkages between crying and the Emotional Quotient (EQ). So, after learning about it, they wanted to give it a try. In a world of individualism, this research has taught us a big lesson; we need to keep our feeling of empathy intact. A suggestion would be: please do learn to feel the emotions, even the one that a mere character shows. Crying would not be a necessity as long as you can relate and feel!