Who Am I? Who Are You?

We need to stop telling people that they do not have the right to be sad about something because it can "always be worse." I believe this stems depression in many people, especially the black community. They aren't allowed to feel their feelings of sadness so they try to repress them or form some type of unhealthy coping mechanism. "Look at those kids in third-world countries. They don't have food, water, or a shelter. You should consider yourself lucky to just be stressed out about school." They tell themselves that they have wealth, health, amazing opportunities and a bunch of other things that many might not so there's no reason to feel sad. We, as adults, should know that this is not true.

Yes, I am all for being happy in your present space and striving to be better and do better. But we weren't given the emotion of sadness for no reason. It is one of the body's natural coping mechanism. Telling your body to refrain from sadness will not make you happier, in fact it makes you MORE sad. Now you dwell on that sadness more often. You try to push it out of your head, change your thoughts.... but you think about it more, you feel it more. The more you think about it the more it starts to eat you alive. When in actuality all you had to do was cry about it and it'll be over. Not even just crying, because I'm not a crier myself. However you cope with sadness do it (in a healthy manner). By now you should all know that I am a firm believer in feeling your feelings so that you can get over them, grow from them, learn from them, etc.

Life isn't about who can fake happiness the most and for the longest. We are all handed a set of situations that are tailored to us and our experience. To our lifestyle, family dynamics, environment, and a lot of other external and internal factors. Think about it, I clearly am not having the same issues as Rihanna. I may look at her and feel that all my problems would be solved if I had a little extra money like she does. But who am I to say "she has everything so she can't be sad about anything"? That's stupid (for lack of better words)! We cannot compare our sadness and even our own lives to others. I cannot say that her sadness is not valid because we have been given a different set of obstacles in life. How can I tell you what you ought' to be sad for? Who am I? Who are you? Next time your friend is crying over something "stupid" step outside of yourself and look at it from their point of view. You might notice something you've missed before.