Over the last 3 years, I was not happy at all. To be honest, I barely remember the last time I laughed from my heart. Of course I laugh a lot, but I am talking here about this sweet laud stress-free ugly sounded laugh that you may snore in it careless of what people may think of you. It is all because of sadness; in contrast, I do not hate it.
Do you remember the 11 years old Riley from “Inside Out”? She continuously hides from her sadness thanks to Joy. Joy, the protagonist, takes control over all Riley’s emotions to guarantees Riley’s forever happiness. In other words, if she ALWAYS gives happy reactions to every single situation, would not that lead to absolute happiness? Well, lets take a look of what really happened.
Simply, she is destroyed. Because of the ” you have to be happy24/7 attitude”, Riley ended up with destroyed islands ” island in the movie represents different aspects of her character”. No one can take being happy all the time. Fun fact, Sadness saved the day after all or shall I say she saved Riley? The answer is always Sadness. When Riley shows her sad feelings by the simplest sad gesture “crying”, her mental health starts to not only recover but also be stronger. The bottom line is, the moment Riley knows the importance of sadness the moment she grows up.
Do you still remember my issue? Yeah, being sad. I have already watched Inside Out years ago but when I re-watched it maybe 1 year ago, I looked to it differently. I could not stop thinking of “I should accept my sadness, maybe something will change”. And yes, something changed. I stopped blaming myself for being sad because I have my own reasons for feeling so. It is what it is and what it is is feeling blue. It was cruel feeling both sadness and guilty. Is not being sad enough?
Speaking of blues, Have you notices that Joy’s eye, hair and aura’s color is the same color as Sadness which is blue? they are two inseparable feelings. Hence, now I respect my sadness. I SHOULD be sad. I will allow myself to be sad. It is both essential and healthy. Essential as for being a human you should express all feelings. Being happy all the time does not make sense. Are you a mono emotional freaking creature? You are a human and humans face unpleasant situations. Those situations put in our souls some emotions. Those emotions are a hidden power which you must deal with it and if you do not, it will affect your mental and physical health negatively and you will suffer. Thus, feeling and expressing sad emotions is also healthy.
“Joy was a really hard character — of all the characters in the movie, the hardest one to write — because people who are just relentlessly positive and upbeat at all times, you kind of want to smack them, you know? You just don’t take them seriously and you do not trust them.”
Pete Docter “Inside Out Writer and director”
I know what you are thinking of, Aya, still you are not the happiest person ever existed. Yes, but I am not the saddest too. It is just I do not think that covering a big sad emotion or memory with thin easily breakable layer of happiness will distract my mind of the real deal. It will only increase the anger in me which is not good for my mental and physical health. Respecting sadness is the biggest step to attract joy.
1 comment
Awesome article Aya 👏👏❤️