Recently, the best friend and I went to go see this darling movie. While its a lovely movie for children, full of good laughs and values, I found this movie to have a huge lesson tied into it. I love when I learn such important life lessons from such unexpected venues, and this movie is the perfect example of how sometimes the answers we are seeking in life often come to us in ways we never would have expected.
We need sadness.
I feel as though there is so much pressure in this world to be happy. You say you're sad or upset about something and a million people are right there telling you to stay strong and be positive. Pinterest is full of pins telling us to be happy, that sadness is a waste of our time, that you have to stay strong and always be smiling. To look at the positive side of things because being sad isn't worth your time. Because of this, I know I personally sometimes feel a little guilty about feeling sad and crying over stupid things, cause Pinterest is always right, right? There is always someone who has it worse than I do, crying and frowning gives me wrinkles and so I just need to be happy and get over it...
I call bullsh*t on this whole mentality that we have somehow brainwashed ourselves into believing. There is nothing wrong with being sad. In fact, I think that we NEED to be sad in order to actually truly be able to experience joy and real happiness. If we wander around telling ourselves to be happy, we are not opening ourselves up to be able to know what real and perfect happiness is.
In the movie, Joy, one of the feelings, is like the world, in that she believes that Sadness is worthless. She can't do anything right, just gets in the way and ruins everything. Joy often puts Sadness in the corner or her own circle, so that she doesn't touch anything or get in the way of Joy trying to work. If Joy had her way, Sadness would probably be sent away, because in her mind, Sadness is not needed at all. However, as the movie progresses and Joy goes through trial after trail with no one but Sadness by her side, she slowly comes to realize the truth. Sadness is extremely important. Not to ruin the movie, but in the end, Sadness is actually the one who saves the day, and Joy learns that, when they work together, they can create beautiful things and solve any problem.
We need sadness.
Now, don't get me wrong. We ought not dwell on sadness. But, I am saying that it's okay to be sad. There isn't anything wrong with it. Be sad. When that cute guy/ girl rejects you, be sad. When you bomb a test, be sad. When you take a trip down memory lane, it's okay to be sad. Just don't stay sad. Be sad for awhile, then, pick yourself back up and go experience joy. Do something that makes you happy. Allow yourself to cry for a minute, then wipe those tears off that beautiful face of yours, pick your sword back up, and keep fighting!
