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I don't really cry. I don't know how to. Don't get me wrong - I get choked up, I get teary. I'm actually rather easily emotional - any tear-jerker movie will

I don't really cry. I don't know how to. Don't get me wrong - I get choked up, I get teary. I'm actually rather easily emotional - any tear-jerker movie will get to me. But once I have the emotion, I don't know how to let it out. I WANT to. When I look at my wife and female friends, they all occasionally have a good cry as an emotional outlet, and while whatever prompted that is bad, the cry itself is a good outlet. They can feel better for having done it. But me? I just feel like all the emotions are stuck and I'm clogged up. I'm not consciously fighting it, thinking I have to protect my manhood. While others being around does make it worse, I can't have this kind of release in private either. I don't know how much is subconscious and how much is the fact that I've spent 4+ decades NOT crying and I just don't know how to. I don't strive for the "manly weep" that the article describes - I want to be able to all out bawl and just let this out.

iamatworknow 7y ago
Almost the exact same story here. I'm in my mid 30's, and the last time I cried was when I was a teenager, aside from also tearing up during some movies. Definitely not like I'm fighting it, I just don't know how. Case in point, my father passed away rather suddenly on Christmas Eve -- just two weeks ago today. We weren't super close, but I do have fond memories of him. I haven't cried once. When I was informed of his death by my brother, who was tearing up as he told me, I literally just said "Damn..." and then drove around for a few hours aimlessly thinking. It seems like I should, like I'm SUPPOSED to cry, to the point where I feel like something's wrong with me because I haven't. Now I'm concerned that weeks or months from now I'll end up being triggered by something in an inopportune public place and just start bawling. But who knows?

iamatworknow 7y ago

Almost the exact same story here. I'm in my mid 30's, and the last time I cried was when I was a teenager, aside from also tearing up during some movies. Definitely not like I'm fighting it, I just don't know how. Case in point, my father passed away rather suddenly on Christmas Eve -- just two weeks ago today. We weren't super close, but I do have fond memories of him. I haven't cried once. When I was informed of his death by my brother, who was tearing up as he told me, I literally just said "Damn..." and then drove around for a few hours aimlessly thinking. It seems like I should, like I'm SUPPOSED to cry, to the point where I feel like something's wrong with me because I haven't. Now I'm concerned that weeks or months from now I'll end up being triggered by something in an inopportune public place and just start bawling. But who knows?