Robin Williams made laughter his legacy. Learning that he lived with enough emotional pain to cause him to end his life is extremely sad, and has a lot of us feeling things. Is it the irony, that he brought joy to others, while holding internal hurt himself? Is it the contradiction that he appeared happy, but wasn’t? Is it the clash of celebrity and fragility? Or is it the CRY to be real, with ourselves and with others? I think it’s each of those things, (and more, of course) that has us feeling down about his death, but I’m going to focus on the last one. Being real with ourselves and others, in the face of depression*, melancholy, sadness, grief, sorrow, and other not-happy emotions that our culture loves to hate.
Sadness visits to slow us down. To catch and keep our healing attention on a hurt -- our own, or someone else’s. To mature our palate with the taste of bitter. To tenderize our toughness, and humble our harshness. Sometimes, you’d swear the sadness will slay and obliterate you. Or suck out all your hope-juice and leave you a dehydrated shell of a person. Sometimes, it ruthlessly does. But it can also sink you to the bottom of your own ocean floor… where there are undiscovered strengths waiting to be found by you. But you gotta dive. And here’s something else: You can get good at sitting with sadness, and learn to aim it at something you’d like to destroy. Then, like salt on ice, that sadness will burrow its heat into the thing you choose to melt. Or, you can use it to create something beautiful. Or delicious. Or useful. Sadness is a NATURAL PART OF LIFE that, for me, has been easier to manage, than the strong social pressure to be happy all the flippin’ time. That nagging pressure just encourages fakery and repression. But a door is opening for us all to enjoy deeper, more authentic connection based on what is real. Sadness doesn’t need to be pepped up with egg-yolk yellow, and engineered smiles that hide shadows and secrets that are growing grotesque in the dark. They crave air and light, too. I’m not romanticizing sadness, but legitimizing it. I’m asking that we please stop shooing, shunning and shaming unhappiness. Diagnosed, or not. Medicated, or not. Long therapeutic history, or not. Emotions distinguish us from other life forms and, have you noticed? We’re kind of… emotionally STUNTED. Uncomfortable and awkward with intimacy. Shielding, blocking, deflecting, avoiding, masking, hiding, pretending, distancing… all while *hungry* for true connection, but scared to let our real face and whole heart show, because we know the rules of domesticated happiness. But when we hear the crackle from an illusion shattered, it's a good time to press “reset” if we want. I get bummed too, Robin. He held both light and shadow. Like we all do. May he rest in peace. * Learn more about depression here. I write to mend
those places that got snagged, ripped or frayed while being human, with other humans. I write to remember to play with my words, i.e. "traffic jam" is a city spread made of cars. Not fruit. It's misleading. Like "text," which was once more of a dull noun, but now is more of a cannibalistic verb that eats itself, because the fewer characters, the better. Apparently. I write, of course, to know what the heck I am feeling, because it's not always clear and obvious. And when it is, it changes. Moody much? Yes. I write to send a signal to other kooky bats who hang upside down in caves, and contemplate their extinction. I write to say: "We are not a dying breed. We are pollinators! And we are free from the burdens of beauty + bright lights." I write for those who are not hummingbirds and butterflies (gorgeous gluttons of glory.) I write to praise the least among us, because, well... because I am that, too. Strange little batgirl, with peculiar powers, and a pen. |
The question "How are you?" is PROFOUND. But it has been watered-down to a synonym for "Hello." Forced or fake auto-responses of obligated okay-ness are expected. (And if you are going through something tragic, it really doesn't matter! Every social encounter OPENS with this well-established Ritual of Insincerity.) The question "How are you?" prompts an answer that begins with "I AM _____________." This means many times each day, you are invited to SPEAK THE MOST POWERFUL STATEMENT that can be spoken of yourself. And the socially-expected thing to do, is be QUICK + SLICK with your answer. For a change... TAKE YOUR TIME, and tell your truth. ✍🏾 |