Sadness is a very distinguished feeling that reaffirms our condition of humans, simple humans, fragile humans when compared to the challenges life demands from us and are much beyond our control. Sadness itself goes beyond our ability to rationally handle things, which only complicates everything by debilitating our inner strength to be functional and carry on. This is a small exercise to figure out the sources of my sadness in an effort to understand it and recover some aptitude to leave this situation.
I'm not writing this as a Ukrainian living in a war. Please let's forget for a minute my personal situation and focus on my human condition above nationalities and circumstances, because I consider that every sadness is the saddest one in its own way to the person who feels that. There's no bigger suffering than another, everyone has their own war, or multiple wars, to be fought, for example within their families, their personal life, or more often, concerning their health.
It seems that sadness has a strong component of fear and vulnerability, which acts by restraining our minds and bodies to take action, and resorting us to a self-protective behavior by design. This defensive attitude may be interpreted as an evolutive trace of humans by somewhat isolating us from the complex elements aforementioned, at the same time it pushes us to some sort of self-reflection given to the fact our instincts, by creation, are seekers of well-being, satisfaction, and spiritual comfort.
This feeling, just as it is, doesn't need to be treated as a source of shame or mercy. Sadness, by being a natural answer against serious and demanding confrontations as well as being a possible supplier of solutions that will emerge from deep inside the suffering soul, could be seen as a legitimate and necessary course everyone of us will have to deal at one time or another, which will make us stronger to face the potential and subsequent questions in life.
It doesn't mean celebrating or welcoming the feeling of sadness. It is indeed terrible in every aspect, and it would be nice if everyone could avoid it. But considering we don't live in this ideal world, accepting our feelings and understanding them maybe are keys to relieve everything a bit. Ignoring our sadness does not help because it explodes inside us at one time or another.
A good dose of courage, for sure, is also necessary when boarding in a journey to our inner selves, although we have to do that respecting our right time, especially when we are at these high levels of weakness. Many times, feeling sadness is necessary for a while, as it brews formulations in our minds that will often arise without prior notice and provide a way out from the pain.
I've been told sometimes that expressing my feelings can help make them more manageable, so this is my expression.
If you are feeling sad now, know that you are not alone. These feelings didnโt come for no reason: they are precisely what will make us emerge better and stronger, despite the conditions life offers to us.
Be kind to yourself. Never forget we are strong enough to confront anything.