When the internet is awash with content to make us feel better, from cute cat videos to wholesome memes to inspirational quotes, it seems like real emotions and real struggles of life often get pushed to the sidelines.
But the 'Mad Sad Not Good' is here to shed light on our emotional side and make our little sad selves feel understood. Although the account still seems to be growing, as it has amassed over 17k followers on the platform, it’s truly a refreshing outlet that allows us to experience sadness, and even helps to laugh it away.
Emotions have a strong influence on our daily lives and life in general. It’s easy to say that sadness feels bad, and happiness feels good, but our inner world is so much more complicated than that. So to gain more insight on the topic, we reached out to Joshua Klapow, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, performance coach, and creator of Mental Drive. Klapow works with individuals and organizations across the globe to help them improve productivity, health, and achieve their goals.
Being the founder of a psychological well-being initiative that helps people access the best-in-class psychological tools to live healthier, more fulfilled, and successful lives, he was more than happy to share insights on the matter.
Klapow explained to Bored Panda that sadness is a universal human experience. This emotional state is often characterized by feelings of unhappiness and low mood. And although it’s simply a normal part of life, many people tend to hide their gloomy feelings. But whether it’s out of fear of coming across as melancholic, vulnerable, or simply wanting to experience our emotions in solitude, the psychologists stressed that "we can’t avoid it and it shouldn’t be avoided."
"Sadness is an emotion like any other," he added. "It is a signal that something is not what we desire." This emotional state is usually temporary and transitory, and it naturally occurs when we go through life’s inevitable ups and downs. "Sadness is not an emotion to be feared. It is an emotion to be experienced," Klapow said, adding that without sadness we’d have no comparison for what happiness is.
While many people fear that a persistent and longer-lasting drop in their mood may turn them into pessimistic people who ruminate negatively about the past, present, and future, Klapow assured that sadness in no way has to lead to pessimism. "In fact, some of the most optimistic people experience sadness all the time," he added. "Sadness is an emotion; it is part of our experience and is a signal that we are feeling."
The clinical psychologist added that pessimistic people often are not sad: "They spend so much time seeing the negative side of life that they never move to happiness. They essentially stay neither sad nor happy, but simply in the negative."
When we experience these complex emotions, we may feel inclined to just push through them and wait until they pass. But in some instances, Klapow said, sadness can be scary. "It can make us feel isolated or as if the emotion we are experiencing is uniquely ours."
That’s why so many people turn online to share their experiences and know they are not alone. "Seeking out others who feel the same is supportive and validating," the creator of Mental Drive noted. "As well, sometimes we want to be sad, but our own defense mechanism stands in the way. Much like looking for a sad song, when we are sad and want to fully experience the emotion, we will seek out those cues that help move it along so that we can experience and move forward."
To anyone feeling sad or blue, it may feel like this emotion is beginning to dominate all aspects of your life. But Klapow wanted to remind you that you have a choice: "Do you want to dive deeper or is it time to pull out and up?" According to him, depending on the situation and what you are experiencing, this can be easier or more difficult.
"If you feel that you need to and want to experience sadness, do it. Go all in," he added. Remember that most emotional experiences last a relatively short time, and gloomy moods should fade away over time. "Think about what is making you sad, read posts, listen to music. Work through the full experience of sadness."
