When was the last time you truly really cried, like when you were a child?

27 comments

1. i can’t remember

2. About six years ago, dog died. That was the last one save 20 years ago when a close relative died.

3. Im 45 mate and if I need to I do, its nothing I worry about tbh, a wise doc once told me tears have feel good chemicals in them once they absorb into your skin your brain releases feel good chemicals so you feel better

4. November 2020, a few nights before my birthday. It was the night I took my dad to the emergency room to check him in because of COVID. I had spent the last few days getting everyone in our family tested, driving people around to get tested because there were no home-based testing and no one else to do it. My dad has been slowly getting worse for five days and we had no choice but to bring him to the emergency room. I remember that night as I got home, I bawled for a good 15minutes in my room. It was both the fatigue and the worry of the disease.

   My dad died two days later (a day before my birthday) and I think since I was able to cry out all the worries during that previous night, I and my wife were able to keep a level head and support my mom and siblings through everything (took two more weeks for everyone else to be cleared of COVID, my brother also had to be hospitalized and my mom almost needed it as well).

5. I watched Bluey yesterday, so…yesterday.

6. October 20th, 2020, the day of my dad’s funeral. We weren’t even that close yet I was a trembling, snotty mess with waterfalls for eyes.

   Other than that in March 2012, a buddy of mine’s mom died.
   That’s pretty much it for like the last 15 years or so

7. When my dad passed away last month. It took a few days to hit, but when it did, it wasn’t pretty.

8. Post break up about a month and a half ago. Went through all the photos on my phone and bawled. I’m better now but I didn’t think I had that in me.

9. Two days ago. I had cried for nearly 2 days prior. We had to give back a puppy that we had adopted a week prior. I had spent every waking moment with it training it, and bonding from the moment we got him until we dropped him off. I loved him, but he gave my wife severe anxiety. I haven’t cried that hard in my life.

   I’m still so damn sad. I’ll never see that little face again.

10. Today. My son died 4 years ago and a few days ago found out my wife is leaving me and we’ll have to split time with our 2 1/2 year old.

11. When we put my dog down about 9 years ago. Just couldn’t keep it together.

    Before that…um…when I broke up with my HS girlfriend when I went away to college. Before that when I got hurt badly in PE in like 6th grade, which was pretty much I was done with crying.

12. 7 years ago. Caught my wife cheating, confronted her. She was unrepentant and wouldn’t break things off with the other guy. I packed my shit and left, filed for divorce. Day of the divorce hearing, after it was over, I went back to my car, drove a few blocks from the courthouse, and just bawled like a little kid. In one part, I was mourning that part of my life being over. In the other, I was glad that ordeal was now behind me.

13. A couple of months ago I watched The Father with my wife — it’s the Anthony Hopkins movie about him battling dementia.

    My mom died in 2014 after a six-year decline from Alzheimer’s. I’m an only child and she was a single mom. And a saint. And it turns out I never really processed her decline and death.

    Until the final scenes of the movie, which fucking shattered me. I sat there, absolutely sobbing like I never sobbed before, reliving my mom’s inevitable and wretched decline. I surprised myself and I sure as hell surprised my wife. It was cathartic but also draining and terribly sad.

    The movie btw is stellar. If you’ve lived with the horror of a loved one afflicted with dementia it could be a devastating experience. I’m not exaggerating. If not, you’ll see why Hopkins absolutely earned that Oscar.

14. When my grandfather died, almost 2 years ago. I haven’t cried like that in a long time, I doubt I ever will again unless something happens to my kids

15. When I’m watching a show and someone’s parent dies with them in the room. I’ve lost both my parents. My mom 14 years ago and my dad 9 years ago. I was with them in their last moments. Heard their last heartbeats with my head on their chests. When I see that kinda scene I’m back in that same room saying goodbye.

    And now I’m crying again.

16. A few weeks ago. I spent the last two years working very hard at building a meaningful relationship with my younger brother (10 years younger ). He says I abandoned them. My mom tried to run me over when I was 17 I got married at 19 and moved away. I speak to my family but I’m 2000 miles away and wasn’t necessarily close to them. Now we are “ older” with our own kids and family so I decided that I would put the effort to show him we could be a family, i desperately wished it for our kids and for us. Two years I called, texted and flew in every 3 months to see them and only got a call back or text if he needed money. I flew him and his entire family to visit me 3-4 times ( I paid ) we took a family vacation in Mexico ( I paid ) I encouraged him, became his biggest cheerleader etc. We got into 3 arguments in those 2 years the first two I accepted his apology after he told me to fuck off and die and that I thought I was better than the rest of them. But I accepted his apology and moved on to try and rebuild our family. Long story short I’ve been his personal financial bank more so this last year- he took 2 weeks off work without pay and I paid his salary bc he was taking care of our mom and I could not fly to be with her bc I had just had surgery and our other siblings are selfish assholes. He wanted to trade his truck ( not in his name but our moms) in but doesn’t know anything about life. So he begged me to help him navigate not financially at first. Part of the help was offering him guidance to get his credit on track and work on his mental health. Our mother got denied for the loan and it sent him in a spiral. I offered to put it in my name (47K) as Long as he did the list of things 3 things ( secured cc, savings account and saw a doc for his anxiety) he agreed to it all and everything was golden UNTIL my moms credit bounced back up ( bc I paid off two of my other siblings cars off that was in her name ) when I inquired about how the process was going he told me it was not my business to fuck off that he didn’t want my help with strings attached- which baffled me bc I wasn’t asking for anything in return for my gain. Only his benefit. I was so hurt ( I had 47K to lose and gain nothing) I told him I was hurt and he told me he didn’t give a fuck about me and to go fuck off the face of the earth. I sobbed. The last time I sobbed like that was when I lost my baby.

17. When my dog was dying. She didn’t eat for a MONTH, I forced nutri-gel in And vet gave fluids to keep her alive. I mourned her death that whole month, crying myself to sleep every night. Literally hysterical. Then she survived. Not perfect, she lost half her tongue to necrosis and she is having trouble walking, but she’s alive. This happened September 2020.

    Now sometimes I flash back to that month, And think how eventually I’ll have to go through that pain again. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. I can’t imagine how it is to lose a human child, being this is my fur child and I slept 2 hours a night and lost 10 pounds that I really couldn’t afford to lose. Still struggling to gain it all back.

18. When I was a child (13-14).

19. Wait until somebody you really care about dies. You’ll remember.

20. My 3 years old cousin passed away couple months ago. I have been crying truly so far

21. Tears from emotion are chemically different than if your eyes are just watering. They have higher cortisol, when you cry because of emotion, stress is leaving your body (literally).

    Just wanted to add that to the thread, in case anybody was still self conscious about crying… Let it out, it’s ok and it might make you feel a tiny bit better.

22. May of 2012. Found out one of my best friends was killed in Afghanistan. It was quick, I only cried for a minute or two, but I haven’t cried since. Since then, I went through a divorce, another bad breakup and a few other family deaths, but that was the last time I actually cried with tears streaming down my face. I’ll get an occasional teardrop or two, but for the most part I feel pretty emotionally detached from things that I feel like should have made me break down and cry.

23. I feel so weak, there are only a couple days in the past 5 months that I haven’t cried over my wife leaving. People deal with so much more hardship than what I am going through but I can’t keep it together. I know crying is natural and looked down upon in men and I wish I could be stronger. My kids and dog shouldn’t see me sobbing like a child. Losing someone to death is terrible but losing the one you love in a instant, with no indication it was coming and having them just walk away is just as hard or harder. Knowing they would rather be alone then have you in their life, knowing that they are just a few miles down the road in their new house living their happy life while I live in a haunted house of memories trying to piece together how I went from the happiest in my life to wanting to give up on everything. This is my life, crying makes it better sometimes but I feel like lesser of a man.

24. when i found out my wife and the mother of my 1 year old son cheated on me (=

    cried for about 8 months straight

25. My one and only breakup of a relationship that lasted over a decade.
    I cried my sinuses and face sore, I could barely breathe by the time an episode ended. It hurt beyond reason. The sorrow turned to physical agony bad enough to have me twist on the floor. The moments of respite were nigh catatonic, no input, no output and as soon as they passed, the agony continued. This lasted about 3 days, before somewhat mellowing out.
    It really was childlike, because I had no idea why it hurt so much, what part within me was hurting or if it would ever stop.

    Still kinda weird how powerful the recollection of those days is.

26. It’s been a few months since I last cried now, but from January 2021 through last fall it was probably every few weeks or less. A combination of depression, fear of losing my dad to covid (he’s really high risk), and actually losing my grandfather in early 2021 meant that breaking down and crying became a semi-regular occurance for a while. Sometimes I didn’t feel better after, although sometimes I did. I think the times where I felt better after were ones that weren’t brought on by any specific thing, rather than when I was crying specifically about say my grandfather dying. I could be misremembering though.

    I can definitely relate to feeling like you need to cry but your body has forgotten. I used to have that happen and could only cry if someone close to me died, but over time it became easier and easier (it probably helped that I stopped viewing crying as a bad thing).

27. Last night.

    Being alone and friendless does that to you.