I’m a crier.

We call it the ‘Symington crying gene’ in our family as it most definitely comes from my mum’s family. My mum and siblings, aunts, uncles and several cousins all have it too.

I cry for many reasons; most strong emotions bring me to tears to be honest. Joy, sadness, frustration, anger to name a few. 

I have been known to cry watching ads.

I once cried so hard reading a book that the person who found me sobbing thought I had lost a family member.

Over my 50 years I have learned to own my tears, it is part of my heritage, and a sign that I care passionately. Even at work I accept that sometimes I am moved to tears.

The crying scenario where I am still uncomfortable is when they are tears of empathy. I am the person sobbing at a funeral of an acquaintance. The person who cries when someone else cries. Even if they are a stranger.

I feel that my tears take attention away from person experiencing the strong emotion. And the more I try to hide the tears the more the focus comes to me.

But there is nothing I can do. In rare cases I can delay my tears, but not often.

So, I am learning to own those tears too. To not hide, to not apologise. To not explain.

It is hard, and makes me very uncomfortable.

But feeling strongly enough to shed tears is not something I want to be ashamed of.