Sob Factory!

Scene 1: I haven’t seen my family since 6 months. A package arrives with mom’s handmade mithai, my favorite peanut chikki and a gift for me. As I open it, I burst into tears and not only cry but cry with hiccups. The Boy is shocked and doesn’t know what to do!

Scene 2: When I tell my mom about scene 1 on phone I choke up again.

Scene 3: I bid adieu to my MIL at the airport who came to visit me for a few weeks. Surprisingly, tears flood my eyes. Weren’t we supposed to be happy when in-laws leave? They must be super awesome!

Scene 4: I speak about my child-free state with an aunt on the phone. I begin to choke. Wasn’t this a conscious decision?

Scene 5: We’ve bid farewell to quite a few close friends here in Bahrain and dropped them at the airport. I’ve cried every single time!

Scene 6: This one is classic. I have a cousin who is 8 years younger to me but I share the most precious bond with her. I hardly speak to her over the phone. But whenever I meet her I cry like a little baby on departing. Thankfully we meet often, but those tears just tell me how much I love her.

Scene 7: I chat with a long lost friend over the Internet and tiny droplets fill my eyes. Why am I like a little baby?

Scene 8, 9, 10: I watch a movie, I hear a sad story, I see someone in distress... those glands go berserk! Seriously, I have 10 times the normal tear glands.

It is not like I keep crying all the time! If I am in a difficult situation, I fight it out and hardly shed a tear. I laugh a million times more than I cry. But when it comes to relationships, I get all choked up. I don’t verbally tell people that I love them or miss them, but my watery eyes do. Either my tear glands are over-working or my heart is excessively filled with love. I’d like to assume it is the latter!

Does that mean people who don't cry are not loving? Hmm, that cannot happen. The Boy loves me and I have never seen him cry! Lets try to get the science behind it.

It is evolutionary. I am neurotic!!!!
All tears come out of tear glands, or lacrimal glands, found way up under your upper eyelids. We cry when they break. Emotional crying is nothing but evolutionary to get sympathy. Scientific research has shows that "if you are quite empathetic to the suffering of others, you may cry more frequently than the harder-hearted. People who are anxious or neurotic cry both more frequently and more easily than others. And extroverts tend to cry more often during negative situations and are less likely to cry 'happy tears'."

I am just protecting my nervous system.
There have been studies that indicate crying and the release of tears is a way to bring the nervous system back to a normal equilibrium of sorts. If someone continues to cry and be in emotional distress for a long period of time, the stress could cause physical consequences like a stroke or heart attack. Hence crying may be the body’s way of calming itself down (part of the parasympathetic nervous system) and returning to a normal state.

Like always, let me blame it on the hormones.
Studies say that on an average men cry once a month and women cry 5 times (I really don't know where this study was conducted. Even I don't cry 5 times a month!!). Prolactin and estrogen are both hormones found only in women that contribute to crying. So once again, its the bloody hormones.

There are a lot of theories out there. But emotions cannot be studied in a laboratory. No wonder we don't know anything about love as well. I just have one theory, I am very loving and caring and so I cry!! It is showing the world my vulnerability and that is the only reason I feel awkward. As long as I don't cry during a difficult situation, I am fine. Yep, chuck the science, I'm okay being a sob factory!