Sadness is part of the primary emotions. As such, it is essential to our well-being. It is an emotion that, if understood and well managed, reveals a lot about ourselves, our needs and our expectations. In general, it manifests itself when you feel a lack, a loss or a feeling of deprivation.
If our first instinct is often to fight sadness, we need to know that this emotion is far from being negative.
It is she, in fact, who informs us about the nature of our emotional needs. For example, if a dear friend has just moved away, sadness is there to tell us that we miss his presence, that his support and benevolence contribute to our balance.
In relation to the evolution of our species this emotion has played a fundamental role.
Sadness has various functions, the main one being to signal to the people close to us the need for their closeness and support in times of difficulty. And crying itself helps to express to others what we feel and signals to them this need for closeness and help.
Another important function is to allow us to pause to process the unpleasant events that happen to us and act as a stimulus to change. Allowing us to stay in contact allows us to let them perform the function of telling us that something is wrong, reflecting on it and finding meaning.
But if most of the time it is easy to identify the event responsible for our sadness, sometimes it happens that this emotion grips us for no apparent reason.
It is therefore essential to try to understand this reason. In fact, it is only by identifying the origin of sadness that it is possible to overcome pain and make progress.
In other words, sadness is an emotion that loves us and is good for us. Pushing us to act and leading us to seek comfort from new people or in new rewarding activities. So in a somewhat paradoxical way, sadness makes it possible to live better.