Allowing sadness to take over is the best way to fully experience happiness sooner. I can attest that when I run from sorrow it only comes back at me and cuts into me more deeply, lingering longer than I’d wish. That’s why allowing sadness to settle by experiencing the moment it hits me, is the best antidote I’ve found to help me recover sooner. It’s not a disease though, it’s a normal human reaction in life. Because life isn’t all perfect and happy, on the contrary, although we do strive for that perfection and happiness every single day as if it were our birth right.

As I watched Alain de Bottom’s chat on pessimism, I found myself agreeing with him when he said that sad music can actually make us feel happier because the sadness of the tune and lyrics validate our own unhappiness. By connecting with someone else’s sadness we feel less lonely in our pain, finding some sort of solace or relief. This rings true for me because fairly often I tend to listen to sad music. I find it deep and inspiring when I go on my runs, walks or commutes. I feel more connected to the reality of life, it grounds me and staves away the foolish fantasies of the perfect life. Music also helps me channel my sadness by helping me experience the sorrow so deeply that I come out of it refreshed and ready for the next bout.

Life with all the feelings it provokes is to be taken and experienced raw, and as is. It’s as imperfect as we are. And as the saying goes, none of us is coming out of it alive. So, let’s feel the full spectrum of emotions while we can