Crying diaries can be transformative

“I moved from Buenos Aires to New York City at the start of 2020. At that point, I didn’t know it was going to become such a cry-heavy year,” says Pepita. “As the pandemic started and I was sitting alone in my empty apartment, I was crying more and more. As an illustrator, I had sketchbooks around me, so I started drawing and writing about my tears. I kept doing this whenever I cried and it became my crying diary (which I still keep up with). I recommend everyone to do the same: it helps you find patterns and figure out what’s going on, which many of us don’t take the time to do often enough.”

There is such a thing as the ‘right’ conditions for crying

“There are two things I think are important when seeking out benefits to crying,” explains Pepita. “Finding safe space to cry, and finding people that you know can help you. In these conditions, crying can be really beneficial because it limits how vulnerable and out of control we feel. If you need to cry in public, anywhere that’s peaceful and quiet is usually a good place to go, like a library or museum – it might even be helpful to mark these places in your home city on a digital map, just in case.”

“I never cry – but this 4-step guide convinced me to try and shed a few tears”