"I cry in public all the time and I'm not going to stop."

I’ve got a confession to make – I’m a big old cryer.

Big fat tears regularly roll down my face and waterproof mascara has become my best friend.

No, I’m not depressed and nor am I constantly sad. I’m just a highly emotional person with massive tear ducts, and I’ve reached an age where I give less f**ks about what people think of me.

I sit right on the edge of my feelings and experience raw (and very leaky) reactions to things in real time (kind of like a three-year-old but with a job, and a bank account, and whole lot of indoor plants).

The thing is, I’m not a sooky lala – I very rarely cry about things happening to me, I just cry about everything else.

I cry intermittently throughout my work week as I write the news, and I’m not sure whether I’ll ever be the kind of person who can read about terror attacks, miscarriages and domestic violence and not shed a tear for my fellow humans.

I cry when I see a particularly poignant ad on the TV or a cute dog meme on social media.

I cry when I see two strangers being nice to each other on the train.

I cry when I read my favourite author’s books and they’ve written something that I’ve felt so many times before but was never able to put in words.

I cry when I see strangers stopping to help someone who’s fallen over in the street.

I cry when I watch TV (especially when they play some epic, haunting song when someone dies and they always play some epic, haunting song when someone dies).

Sometimes when something’s particularly funny, I just skip the laughing stage and go straight to tears.

I cry when I catch up with a friend I haven’t seen in a while, because I’m just so happy to see them.

Sometimes I cry because my dog is just being really cute and how dare he?

I cry when my plants die because I’m sad they had me as a plant mother.

If I see someone else crying, my eyes suddenly well up with tears.

I’ve ugly cried in public many times and I’m not going to stop anytime soon.

Is our constant quest for happiness making us sad? 

As adults we’re told not to cry in public. We’re supposed to bottle up our emotions and deal with them in a healthy way – like by downing a bottle of wine or flipping the bird at other drivers on the road.

But crying – really having a good old tearfest – is so bloody good for you.

Honestly, crying about something usually leads me to laugh about it and then I get over it. It’s a big burst of emotions followed by the kind of serenity even Darryl Kerrigan would envy.

When I cry I get all up in my feels and then I can just let them be. I’m not holding onto a whole bunch a residual sadness and then taking it out on the checkout operator at my local supermarket.

So I’m not going to stop crying in public – and either should you.

We should all just have a big ole’ sob in the supermarket. I promise it’ll only be awkward for like the first 100 days or so.

Who’s in?