Am I Broken?

[Pudd]

about 2 years ago my cousin died at the age of 16 due to muscular distrophy and his sorry excuse for a mother. At the time of hearing this I was quite sad and shocked, but failed to shed a tear. At the time I put this down to the fact that the last time I saw him was 4 years prior to his death and the fact that we werent very close because his mother ran off with him and his brother to Belgium.

At about April last year my 7 year old dog had to be put down due to her body being over run by tumors. When I was told about this, I cried for about 10-15 minutes. Then everything was as before, but minus one dog.

Is it common for people not being able to show emotions easily or am I just devoid of care for other people and animals? :(

[CaptainObvious]

Some people are less emotional than others. Not being highly emotional doesn't mean you're devoid of emotions. There's nothing wrong with the way you are.

[Mr. Smithers]

Just because you don't cry doesn't mean your not emotional. Some people show emotion by getting angry hitting throwing things. Crying isn't the only way to show emotion.

[Pudd]

but I was just like... normal. didnt get mad, didnt cry didnt go all quiet. But I was still sad

[CaptainObvious]

but I was just like... normal. didnt get mad, didnt cry didnt go all quiet. But I was still sad

Everyone reacts differently to emotion. If you felt sad, you might at the most be said to be stoic in your reaction to emotion, but you're not abnormal or anything. It would only be abnormal if you felt no emotion in reaction to such events. When my childhood dog died suddenly of a kennel infection a couple of years ago, I didn't really cry at all - but it was still sad. There's nothing wrong with that kind of reaction.

[Mr. Smithers]

You probably show it by not thinking about it probably. Or you are probably familiar with irony or sadness, you learn to not get affected by it.

[JackOfClubs]

There is nothing wrong with you. You said that you weren't that close to your cousin, and it had been 4 years since you'd seen him. You are around your dog every day, he needs you to survive. It is natural to cry over losing your dog, there isn't anything wrong with that. I would be devastated if something happened to my dog, but when my Grandpa died, I hardly cried because I didn't see him that much because I am in America and he is in Ireland.

Simply put, it depends on your relationship with the person.

[alex95]

i understand the part about your cousin now the dog part i partially understand because people move on after......