# Longest you ever went without crying **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 23, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943 "2017-01-23T16:54:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/1 "2017-01-23T16:54:13Z")
Apparently it is actually fairly common for many folks, especially men, to have a phase in their life in which they go for many consecutive years without really crying once. For me, that was age 14 to 25. During that time period I never really once truly wept. I have heard of other men going for as long as twenty years without really crying either. How about you guys? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/2 "2017-01-23T19:06:20Z")
Probably several yeas, but I can’t recall when. I cry at movies, books, country songs, so if I’m not geting exposure to anough of those media, maybe a span of years. I rarely cry about real life things, but I’m a sucker for tear-jerkers – often not the same specific stimuli that affect other people, so I’ll be sniffling by myself, while everyone else is laughing. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/3 "2017-01-23T20:06:28Z")
Last time I cried I was eleven. I’m in my 50s now, and I don’t really see it coming up again. It’s considered an excessive display of emotion in our family, and I was taken to task for it back then (I’d been hit by a car). For years, my friends have played “what would make epbrown cry?” speculating on sad, often ludicrously sad (a plane full of puppies crashes) events that would make me emotional. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/4 "2017-01-23T20:17:21Z")
going on 34 years. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/5 "2017-01-23T20:20:09Z")
28 hours But it’s not really crying. I tear a lot in the morning and it looks like I’m crying. Some mornings it was so bad I’ve had strangers offer to console me. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/6 "2017-01-23T23:02:38Z")
From 7th grade until our cat died a few years ago, so 50+ years. I’ve never just full-out bawled about anything, even the deaths of my parents and siblings. I may tear up, but that’s about it. Now that I’m a geezer, of course, I tear up at a sad drug commercial. WTF is that all about? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/7 "2017-01-24T00:31:03Z")
I was a colicky baby and cried all the time; my father never let me forget that. And I was a “sensitive” child. Then, from some time in my teen years to early twenties, I never cried (except in a stage performance). Maybe 8 years. But since then, I easily cry at books, movies, music, personal relationships in general. I pity people who never cry; it’s like never laughing. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/8 "2017-01-24T01:16:22Z")
30 years, at least, though I have occasionally teared up (last I recall was finishing _Wild Seed_ by Octavia Butler, and those were tears of joy). I did have a tendency to cry into my teens; I was very emotional. I was called “crybaby” more than a few times. By the time I was 14, I had stopped, and kept my emotions in control. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/9 "2017-01-24T05:27:44Z")
It was that period between my girlfriend breaking up with me till that fire extinguisher tipped over and landed on my big toe with the exposed nail-bed. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/10 "2017-01-24T09:01:42Z")
No idea. I don’t cry particularly often, but I don’t keep a record. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/11 "2017-01-24T12:49:24Z")
I don’t keep a record, either, but I’m going to guess around three or four months, maybe sometime in the late 90s when I didn’t have much to cry about (not much sad happening on the world stage, nor in my personal life; there was a year or two when I just didn’t have much “at stake” in my life). I probably broke that streak by my first viewing of _Breaking the Waves_. I was an easy crier until at least age 15, and my kindergarten-age son and my wife are pretty easy criers now. I’m into about a once-a-week-or-two average now. Mainly emotional personal-story news events or scenes in books/films/TV shows, but once in a while the result of good old-fashioned hurt feelings (which would be bad if it happened TOO often in a marriage, but once in a while is okay – shows that at least there ARE feelings), plus maybe once every few years in the aftermath of some professional disappointment or embarrassment. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/12 "2017-01-24T13:33:59Z")
I should have added “music” to the list of artistic forms that provoke my tears. Recently I was moved to tears by listening to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, while reading a short story about it by Kim Stanley Robinson (a writer recommended in a Dope thread years ago). ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/13 "2017-01-24T14:12:03Z")
I’m not a cryer, not at movies or even deaths of parents and I reckon I went a good 20 years without blubbing until I read [this story](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1190061/Beachy-Head-suicide-First-picture-Sam-Puttick-5-meningitis-death-sparked-familys-fatal-jump.html) in 2009 (warning…not gory, just desperately, desperately sad). My son was about 2 at the time and it was simply too much of an emotional punch. I managed to hold out until I reached this paragraph. > [@](#): > > Sam’s little body was found in a zipped-up rucksack alongside his parents’ bodies. A second rucksack nearby was filled with his toys. It still fills me up now. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/14 "2017-01-24T14:31:04Z")
People seem to have different definitions of “crying”. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/15 "2017-01-24T14:46:57Z")
Novelty Bubble, thanks to your link my current no-cry streak is about 20 seconds. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/16 "2017-01-24T15:04:00Z")
I think I remember doind it at school a couple of times, and at my Mum’s funeral, but I can’t remember doing it as an adult, so going on 25 years or so at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-you-ever-went-without-crying/777943/17 "2017-01-24T16:09:23Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Novelty Bubble, thanks to your link my current no-cry streak is about 20 seconds. ☹ It is tough one to read isn’t it? nothing optimistic to take out of it. I think it was second rucksack filled with toys that set me off the most.