Multiple emotions or feelings are an experience that almost all people usually face. The theory of constructed emotions claims that it is possible for a person to experience multiple emotions at the same time (Pober 653). In my personal experience, there were a couple of times when I felt joy and sadness. One of them happened during the last evening with a friend before leaving the country for the whole summer. We were walking under a beautiful sunset, talking about different things, and I was really enjoying the evening. However, at the same time, I felt sad to leave my friend. The thought of not being able to see him in a future couple of months was not leaving my head. This mixture of feelings made me feel like an explosion that never happened. On the one hand, I was ready to cry. On the other hand, the evening was bringing me joy that would not let that burst of sadness happen.
The experience was very confusing, and it was difficult to distinguish separate feelings in the mixture during that very moment. I think it is because, at that moment, I was convinced that opposite feelings and emotions cancel each other. For example, when I felt sad, I used to believe that the feeling of happiness or joy would cancel the sadness. However, in fact, it was possible to experience both of them simultaneously. Hence, the experience of multiple emotions was quite strange for me. The confusion resulted from the experience added some other feelings as well. Being unable to understand my state, I started feeling nervous in addition to joy and sadness. In the future, I will be able to easily handle such situations because I am aware that I can feel multiple emotions at once.
Work Cited
Pober, Jeremy. “What Emotions Really Are (In the Theory of Constructed Emotions).” Philosophy of Science, vol. 85, no. 4, 2018, pp. 640-659.