I have a theory that we all have an angst meter. Or rather we all fall somewhere along the angst meter. Allow me to explain. Now first of all when I say angst, I mean the agony and depression meaning rather than the nervousness meaning. But I feel like we all have a saturation level of how much anguish we’re willing to take when it comes to the entertainment mediums. Now I have come up with three handy categories to identify the levels of angst.

First and foremost we have books. People who read angsty novels can take the highest level of anguish, simply because reading tends to take several hours to a week or longer to complete a book. Books that would fall into this category would be anything by Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult and practically any book on Oprah’s book club. There are also some romance novels that can fall into this category, not so much in that the entire book is sad, but that there are parts that are so heavy, they tend to overwhelm. I read one years ago called The Marriage Bed by Stephanie Mittman, and I swear I started crying in chapter one and didn’t stop until long after I loved the book.

Next up we have the movie category. It’s second because at the most these films tend to only take up three hours of our lives. Here we have flicks like The Hours, Atonement, The English Patient and PS I Love You. There are hundreds more in this category and again the movie might not end on a bad note, but the intense emotion throughout the movie is what matters.

Finally our third category is songs. Angst-ridden music that just tugs at your heart, there are artists who have made entire careers on these tunes. Sarah McLachlan, for one. Lots of love ballads are tear jerkers. And country and western music is full of wrenching songs like John Michael Montgomery’s The Little Girl or Reba McEntire & Kenny Chesney’s new duet Every Other Weekend. I’ll admit, this is where I fall and country music is at the top of my list. I love it because it almost always tells a story and the angst in that 3.5 minutes is just about all I can handle. My mom, on the other hand, loves sad books and movies, but can’t stand sad music. Go figure.

There are so many popular angsty movies that I’ve never seen simply because I know that I won’t be able to handle them. It’s never really about whether or not I’ll like them, but I’m one of those people that gets totally lost in characters, and the emotion tends to overwhelm me. I actually cried so hard in one movie that I got sick afterwards and vomited in the parking lot afterwards. Is that too much sharing? So there are certain flicks I steer clear of. Last Christmas though my mother MADE me go see PS I Love You with the rest of the women in my family, now I knew ahead of time that this would not be a movie for me. I told her so. And I was right. I hated it. I cried and cried and cried and there was no funny to relieve me. I know that husbands die, but I don’t want to think about that, even for two hours. Same goes for books, I don’t intentionally read books that I know are going to run me through the emotional ringer. Just not my thing. Call me a coward, I can take it.

Here’s one of my favorite angsty songs, though there are tons more.

So how about you? Where do you fall on my angst meter?