Friday, November 06, 2009

Strength and Emotions

When it comes to relationships, how do we define strength?

As someone who values mental and emotional strength, I have yet to decide who to award points to when it comes to relationships. The older we get, the more each of us puts up walls. We get cynical and jaded from past experiences, and begin to know better than to blindly rush into each potential love story. We learn to be self-sufficient, so that when the man/woman of our dreams turns out not to be all they were cracked up to be, we have a strong sense of self to fall back on. We find our selves less willing to trust our emotions to another, and thus less likely to find ourselves hurt.

Yet on the flip side of the coin, while you may lose strength points for letting your feelings for someone else dictate your actions/thoughts, it takes a good amount of strength to wear your heart on your sleeve. When the naivete is gone, you have to willingly make yourself emotionally vulnerable to another person. First this involves admitting to yourself such a vulnerability, which is difficult enough, and then acting on it so that others can see. For most this is the scary part, and takes a good amount of courage to overcome. Surprisingly, this is what is most difficult for the stereotypical tough guy to do.

Which takes more strength? And which should we as a society value more?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think being able to open up to someone even after being hurt in the past takes a high level of self confidence. I believe that once you are completely comfortable with who you are, you become more ready to wear your emotions on your sleeve for someone else. Thoughts?