Being ‘Emotional’ Isn’t A Weakness
It’s not a superpower to pretend you don’t have feelings.
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‘You’re SO emotional!’
Has this ever been said to you?
Being labeled as ‘emotional’ gets such a bad rap in our society. Statements pointing out how emotional someone is often get thrown around recklessly and frequently with an edge of disapproval and a distinctly negative connotation.
The word emotional describes relating to a person’s emotions and/or a person who has feelings that are easily excited or openly displayed.
I have listened to people characterize someone who they consider to be too emotional as weak or vulnerable on multiple occasions. Wearing your heart on your sleeve or actually showing your emotions is often considered a fatal flaw and definitely something which will lose you a game of poker.
The innate ability to NOT show any emotion or to have that quintessential ‘poker face’ is revered as an admirable badge of strength in our society as oppsed to not being able to hide how you’re feeling at any given moment.
I don’t think I could hide how I feel if I tried — and believe me — I’ve tried!
But why would I want to? Why would I want to repress all of my natural emotions and hide how I really feel? In our current culture of I’m just being honest why not be honest about our emotions and have that be considered a powerful thing to do?
Obviously most people don’t like others seeing them cry — especially ugly cry — which is totally normal and — YES — blowing your temper and raging on people isn’t OK. That’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about using our natural emotions as a power — not as something to be ashamed of.
It’s OK if you get so passionate about a certain topic that your eyes well up with tears. It means you’re full of life and that you care deeply — not that you’re weak. It’s OK if you can immediately sense someone else’s emotions in a room and it affects you intensely. Having that kind of ability is a gift — not a flaw.
