My Life's Journey - Where the heck have I been? Part 2 -Lesson 1 - Being "STRONG".

To be honest, my amazing friends. I was going to write to you in detail about what happened to me in Morocco. But, I realized it would probably be a book with 100 pages in it about me complaining too much and talking about how hard I got screwed. In reality, part of it was my fault. And, that is not what I want to share with you in these next posts. But, rather I want to share with you the lessons I learned from it all. I will share with and describe the KEY moments where I thought I made a mistake of not listening to myself and wanting to please everybody around me instead of protecting myself. I hope through these posts you will take lessons I learned, and maybe apply them if you ever find yourself in a similar situation in life as me. I hope you will learn from my mistakes.

As you know before I had turbulent summer with my father having many health problems which we thank God managed to solve and he is better than he ever was really. It took a lot of patience, struggle, pain, to get him there. And, it has tired me out emotionally, and in the end physically. I did not really realize how much until now about 2 months after it all happened. My mind was so focused on him, and getting him better, I ignored myself. I ignored my emotions, my body, and it has left a big toll deep inside me.

No matter what tough situation in life you are, always find the time to process your emotions. I made a mistake of shoving my emotions so deep inside because I thought that is what STRONG people do. I thought strong people don't cry, don't show emotion, and just STAY STRONG all the time. Well, part of it is true. Yes, you have to be strong in the moments you need to focus and make tough decisions. But, faking to be STRONG while there is "STORM" of emotions inside you is not something you want to do EVER. It will get you NOWHERE.

And, I made that mistake of FORGETTING to take care of myself. I was hiding myself and my emotions from everybody. During those tough times, I thought it was the right thing to do. I wanted to be "STRONG", but in reality I was scared, still only 30 old kid who has been thrown in a situation in life he has never been thrown in, and every day was an emotional rollercoaster I did not show to anybody. I have locked myself up in the PRISON OF MY OWN EMOTIONS. And, my amazing Steemian friends, it is not something you should ever do.

So what does it truly mean to be STRONG in my personal opinion of course? Do not try to be STRONG for everybody, don't try to be strong all the time. Because you will only over-pressure and over-burden yourself and it will take a toll on you. Because there is not a single person in this world who is STRONG all the time. If somebody thinks he is, it is my personal opinion he is not being very honest with himself and he is falling in the same EMOTIONAL PRISON I fell into. He is ignoring himself, and his emotions. And, that my friends, is a very dangerous thing to do. I learned it the hard way.

What being strong means is to have the strength to gather yourself for the moments you need to make tough decisions. It means I am putting the "STORMS" inside on time-out. That is real STRENGTH. That is what I think STRONG PERSON is. He is able to tune out everything and just focus on the task ahead. He is STRONG when life needs for him to be STRONG. But, no matter what is happening we all have to find time to face your emotions, and we have to "deal" with them, or they will leave a mark on you further down the road.

In my next post, I want to tell why it is important not to ignore yourself, your emotions, and your feelings. You can put them on "time-outs" when you need to focus, but ignoring them is not a good idea. I will talk about how to release emotions from your body so they do not create chaos inside you. We all have to find ways to do it. I believe it is one of the most underrated things we can do for our health and well being.