Somewhere along the road society has made a mockery of girls that are too girly and people that have too many emotions.
Which is not all bad. If you ask my friends and family, I'm not a very emotional or "girly" girl. As such, I don't support letting your emotions run loose and wreaking dramatic havoc, if you know what I mean.
But there's a fine line between avoiding drama and suppressing emotion. I think society has taught us that nobody likes to be around a person with an abundance of emotions, but in my case it turned into a constant battle to be the girl that never feels anything that might get in the way of others' desires or needs. For me, it became a challenge to be the perfect girl that never let her darn emotions expose themselves and bother those around her.
I've discovered that it's not an easy task and it's not a fair expectation from anyone, especially a girl. The mere fact that it's exhausting to try and stifle emotions suggests that there are some that aren't meant to be stifled. Some are purely instinctual and irrational but others...might be plausible. Like I said, it's a fine line and one that nobody is really qualified to judge, seeing as how we're all emotionally wired so differently.
I guess I think that you should never let your emotions run your life unless you want to wind up a hysterical mess. But sometimes, it's fine to cry, it's ok to worry, and it's all right to (dare I say it) fall in love. Sometimes a person is entitled to showing a little emotion. After all, it's part of what makes us human.
Sorry for such a disjointed set of thoughts...I was kind of emotional when I started this.
MandyPies
Minus disconjointation (new word not in dictionary yet) you do make a good point. A good friend of mine always likes to remind me to have balance in life. Which is that fine line you were talking about, however, it can be hard to find it. Which is why I'm convinced the deeper relationship a person has with God the closer they'll be to balance, but then again that's personal so you can't preach it to everyone, right? Machoness has said no emotion, period. Femininity responds by too much emotion. And feminists create the awkward middle by trying to be more like men. I should probably stop before I delve into too much philosophy. The bottom line is for a person not to apologize for who they are, yet still remember that the world doesn't revolve around them. Well it revolves around me, but thats another story... Excellent post, even if it was a bit, errrr... emotional?
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks. You're right, females probably respond with so much emotion because guys often don't show any, but women still feel the pressure to be without emotion. If we don't know from experience, we see in movies/television how often men get together and have group eye-rolling fests with each other about women and their "emotional instability". So then there's this awkward tenstion (I'm speaking for women, out of experience) between having emotions and feeling like it's not acceptable to display them. Maybe I'm bitter.
ReplyDeleteBut anyways, I just think women especially should not be made to feel guilty for having emotions and men need to be aware that it exists and learn how to deal with it! Just like women need to be aware that men, in general, probably aren't as likely to get quite as worked up about things and we may have to learn how to deal with it!
And I totally agree that the better relationship you have with God, the more emotionally stable you will probably be, not in relation to others, but in relation to the potential you have to be unstable. But Jesus got angry! And he wept! Emotions were given to us for a reason and there is definitely a time and place for every single one of them.
Thanks for the response!