One thing that I admire about men is the way they don’t often let their feelings get the better of them. I saw this played out with a male friend as he weighed up the pros and cons of rekindling a relationship with his ex-girlfriend. I was stunned when he shared how he had decided to ignore his feelings in the decision-making-process and focus on the facts. I’ve never known any of my female friends to put their feelings to one side in this way. In my experience the decision to rekindle a relationship with an ex-boyfriend is usually heavily influenced by how you feel.
Do we women need to man-up? While thinking about this question, It dawned on me why I always cherish my brother’s life advice in times of trouble. I realised that his view always usually diverts my focus on to the facts of the situation and far away from my feelings. Often my feelings aren't even rooted in truth. There is no point allowing how I ‘feel’ about a situation to swallow up the truth. Feelings are good and they have their place, but there are times in life when allowing our feelings to completely direct our responses and reactions is unhelpful.
Do we women need to man-up? While thinking about this question, It dawned on me why I always cherish my brother’s life advice in times of trouble. I realised that his view always usually diverts my focus on to the facts of the situation and far away from my feelings. Often my feelings aren't even rooted in truth. There is no point allowing how I ‘feel’ about a situation to swallow up the truth. Feelings are good and they have their place, but there are times in life when allowing our feelings to completely direct our responses and reactions is unhelpful.
I’ve noticed that as much as I adore my journalism career; it’s a career path of peaks and troughs. There are days when I feel so ecstatic, literally on top of the world, when I’ve just emailed an idea for an article to an editor. Then when he or she doesn’t respond to my email within the 120 second timescale I’ve set; I feel deeply disheartened for hours. Then a few days later when I receive a reply in my in box, I feel all whirly again. It's hilarious!
Editors are busy people and my email is just not the most important email in their inbox. As a new journo, it’s actually more important for me to practice staying calm, cool and collected. I always enjoy watching veteran journalists keep their cool under pressure.
Maybe we women don’t really need to man-up but practice controlling our emotions; especially around that time of the month when our hormones are raging. 'Let emotions subside and then decide' says Joyce Meyer, one my favourite preachers. She argues that when we make choices based on our emotions, we often live to regret it. In the book of proverbs, the Bible teaches us that it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city. (Proverbs 16:32) This shows us the enormous value of self-control. I'm not quite sure why self-control is such hard work for us humans; all I know is that it's one muscle that I'm looking to strengthen in 2012.
Editors are busy people and my email is just not the most important email in their inbox. As a new journo, it’s actually more important for me to practice staying calm, cool and collected. I always enjoy watching veteran journalists keep their cool under pressure.
Maybe we women don’t really need to man-up but practice controlling our emotions; especially around that time of the month when our hormones are raging. 'Let emotions subside and then decide' says Joyce Meyer, one my favourite preachers. She argues that when we make choices based on our emotions, we often live to regret it. In the book of proverbs, the Bible teaches us that it is better to have self-control than to conquer a city. (Proverbs 16:32) This shows us the enormous value of self-control. I'm not quite sure why self-control is such hard work for us humans; all I know is that it's one muscle that I'm looking to strengthen in 2012.
3 comments:
I totally understand the need to "man-up" in the sense that we control our emotions as your male friend displayed.
We could learn a lot and save ourselves lots of stress by following their example. My new mantra, Let emotions subside and then decide" Joyce Meyer is the truth ;)
Hey Candace,
I'm not suggesting we "man- up" adopt other traits. I love being a woman way too much. I think we can learn a lot from men. Have a great week letting your emotions subside before you decide!
Selena xxxx
Agree our feelings/thoughts then determine our actions and behaviours And the result is not alwyas good. something i'm also hoping to improve every day!
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