E M O T I O N S

Emotions

Well I’m sure all of us have projected these emotions in one way or another, maybe verbally or nonverbally.

I know for me, I can be a very hard read at times so my mother says. I have also realized this more as I’ve gotten older. I’m one of those people who do not like to show emotions or put how I feel out there for everyone. I’m not saying I’m emotionless or cold but I’m very conservative. I keep a lot in and I need to have your trust completely before I can let you in.
When I was younger, my mom always says I was such a happy baby, always smiling very independent. As I’ve gotten older I’ve become more serious. I believe this is due to experiences I’ve had. It’s not that I’m not happy but I’m very serious and at times think I need to lighten up.

Similar to Cathleen, all my life I have been worried about the next person. What’s bothering them? If they’re sick, I would want to make them feel better. I was always the person my friends would run to for advice or a shoulder to cry on. I would just want to help whoever I could. Now as I’ve gotten older and have learned and experienced more, I’m not getting in return what I’m giving to some of these people. This in turn makes helping not as rewarding.

I am in touch with my feelings and I understand how and why I feel a certain way but sometimes think I confuse others on how I’m feeling. Dealing with my emotions isn’t an issue. I can deal with them without being overwhelmed and making the situation worse. I’ve learned when to bite my tongue and wait to vent later and when to speak directly. I definitely understand how others feel without them spelling it out. Like I said earlier if I know someone is upset, angry, etc. I want to help them or talk to them to help them through it.

I definitely think I can listen to mine and others feelings to learn from. I tend to hold everything in and either let it go so long that it never comes out or let it go so long that I finally break down and have a night to myself crying and figuring why everything got to that point. I know this is a problem because if I can’t tell someone during the time of the problem, when I bring it up later it will not be as effective or they’ll be wondering “where in the world is this coming from”.

For example, around the time we had to write scripts for class, about someone we wanted to talk to about how what they did made us feel a certain way I had a problem with my best friend. Something she did/didn’t do really hurt me. I was very upset by it and couldn’t believe she would have done this. Well she had called once after and I didn’t answer because I was still angry and I just let it go. I haven’t talked to her since then and she’s finally called again and left me a voicemail. Since I’ve let the original problem go for so long I find that there is no reason to bring it up because it’s over and done with. I mean over a month has gone by so what’s the point now right? Wrong, I know that subconsciously it will still bother me and she will never know why we didn’t talk for over a month. Maybe there’s some miscommunication and she didn’t receive my voicemail from then or something had happened to her that she couldn’t call. I never called or spoke to her so I wouldn’t know what happened on her end. So when I call her and get to chatting I will mention that I was very hurt by what had happened and we’ll go from there.

From this situation I definitely learned I do not want to hold in anger and let it go like this. Especially with my best friend, someone I’m suppose to be able to tell anything to. I’ve missed out on a lot with her just because my stubbornness and anger got in the way.

Like Prof. C has said if someone/a friendship is worth it then you have to step up and make things right. Talk it out, communicate.

Communication is one of the keys to everything and communication ties into your emotions. You communicate to people the emotion you’re feeling whether it be verbally or nonverbally.

Success

Success, to some it’s social status to others achieving an objective or goal, and maybe success is simply the opposite of failure. These are some of the ways that success is viewed.

Personally, I think that success is based solely on what the person seeking success is looking for and what success is to them. To some success is having a healthy family and to others it may be a job they are trying to persue. I think success is also very personal. People have their own expectations of themselves and success they want to obtain. Everyone has their own definition to what success means to them.

Success for me will be graduating with honors for my bachelors going on and receiving my masters and later my doctorate. With all of that I want to become a Professor and this would be a HUGE success for me. Another success for me will be when I start a family because family is very important to me.

I chose to interview my mother because in my eyes I think she’s a very successful woman. I began by asking her what successes has she had in her life. She began by saying, when she met my father, married him and had a family. This was something she wanted and once she achieved it, it was a feeling of success. A successful marriage and her “beautiful children”. She also felt success when she was able to help my dad by working as a secretary in the school district and providing benefits for the family. My father is self employed so with my mom working and receiving benefits was a HUGE help. She said she felt really good about helping to provide for her family, especially with something as important as benefits. Another thing she mentioned that gave her the feeling of success was when my older brother graduated from college, received his masters and is now working on his doctorate, along with me being in college. This feeling of success she said is more like we’re doing what she wishes she could have done. I know that sounds a bit confusing so let me elaborate. My mom wasn’t able to go to college and she’s always wanted to and even wanted to be a teacher. Well my brother has completed his bachelors, masters, and is on his way to getting his doctorate. I am going to graduate with a bachelors that will able me to teach. So our successes will give my mom a sense of success because she’s in a way, living her dream through us. We're bringing her dreams alive.

The interview I had with my mother supports what I said earlier about people having different meanings for success.
"Success is a journey, not a destination." Ben Sweetland