re: What's been the toughest emotional struggle of your life?

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not acknowledging your feelings doesn't make you strong, it makes you angry and bitter.

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So true.

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Mine are a bit trivial compared to the rest of the thread. But my biggest emotional struggle has been a sense of failure.In the sense that I’m nowhere near where I thought I’d be at my age. And it’s even worse, at least in my mind, because every problem I have with that is completely self inflicted. Never taking school seriously enough and now I look at myself at 25 and I don’t have a job that I really want to do. Wake up hating going to work because I know I could be doing so much more with my life. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I’m above any job, because I don’t believe that any job is beneath me.

It’s just that I know I’ve got untapped potential and it’s 100% on me that I’ve not ever realized my full potential. I think a lot of it is that I still haven’t really figured out what it is that I want to do career wise. Once I got to the age of trying to figure out what I wanted to do, I never figured it out. I still don’t exactly know what I want to do, but I know what I don’t want to do and that’s better than nothing.

Idk, it’s hard to describe.

However, I’m working on remedying at least part of the issue by buckling down in school, albeit far behind the 8 ball compared to my peers. I know that a degree isn’t the be all end all but it at least opens up doors that would otherwise be closed to me.

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Never try to compare yourself to others. Stick to comparing yourself to who you were yesterday, who you were a year ago, who you were 5 years ago, etc. At the same time, don't feel guilty about what you feel. If something feels wrong, it probably is. Don't be ashamed of your emotions, use them as a motivator. It is perfectly natural to feel like you're a disappointment at 25. I know I sure as heck did (still am, but that's another story).

You just need to remember two things:
1. You're at the beginning of your journey. You have 5 whole years until you're 30 Jk, kudos if you caught the reference. You're supposed to be overworked and poor in your 20's. The whole point is to spend that time grinding, finding out who you are, and building a foundation for the future. If your job sucks, that's fine. You can grind at it for a couple years until you've got the experience to either move up to a better job or move on to a better company. Most people hate their jobs in their 20's. That's not a bug, but a feature. If you liked your job at 25, you'd never need to hussle like hell to move up to get to something better. Those jobs are supposed to suck in order to give you that drive to strive for more.

2. Never forget the 80/20 principle. 80% of sales are made to just 20% of customers. 80% of the work must be done before only 20% of the progress is visible. 80% of an iceberg's mass is below the surface of the water. When you seem like you've barely made any progress, remember the 80/20 rule. Odds are, you're far closer to where you want to be than it may appear. When you're building a house, 80% of the manhours are spent on the sitework, pouring the slab, doing the in-slab plumbing, etc. It doesn't even begin to look like a house until you're in that final 5th of the job.

The key is patience and grinding.

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Redstick13 keep coming back here man if needed. This place is alot of things mostly a bunch of guys just BSing but it is also a place to vent. Not many guys have a place to do that because they suppose to be that rock at home. Good luck man and hope you get some type of closure on what happened to your son.

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Thanks buddy.

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I buried my son.

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I’ve done the same. It’s a battle everyday to not feel abandoned by God.

burying my dad after loosing his fight to cancer only to have to find out my brother was diagnosed 2yrs later and burying him after fighting it for 3yrs.

sucks.

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growing up around whites and fitting in among black people has been mine.

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Wtf

They are ppl too. How old are you?

I enjoyed the experience of being the only white DB on the football team.

Edt: black ppl are scared of everything. Fyi. I was raised rural as rural gets and didn't go to school with other races until highschool. I just dont understand why or how it's an issue.

While I was "disabled", I always saw myself just like the other kids. There were people I grew up with my entire life and being accepted by them helped me be accepted by others when I started school.

There were times when I would get into with other kids and they would tell me something about being in a wheelchair, but I would always have something to come back with.

In middle school I had to go to a small Catholic school. Long story short, after 5th grade middle school was at a different school (building). The building was old. There were stairs to get in on the first floor, the classes were on the 2nd and 3rd floor and there was no elevator so my parents sent me to a small catholic school where I didn't know anyone.

For 3 years it was an emotional struggle for me. I was messed with, hit on, etc and refused to tell anyone because I thought it would make me look weak. Part of the problem was on me, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. When someone told me something I just couldn't hold my tongue. One time someone punched me in the arm and told me if I say anything again he will punch me again. That went on for a good 6 or 7 hits until recess was over.

I had a huge bruise on my arm. My parents saw it & I told them it happened after school when I was playing with the neighborhood kids, but I wasn't going to let someone try to intimidate me. I'd rather go down than be a bitch and let someone think I am scared of them... But that was tough.

There are other moments.. Like when my dad was really sick and then passed away.. But the situation I mentioned is one I just don't mind mentioning on here.

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not acknowledging your feelings doesn't make you strong, it makes you angry and bitter.

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I couldn’t agree more.

We all face hardship and disappointment in our lives. But burying our feelings isn’t the answer. We should confront what we feel, try to understand it, and then do something about it.

That’s strength, and it’s what we should all aspire to.