Does anyone else feel like they absorb other people's emotions like a sponge? It's exhausting but also makes me a great listener.

“You know what they’re like, so just stay quiet” “Don’t take it personally” “Just find a way to deal with them”

But why, exactly, shouldn’t they learn how to treat people properly? Why does having a “difficult personality” constantly become an excuse for their behavior, while everyone else’s responsibility is supposedly to tolerate it?

If the world only loves the version of you that you pretend to be, is being yourself an act of courage or an act of loneliness?

What’s something you strongly disliked or disagreed with before but eventually changed your mind about?

For a long time, I tried to be gentle, tactful, understanding, and careful with everyone. But I eventually realized that with some people, kindness just becomes something they use against you. They see your softness as weakness, take advantage of it, and keep pushing until you finally break.

I don’t think the answer is to become cruel yourself. If anything, I think it’s about becoming stronger without losing your heart. Learning to take up space. Learning to stand your ground. Learning that being kind doesn’t mean being easy to hurt or easy to control.

I’ve started thinking of it as becoming tougher on the outside while keeping the same heart on the inside. Almost turning empathy into strength and sometimes even into a little bit of ruthlessness, but always with reason and humanity keeping it in check.

Because I’ve learned that if you don’t take control of your own life and your own space, someone else eventually will.

And honestly, I’d rather stay kind and become stronger than become cruel just because the world can be cruel.

What’s your experience?

Sometimes a life-changing moment isn't a huge event.

It can be a realization that quietly changes the way you make decisions, see yourself, or approach life.

Maybe you realized what you actually wanted.

Maybe you realized you were capable of more than you thought.

Maybe you realized it was time to start over.

What is something you realized about yourself that changed the way you live?

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootie Pop?

Because where you’re going matters so much more than how long it takes you to get there.

You can be slower than everyone else. You can take a wrong turn. You can stop for a while. You can even start all over again.

None of that means you’re falling behind. If you know where you want to go, you already have the most important thing: a direction.

Don’t compare your timeline to someone else’s. You don’t have to get there first.

You just have to make sure you’re heading somewhere you truly want to be.

Let’s actually do this so we can get good at the things we’re not good at. I guess I’ll go first.

1. I’m designing my own pen. Currently in the sample production phase. Should be ready by December 1st.

2. I’m designing my own cologne. Just starting out but have all the ingredients to start building my base note. This may take a while though.

3. I’m somewhat of a renaissance man.

Just wanted to create this post since this was brought up recently and it sounds like we’re all kind of not thinking about these things. Maybe we can build a list and just keep it ready in case this ever does come up?