It's good to talk

For the majority of my life, I have remained pretty stoic when it comes to my feelings and I have been reluctant to seek advice from others. I suppose this is a typical British ‘stiff upper lip’ and admitting any fallibility is an indication of weaknesses. (In the spirit of the Diamond Jubilee, I am very proud to be British; although not to the extent of standing by the banks of the Thames in the rain to watch a flotilla of barges and boats). However, I have realised that admitting your foibles is not a weakness but a strength!

When you confide in friends, you discover that they have the same stresses and worries as you do, and in a strange schadenfreude way it is reassuring to know that someone else is experiencing the same thing as you. Discussing your problems not only means you have to confront them but verbalising them often makes them more palatable. I thought I was alone in my apprehensions about the future and what I want to ‘do’ with my life but I since realising this is a common anxiety amongst my peers, I have become much more relaxed. There is no certainty about your path in life but there is nothing wrong with taking a different course or admitting that something did not perhaps work out as planned, or that you do not even have a plan!

So if there is something on your mind, talk to someone about it or just talk to someone anyway. I guarantee you will feel much better and even if that person cannot solve your particular issue, at least you would have had a temporary distraction from it.

The quote below is a tenuous link to my blog today but I wanted to post it anyway because I like it:  

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

Tennyson

In Memoriam A.H.H, 1849