Are you a sensitive guy?
I’ll bet many of you here are, if not all.
Underneath it all I’m a pretty sensitive guy, though believe me I can be tough and hold my ground.
I have a story today about when I was in middle school which is when I believe shyness and social anxiety symptoms started to take hold, after I moved to a new town in Colorado away from all my friends and the life I knew.
So here’s the story…
I was in 7th grade and I had just sat down into my Spanish language class from “home-economics” class. It is basically like arts, crafts, cooking etc.
Over the last few weeks, all of us kids spent time making stuffed animals. The stuffed animal I sewed together was this mallard duck with a bright green head.
(In fact, it is sitting right next to me on my bed as I write this.)
And guess what, I did a pretty horrible job of sewing it together.
So here I was proud of my duck sitting in class, when this kid named Kenny Bavoso who always sat behind me in Spanish class saw the duck and said:
“That duck is SO UGLY. What were you thinking?”
As I tried to defend the duck I was so proud of, Kenny kept making fun of it.
I burst into tears.
The teacher came over and broke it up, and then it was over.
But for weeks after they called me “cry-baby.”
You know what, in a sense they were right, looking back.
However, I attribute this as one of those experiences that sent me on a path of more shyness, because lots of kids in class didn’t like me. I was a socially inept, smarty-nerd and teacher often gave me props in class.
Which actually wasn’t very nice to me OR the other kids.
I don’t blame the kids, because any kid who lashes out like he did on me, probably had problems at home. This kid was kind of a bully.
Doesn’t make it right, but I have compassion (now).
I even don’t blame the teachers, because they didn’t know any better. I used to HATE getting that attention in class because I knew what would be coming from certain kids.
I continued to be shy and sensitive growing up.
Hell, it’s my sensitive side that is the singer/songwriter.
It is my sensitive side that has natural intuition to make me an awesome coach.
I’m proud of my sensitivity now.
But used to always hear “don’t be so sensitive” and I used to hate it, and myself for it.
Thank god, I got over that and love myself like never before.
And it took work to get here, but it was well worth it.
So what about you?
Are you sensitive and feel it is a strength…or a weakness?
Do you love and accept yourself so you can leverage your sensitivity as a strength?
And how’s your confidence these days?
Bottom line: love yourself and your sensitivity no matter WHAT the world might say or throw at you.
It is where your gold-plated, diamond-studded, best self is underneath it all.
Keep at it, keep going. You can do this, man.
