The last two weeks I’ve been barraged with the notion that men are far deeper beings then they often let on.

When the chips are down as women, we often seek each others companionship out to vent, drink, cry in each others arms and let loose.  I certainly have those gal pals and when I had a bit of a stumble a few weeks back, it was those gals that were there to help pick me up, dust me off and apply the bandages. I don’t know what I would have done without them.

Photo by Jill Watson

I, however, am also the girl thats grown up as the tomboy, meaning that I have a certain ease and comfort with men that has meant that some of my best friends are also guys.  The guys were there too.  They hugged me, listened to me, and handed me the hard liquor, but I couldn’t really talk to them about what was going on.  They’d just get mad and seemed somewhat irrationally overprotective of me.  It was nice to know that I was loved, but didn’t go so well with me talking it through and I tend to have a habit of processing aloud.

At any rate, as I have returned to a more zenful state of being thanks to my friends (both male and female), family, Jennifer Priest and the most loving little cat, I’ve had a bit more of a chance to reflect, and have started to recognize why the men in my life were so mad and it went far deeper then just simply their feelings of love and protectiveness towards me, and here I simply chalked it up to them being irrationally overprotective initially.  I also started realizing how deeply they really understood me, seeing far below the surface.

Perhaps the two that this rang deepest with were my Dad and one of my oldest buddies.  Dad’s been trying to tell me to slow down and take a holiday for weeks in a subtle manner and I didn’t  realize just how badly I needed it until I burst into tears when he said it more directly on the phone the other day.  Thinking maybe I should have listened to him a bit sooner.  And then there was my old buddy, who kept telling me I needed to start writing even if I didn’t publish what I wrote.  I didn’t want to as when I’m feeling raw, I am most honest with myself, vulnerable and reflective when I’m writing and I wasn’t sure I could handle that, was scared of what I  might discover and of the emotions that might come with it.

Photo by Gina Biancaniello

Well, I had to start writing Thursday  in my coaching prep form for @JenniferPriest and I was amazed in the session that followed at the realizations that came out.  Feeling a whole lot stronger now and ready to start cautiously writing again.  Also going to start doing a little more listening to what the men in my life are saying.  They are far more insightful and deeper then I think I gave them credit for.