We certainly live in a world where people associate "strength" with putting on a happy face and suppressing how you feel, regardless of what kind of inner turmoil you're enduring or what kind of events are going on in your life behind-the-scenes. You're always supposed to respond to "How are you?" with "Good" or "Fine." You could be choking back tears, or feeling like a brick is weighing on your chest, but you'd bottle it all up before you dare to burden somebody with your sob story.

Given, we all lie somewhere on an "emotional spectrum" and some people are definitely more prone to having strong emotional reactions than others. Sometimes it's just the way we're wired that causes us to either want to shut down and disregard our feelings or feel like we're going to explode if we don't outwardly express ourselves in one way or another. I'm the ladder.

Trust me, I've given the tried-and-true ways of emotional suppression a good run. I've numbed myself with alcohol. I've told myself over and over to "fake it until I make it." I've kept myself as busy as possible and constantly surrounded by friends to the point where I didn't even have a second to think about anything... until I did. Until I was alone. Until I was sober. Until everything that I was suppressing came to the surface in uglier ways.

Your thoughts and feelings hold more power than you think. I genuinely believe that in order to release negativity, fear, and any other lower vibrational energy from your body, you have to let it rise to the surface, you have to feel it fully, you have to acknowledge it in all its entirety, and you have to honestly confront it in order to let it go. How you choose to do this is up to you. Whether you find a friend to vent to just for the sake of venting, write in a journal, meditate, or simply cry it out... sometimes you need to do it. And that doesn't make you weak. Nowadays, I think it actually makes you strong.

Just recently, I was having a conversation with a guy at work who was telling me that he was incapable of getting attached or having genuine feelings for a girl. At first, he was stating his case on relationships in a "macho-man, nothing or anything affects me, feelings are gross" kind of way.

As I start probing him with questions, trying to get to the bottom of why he truly feels this way, he eventually spills the beans that his first and only love cheated on him with his best friend. A-ha, so you're really just emotionally blocked. I knew there was more to his emotionless fuckboy façade. At the end of the day, most people that put on this front are just damaged and haven't fully confronted their emotional trauma. And that's okay, you were probably given the impression that it would be weak of you to do so.

Naturally, I started going off about some hippie-dippie nonsense and telling him that he should do some meditating and chakra healing in favor of opening up his heart again. Surprisingly enough, he actually agreed. I loved how simply just showing interest in his story and being genuine allowed him to be vulnerable and acknowledge the fact that he had personal healing to do. Believe it or not, WE ALL DO.

I'm the firmest believer that we all need to be a little more interested, a little more compassionate, and a little more sensitive. I always think about the people who ended up taking their own lives because they were going through so much and felt like nobody cared or the people who result to solving their problems with violence or addiction because they have so much pent-up pain in their hearts.

What if we all felt a little safer expressing ourselves, a little more willing to be a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on...would we be a step closer to a human race that values compassion, peace, and understanding over a human race that is stuck in their own ego, selfishness, and idea of "strength" all the time?

I'm challenging you to stop worrying about being a "snowflake" for acknowledging the fact that you're a human being. I promise you that letting your guard down will allow you to establish some of the most profound, genuine connections with not only others but with yourself. Google "guided meditation videos" if you need some help subconsciously releasing any blockages or negativity from your energy field.

Spend more time in nature. Do some self-reflective writing to organize your thoughts and come to helpful conclusions. You might think I sound crazy but I promise you that it works. It's truly amazing what incorporating more self-care, self-awareness, and vulnerability into your daily routine can do for you.