We often use anger as a coverup for sadness.
Sadness, we think of tears…of how we were “hurt” BY another. It puts us in a place of vulnerability. It’s harder to share w someone who hurt us bc we FEEL like it puts us in a place of vulnerability, where we can be hurt even more.
I share these – as things come up in my life thru trends/threads. I try to take the msgs that fall in my lap & synthesize them.
We had @shea_hillenbrand on the “We’re All A Little ‘Crazy’” podcast this wk (last slide➡️) to talk abt something very deep: how when we chase “things/possessions/accolades/money,” we come up feeling empty & never reach a summit. We wonder – is this all there is? And sadly we’ve lost some prominent figures recently, who had just achieved great accolades in theirs lives…& you gotta wonder, were they having those same thoughts? The thoughts that Shea had as he was flying in a private jet to his first MLB All-Star Game: “Is this all there is?”
Shea looking back, hadn’t done the internal work yet at the time, to find the peace from w/in, that allowed him to be content w who he was – as opposed to trying to find it in what he was chasing.
But he’s in such a better place now. So why does this story come up, over slides abt sadness? My friend Troy wrote me abt this sadness/anger relationship yesterday in a comment on another post. It hit me, bc I’m def guilty of doing this – being sad, & covering it up when flying off the handle
In my own fam I see it in the generation above me, taking care of their sick elders, you can tell – sad at the deterioration of their minds & bodies, but instead showing that sadness in anger & frustration that they can’t do things. It’s a complicated dynamic.
So Shea, in talking abt this wk’s podcast, started tearing up – real tears, when talking abt something he’s going thru w his son. I remember thinking at the time: Wow this dude’s strong. He’s on a podcast many thousand will listen to, he’s live in front of Darren, Theo & I (all sports guys), & he’s just balling in the middle of our talk, not giving a darn abt how others’ll perceive it.
THAT IS one of the big definitions of strength.
