Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Thinking about Manweek

This week is Manweek - brought to my attention by Servant of Chaos last week at Coffee Mornings. It's about men talking about their feelings. Not easy - as I am finding now, since I've been thinking about this post since last Friday.


I'm going to be brief (it's a way of me getting out of this easily :) - but the thought that is in my head is that I am very good at relationships in general (business and personal) however I don't think I am good at communicating my feelings to those I care about most - particularly to my immediate family. I am going to talk about my father now - a man who reminds me of the good qualities shown by Walt Kowalski - Clint Eastwood's character in the movie Gran Torino I have the utmost respect for my father - he works hard at everything he does, is a good man but is easily misunderstood. Sometimes I think we misunderstand each other - and that I believe is due in part to the difficulty in communicating our feelings.

With this in mind, I am going to try to be a better communicator of my feelings. Meanwhile, I am going to say this: dad, I love you - you're a great inspiration to me, and I look forward to sharing many years ahead of happy family times, and great memories.

Phew! This post was extremely difficult to write, but at the same time, it makes me feel good to write it. For those men reading this, and who may also feel that they cannot communicate well with a loved one, perhaps try writing something down - a letter, an email, a blog post.

6 comments:

Mark Pollard said...

Hey Tony. Are you going to share this with your dad? I sent a link to one of my posts to my dad and knew it would be tough to talk about face to face. But it felt good... at least for me, hopefully for him too.

Tony Hollingsworth said...

Thanks Mark - initially I didn't, but your comment got me thinking and, yes, have hit the forward button!
Cheers
Tony

Gavin Heaton said...

It's hard to write honestly, isn't it? We are so used to hiding behind layer upon layer ... it's great that you've made it this far. And I am impressed that you are sending to your Dad!

kristin rohan said...

Tony - what a great post.

You've expressed yourself simply and honestly - I think that makes your story quite powerful and profound.

Glad to get to know you just a little bit more each week. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
kristin

Tony Hollingsworth said...

Thanks Gavin, yes, layers - as Shrek says, we're like onions :)

Kristin, thanks for your feedback - much appreciated. Look forward to many more coffee mornings...

Cheers
Tony

MsMaverick said...

Great growth displayed....step 1: Write your feelings, step 2: SAY THEM ....preferably while looking your Dad in the eyes! 3. TOUCH 4. Repeat with others - it gets easier, not more difficult!

ENJOY your new liberatuon and keep us posted on how your dad responded?