Men. Intelligent. ™
Don’t start before completing Challenge #31.
If you want to join the IntelliMen Project, start from Challenge #1.
Challenge: Are you too in touch or too out of touch with your emotions? Regulate them.
Explanation: What’s worse than an emotional woman? An emotional man. There is a reason why God made men less emotional than women. They were the ones who had to hunt, bring food home, and kill the enemies who wanted to take their land. Imagine an emotional man doing this… “I need to kill that deer, but it’s so cute… awe, it looks just like Bambi!” He would die of starvation. “I can’t fight that guy, I can’t stand blood… I get queasy just thinking about it!” A sword would be quickly thrust into his nicely shaved abdomen. In other words, God knew what He was doing.
Men are less emotional because they need to show strength, courage, persistence and other specifically masculine qualities – for their own good, as well as for their family’s good. But in the upside-down world we live in, the latest trend is “sensitive men.” They cry, use earrings, get easily offended, use their wife’s moisturising cream and even pluck their eyebrows…
But those habits are not the only way to spot an emotional/sensitive man. Some appear very macho but are victims of their own explosive tempers, insecurities and pride. This type may suffer even more than the first because they easily destroy friendships, lose people’s respect, can’t hold down a job, and if a woman happens to stay with them it’s out of fear.
Your challenge this week is to face your emotional habits, identify your weaknesses and deal with them so that you can be more balanced.
Are you overly sensitive? Which emotions end up taking their toll on you, disrupting your relationships, your health, your work or your emotional state? How do you react when people disagree with you – do you keep your cool or do you go off the deep end? Do people constantly say that you need to be stronger, more mature, or more of a man? Identify your emotional weaknesses and work out strategies for how to best deal with them.
On the other hand, are you too insensitive? Maybe your case is completely different. Are you are an iceberg, is it hard for anyone to get a rise out of you? Does your wife complain about you being too cold, that you never pay attention to her or new show affection? (Remember, God created women to be more emotional, to offer a natural balance to men. But she’s not a man, don’t treat her like one.) Do people complain about how inconsiderate you are? Do you hear people say that you don’t care about anybody’s feelings? If so, discover what you need to invest in, or who needs more attention and care.
IntelliMen are emotionally intelligent.
Notebook: Spend a couple of minutes to sit and think about this challenge. Consider your emotional habits, what makes you blow a fuse or when you act like an iceberg. Weigh the comments you have heard from the people you love, and write down your thoughts.
Official Partner: If your partner knows you well, ask him if he has any feedback to give you with respect to your emotional side. Share what you reflected on.
Deadline: You may begin working on this challenge immediately and complete it before Challenge #33, which you can begin in a week.
Post: After – and only after – you have completed the challenge, post your comments on the IntelliMenWorld Facebook or Twitter page, (not on your own page) and write the following:
IntelliMen Challenge #32 done: From now on I will be emotionally intelligent (feel free to add your comments about the challenge.)
Links:
www.facebook.com/IntelliMenWorld
www.twitter.com/intellimenworld (when tweeting, use @intelliMenworld)
Verification Checklist
☐ I faced my emotional habits
☐ I found strategies on how I can deal with them
☐ I wrote in my Notebook
☐ My partner and I spoke about the challenge
☐ I posted my comments on Facebook/ Twitter
