People who are “strong” are a very rare breed. By strong, we mean those kind of folks who are supposed to be in control of their emotions and feelings at all times. People expect you to be there for them, more than they’ll be there for you. And it gets worse because there aren’t a lot of people around who understand that you too can sometimes not be “in control” of yourself.

But how do you land yourself into this mess, in the first place? You keep pretending to be strong enough till it gets to a point where that’s the only thing that’s expected of you. In every situation, you’re supposed to be the one okay with everything because, hey, that’s just the kind of person you are, right?

1. People keep piling all their emotional baggage on you

Every time you’ll get a call and you think ‘oh hey, how nice of person A to be calling me and asking me how I’m doing’, but it just turns out that they need to discuss something that happened to them, or they need help, and as soon as their matlab is over, so is the call.

2. Your feelings always come second for your friends

How a situation would affect you has never really been a consideration for anyone while making decisions or even talking.

3. You’re usually told of decisions after they’re made

Because, hey, you’d be okay with it, right? And the decisions go from basically what to eat that day to literally anything.

4. You keep everything bottled up inside you

You’ve been keeping everything inside you for so long that that just becomes the norm. You feel like you’re burdening others by telling them what you’re going through or how you feel.

5. People think you love it when they come to you with their problems

And that’s why they keep dumping their shit on you. Because you’re always there lending your ear or your shoulder, they think you’re sort of a recycle bin for their emotions.

6. But obody is ever really there to listen to yours

Try this, but I’m sure you already have countless times, go through your contacts and see who you can call or even message if you need to talk to someone or need something from them.

7. You can’t even go up to anyone to share your feelings with because you’re supposed to be a strong person

People think you’re too strong a person to ever feel something. That you’ll always take everything with a smile, and that things don’t affect you. But of course, they do.

8. And if you do, they think you’ll get over it because you’re supposed to be strong

Why else would you always show off your strength like that?

9. You can’t ever really sit peacefully because there will always be someone asking for something

Because of the fact that you’ve always put out your availability, you’ll never get time for yourself. If it isn’t your phone ringing, it’s your gherwallas calling out to you for one thing or the other.

10. People will never really understand why you’d want some time alone

Such a happy person, always helpful, why would someone like that want to sit alone and miss out on all the ‘fun’.

11. You stop standing up for yourself after some time because there’s no point to it

There’s a thing called ‘learned helplessness’. And that’s exactly what happens over time, when fail to learn how to say no.

So ladies and gentlemen, if you’re always the strong person around, take some time out for yourself, cry if you want to, nobody will judge.

Cover image via @CrazyFPak / Twitter