Rocks don't bleed and they certainly don't cry

When people see you as a strong person, a rock, unbreakable, they forget you're still a human being.

There will always be people in your life that once they've decided you are strong, you won't bleed, and you certainly will never cry. Rocks don't bleed. 

But strong people both cry, and bleed. Because more than being a rock, they are human beings. They are living, breathing human beings that feel pain, sadness, happiness. They get tired. They lose focus. They get lost. They cry. And if you hurt them, they will bleed.

I am that person. I am strong. I am able to carry a lot on my shoulders, and what doesn't fit on my shoulders, I will make room for in my head, heart and in my arms. I will fill myself up until there is not space, time, or patience for myself. And since no one has ever seen me as anything but a strong person - a rock - it doesn't occur to them that I might need to be in someone's head, heart or arms.

Sometimes that rock needs a rock. You can't just assume that a strong person will never need love, compassion, or care. That's selfish. And if you love a very strong person, and part of the reason you love them is because they are low maintenance, you are not only fooling yourself, but you've allowed yourself to become selfish. And chances are strong pretty high that you are using them to make your life easy. You are using a human being to manage your life because you are afraid to do it yourself. 

It's an understandable dilemma. Perhaps you are someone who has made bad decisions, and been hurt by your decisions, so feel you are untrustworthy to make good decisions. So you find yourself a solid strong person to bring into your life to make those decisions for you. You convince them you love them because you've convinced yourself that you love them, and then you manipulate them into being your handler. 

Fear makes us do desperate things to keep us from repeating decisions that hurt us in the past. For those of us who are the strong, we make our mistakes, but we're brave enough to get back up and make another one in our quest to find the right path. We wrap our loved ones in our arms, and if they're looking to us to help them get back up, we do that because we know we are strong enough to bear their pain and our own, and we want to take their fear away. More times than not, we find ourselves being blamed when our strength isn't enough to carry another, or we can't take their pain away. 

It's a vicious circle for strong people. We want to be strong for ourselves and for those we love, but it's that strength that convinces others that you don't need anyone to pick up your pieces, or hold you when you cry. 

You're a rock. And rocks don't bleed, and they certainly don't cry.