I grew up with three brothers who were all older than me.

When I was very young and would start crying for whatever reason, they would say, "Don't be such a baby. Toughen up." So it got into my head that crying and showing emotion is not good, tough people don't do that, and I so badly wanted to be 'tough' like my brothers. I went through my life trying not to cry, especially in front of people. I was a girl that rarely showed emotion, people who first met me wouls think I was cold. It wasn't until I was 20 that I learned that it was ok to cry. I began dating a guy who told me it's ok, everyone cries, and he could tell I had 10,000 tears waiting to come out. I still don't feel that comfortable crying in front of people, but I now know that crying doesn't make me weak.