Emotions are Big Data

After Madeira, our next stop was Cyprus. We stayed a few days in Larnaca, but the vibe wasn’t right – too hot, too busy. We headed for the mountains and found this chill village near Mount Olympos, the tallest peak in Cyprus, and it was perfect for our introspective mood.

The whole time here was spent either in the airbnb balcony, hiking, or finding a hill to chill on and think.

The main focus during this Cyprus chapter — and honestly, for the past several months — was all about emotions. I discovered a blind spot in my self-awareness: emotional intelligence.

Over the years, I’ve read a bunch of books on psychology and human behavior and felt like I had a good grasp on how humans, including myself, operate. I've always seen myself as a 'feeler,' someone deeply emotional and intuitive, so I assumed I had emotional intelligence all figured out.

I was so wrong, confusing emotional depth for emotional intelligence. Yes, I was feeling deeply, maybe good at recognizing others’ emotions and empathizing with them, but day-to-day, my awareness of my own emotions was shockingly superficial. I was tuned into the loudest minority of emotions while overlooking the quieter, subtler majority that were more insightful.

As a result, I kept doing things I didn't even like. I would sometimes even actively distract myself from listening to what I was actually feeling. Like you know, when you go to a bar and get drunk just to numb yourself to make the nightlife a bit more tolerable? And then one day you're like, wait... why am I even doing this?

Emotions aren't just feelings or reactions; they're data – BIG DATA! It’s a whole database of my likes, dislikes, wants and innermost needs – way more precise than any rational analysis, but somehow I've basically been neglecting them, just going off what I "think".

It's been a slow build, but now, I actively practice emotional awareness. In random moments, I pause and ask, "What exactly am I feeling right now?" and then "Why?". Man, the answers feel like cheat codes for life. No exaggeration, it's a game-changer.