1The First Confrontation

It was an ordinary morning in Fawzooz’s life: the repeated ring of the alarm, the sound of cars in the street, and the coffee he was used to gulping before rushing to work. Everything seemed familiar. But inside, something was different. Something heavy had been weighing on him for days, and he couldn’t explain it. He didn’t know why he felt this constant unease. Everything was going relatively well: his job was stable and his relationships fairly solid. And yet something was pressing on his chest, something that made him lose control of his emotions at unexpected moments.

That day he had an important meeting with his team. He walked into the meeting room trying to hide the tension building inside him. He sat down, opened his laptop and began reviewing the documents he needed. But as the presentations went on, he found he couldn’t concentrate. His thoughts were racing, like waves crashing into each other without pause. Then, in the middle of the meeting, what he had always feared happened. A colleague began criticising a project Fawzooz had been working on for weeks. At first he tried to hold himself together, but he felt something explode inside him. Words left his mouth before he could think about them.

“Emotions are not an enemy, but a part of our nature that needs understanding and guidance.”

He raised his voice and got into a heated argument. It was unexpected, even to him.

When the meeting ended and everyone had left, he found himself alone in the room. He sat quietly, and regret began seeping into him. How had he let himself behave like that? Why couldn’t he control his emotions? In that moment he knew something had to change. But what? And how? He left the office early and headed home. He needed to think. On the way, anger, sadness and a sense of failure mixed inside him. He didn’t know how to escape this whirlpool. When he got home he sat in his room, the room that had been his only refuge from the outside world.

But this time the usual comfort didn’t come. The inner storms were growing stronger. He opened his laptop and began searching for answers. How could he deal with these emotions? How could he understand himself better? After hours of reading, he found himself reading about emotional intelligence, a concept he had never heard of. It spoke of understanding and managing emotions, of handling pressure and interacting effectively with others. It was exactly what he needed, but there was more. He also discovered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), which seemed like keys that might open doors he hadn’t known existed inside him.

Fawzooz began to recognise the negative thoughts he had allowed to control him, and how he could replace them with more positive and realistic ones. He discovered that all the angry feelings that had taken hold of him were only a reflection of mistaken ideas he held about himself and the world. He decided to begin a new journey, toward a deeper understanding of himself, a journey in which he would not only control his emotions but understand them and use them to his advantage. He knew it wouldn’t be easy, but he was ready for the challenge. That night, for the first time in a long while, Fawzooz felt calm seeping into him. It wasn’t complete calm, but it was a beginning.

A beginning of a new understanding, and of a journey toward emotional and inner balance.