My mom, God rest here really wonderful soul, had this thing where, any time anything kind of hard or, especially, emotionally difficult and raw, would arise, she would stop the conversation and proclaim that: "This is a heavy number."

That meant that the conversation was over. That's how I was raised. No wonder I learned to bottle it all up and chose a profession (surgery) where showing emotion is a huge negative. I was a very good surgeon, if I do say so myself. But it has taken me a long time to become a pretty solid human. I just wasn't given those skills in my youth. I was taught how to achieve. So, that's what I did.