If there is anything that DBC has taught me besides all the programming, it is learning how to explore my inner self. Before starting Phase 0, we were given instructions to watch a specific video about channeling one's emotions. I had not really given a thought on the topic before; whenever I was upset, I did not know what was causing me to be angry. I was simply upset, and I always had to let it out in some way.
I usually don't find myself in a conflict with someone else, but there was one time I was very upset with a close friend of mine. He always seemed to feel the need to "top" everything the other people said. I did not care too much about it, since it was his nature, and if hadn't affected me in any way. At least until something happened. I do not remember what I said to him; all I can recall is that I was having a bad day. I vented out my struggles to my friend. However, instead of being supportive, he told me that what I was going through was "nothing compared to what he had to go through" and that he had it the hardest. That made me very upset, but I did not express my feelings right there and then. I just let it go at the moment in order to avoid dealing with my anger, but when I got to spend some time alone, I became more upset. I then turned to a social networking service (Twitter) to vent out my anger indirectly. Of course, my friend later read the tweet and came over to my room to talk about it. When he asked me if I was upset at him, I simply lied and said I didn't have any problem. This was because I did not want to make anything awkward between our relationship, since he was indeed a good friend of mine. However, what I should have done was to clearly explain to him what triggered my anger, and how I felt therefore. From this experience, I learned that I must never hide my feelings just to avoid an awkward situation. I must first identify the emotion that is arising and try to express it to the other person in a clear, verbose manner so that he or she can understand what had made me feel the way I felt without being so defensive.