Big Boys Do Cry
Emotions are a complex subject for most people. For many men, it is a minefield which they want to avoid having to traverse. We all know the old saying “Big Boys Don’t Cry”. This is due to old, outdated concepts of what it is to be masculine. Emotions are a good thing and what makes us human.
I have recently seen a promotion on Facebook called the “Man Up” campaign. This is a campaign primarily about the appalling growth in male suicide. It’s purpose is to change the dynamics of what it is to be a man. It is manly to express your emotions and to cry. It encourages dialogue and for men to talk about their feelings before they become too dark to be reached and they become suicidal.
I see this in therapy on a regular basis. I see the conflict of men trying to come to terms with their emotions and to work through them rather than stifling them and hiding them from view. Suicide takes far too many men who should still be alive and if talking about their emotions will help with that, it seems to me to be a very small price to pay. Talk to friends or to a professional and keep yourself healthy.
