That I need to express myself even if someone out there will call me a lesser man, a pussy, wuss or any other term that I can be called.īut I won’t trade my wellbeing and health for recognition. And this made me realize that I can’t bottle emotions anymore. Until I exploded one afternoon on a balcony, hugged my boss and just cried on her shoulder for 20 minutes. I’ve had this attitude for years and years, bottling my emotions, taking it all within me and thinking that’s what I need to do- because, you know, I am a man. If you are perceived as someone in control, it will all be okay- and this is the message we have been fed and therefore the mask we wear. But as long as people don’t see it, it’s all good. You can become an alcoholic, start abusing your wife or kids, attack your friends or just fall into a depression and never get out of it. And that will be uncontrolled and it will show its ugly face in areas you don’t want it to. When you try to hide your emotions and never express them, always bottling everything down in yourself, you will eventually crack. Even from the other, more sensitive gender.Īnd that is why in the US guys kill them themselves four times more than girls. If you even try to talk about these things, you are branded as a pussy. Because the society only rewards tough guys and guys who have their shit under control. You are a guy and you shouldn’t have emotions, let alone express them. A mask which prevents any emotion going out from us. That’s for girls” – when we want to express ourselves.Īll of these and multiple more from our parents, girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, society, news, media and magazines show us that we need to put an emotional mask. “Toughen up!” – when we want to talk about our problems. “Don’t cry! Crying is for wusses and pussies” – when we genuinely want to show either pain or happiness. Similar situations, where guys express their emotions are seen as a sign of weakness.
![men behind the mask men behind the mask](https://movienlightenment.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/men-behind-the-mask-06-1012-de.jpg)
And he became the center of all jokes in the locker room for the next year or two. “Hey bro, I love”, said one guy to another and he responded “Gay”, while telling everyone in the locker room what this guy just said.