Men aren't afraid of connection.

We are afraid.

We're not afraid of expressing our emotions.

What we're afraid of is the potential isolation that comes when we do express that.

Right?

The rejection.

The rejection, right?

The abandonment.

And I think that's what I had to really unpack and get over it's like what's on

the other side of this right like if if if I if I'm with someone and I express that I'm sad or

if they did something that made me feel a certain way and I decide to in a respectful way express that

then there's nothing wrong when we doing that if they decide to like abandon me and leave then that's nothing wrong when we're doing that. If they decide to, like,

abandon me and leave, then that's on them. But you have to be full enough and confident and

self-secure enough in yourself to say that this is my truth, right? As long as you're not

expecting them to solve it for you, right? Like, I think that's what a healthy relationship should do

is to be able to come in

and say, okay, what is it, what is the thing on the table? And what's yours, right? Like, as a man that you have to deal with and what's your partners to deal with? And then figure out what's the relationship stuff that you have to deal with? Yeah. And then unpack that together. And I think if you have a partner that's willing to do that, then you're good, right? You gooshe it because then this is a matter of like unpacking that. But I think so many of us don't do the work of as men, right, first and foremost, understanding what our own issues are. And so we show up to the table expecting our partners to do all of the emotional labor. Right. And then that's when you're like, you know, you can't blame a person to be like, yo, this is too much for me. Like, I don't want to do it. I don't do with this. So I think that's the first step is like take the time to take stock of your own stuff, do that work or at least embark on that journey first. And then hopefully you're going to find yourself in partnership with someone that's going to hold space for that yeah and i know you mentioned going to therapy i think

that's very important but that was super important for me and my journey but i know for me personally

i struggled with like coming to the realization that i needed to go to therapy is that something

you struggled with or you were just like nah i need to go no you know and i realize that therapy is a four-letter word, right? It's just like it goes into, again, I do men's work, right? And what does therapy equate to in our world? It's weakness, right? It's like something's wrong with you. You're not complete in some way. So I understand why that's such a hesitant, a barrier for a lot of men.

But for me, it was just like, I was just fed up.

You were ready for change.

...