Walk With Me - An Audio Guide for Self-Improvement
Walk With Me - An Audio Guide for Self-Improvement
Breaking the Stigma: Fostering Supportive Spaces for Men's Mental Health
It's no secret that men often struggle with expressing their emotions, but what if we could change that? With men's mental health being such a crucial topic, we're shining a light on the importance of creating safe spaces for men to open up and share their feelings. I'll be sharing my own journey, and how my supportive partner has made a world of difference in my mental well-being. But don't worry if you don't have that special someone, there's still hope to find that support within your community.
As we open up the conversation about men's mental health, we also tackle the responsibility of checking in on the men in our lives. It's essential to provide a supportive environment for our loved ones, and we hope our discussion inspires you to extend a hand to your brothers, fathers, and friends. So let's work together to break the stigma, and ensure everyone has a strong support system in their lives. Listen in and let's make a change for the better!
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Ask me any questions you would like answered in future episodes to help you with your struggles in life or career.
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John D. Leon does all music and his website and portfolio can be found here.
Passion, drive, persistence, resilience, love all qualities that shape and define us. Join the Cyber Warrior as he helps shape your path. This is Walk With Me.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to Walk With Me. A Cyber Warrior Studios production. I'm your host on this journey, the Cyber Warrior. Being that it's men's mental health awareness month and I didn't get to record an episode last week, i wanted to touch on it this week for this episode, because men's mental health is something that isn't talked about enough. I have seen sparks here or there where it seems like it's finally going to come to the forefront and we're finally going to get over this hump of suck it up, of just deal with it, of you know it'll be okay, man up things like that, but the reality of the situation is, you know, yes, men tend to approach situations differently than women.
Speaker 2:Not all, that's more of a generalization, but I'd say you know it's a pretty good majority And a lot of us have been raised to just drive on. If you're hurt, don't show it. If you're feeling weak, don't show it. If, mentally, you're frustrated, you're spent and you just can't handle it, don't show it. And it isn't until it's too late that a lot of times people finally find out, and it's already too late by then. So for this episode I really wanted to concentrate on that because I have been talking to a lot of people and noticing a lot of stressors in people's lives. They don't feel loved or wanted, or don't know who to talk to, when to talk to people, how to talk to people, things of that nature. Because we just aren't raised that way And I know times are changing Things are a little different.
Speaker 2:I'm not trying to say don't be strong. I'm not trying to say you know, don't lose who you are, or to lose who you are. What I'm trying to say is there's a time and a place And for many, being able to talk to somebody is something they're not used to. Being able to have someone there and have someone that you can just vent to, and without judgment or reprisal or anything like that, is not normal. And so, you know, for me, i find I got lucky. I found my brothers in the army who, yeah, we've got some dark humor, we've got some jokes, but at the end of the day, you know, there's a few that I can tell anything to, and some people don't have that And it's sad to see because, you know, even in our communities, even, you know, in our little stubsets of people we interact with on a daily basis, we find that we can't always talk to them, because we're going to be judged whether it's based on our beliefs or based on, you know, the fact that we're weak.
Speaker 2:And this at the third. And it makes it very difficult And let me expand upon that even just a little bit more because let's take my wife, for instance. So I love my wife, we have a partnership. You know we talk about telling each other everything and not hiding anything from each other.
Speaker 2:When it comes to mental health and how I'm feeling, i have a hard time because I was raised in a house where, you know, it's not okay to show weakness. You take care of your family, you provide, you're always there, you're kind of the rock, and so for me it has been very difficult to let go of that and to pull back the reins. And so when I'm struggling, you know my wife sees it and not everybody has this. Don't get me wrong. I will admit to being very lucky in my life. You know I work for everything I have, but in the people I've met, and you know my wife especially. But when I talk to her, when she sees that I'm not, something's not right, she'll ask about it. And now she doesn't dig in unless it progresses for a few days, but she notices And so she knows when something's not wrong or not right.
Speaker 2:And I'm very lucky in that because I know with all of our talks, with all of our ups and downs or fights are good and bad, she has not held any of those weaknesses against me, any of those times that I broke down or felt like a failure or anything like that. That has never been held against me. It's actually been the opposite. He has been the one to lift me up and, you know, tell me I'm worth it and things of that nature, and I get it. We don't all have that, but this is where your brotherhood, your brothers and sisters and, you know, the people in your communities can really come together. Because you know I'm like I said, i'm lucky. I've got a few communities that I'm a part of and we lift each other up every day.
Speaker 2:So you know, when it comes to mental health, and men's mental health especially, there are safe spaces out there for you. There are places where you can go free of judgment and talk to people and let people know how you're feeling, why you're feeling this way, and understanding that. You know I get it. There's not a lot of times. It's not something that anybody can fix, and you're not looking for anybody to fix the situation. You just want to be able to show weakness or apparent weakness at a time in which you just need to express yourself and don't know how, and that's alright.
Speaker 2:Another thing that I like to talk about and would like to touch on with this is, you know, going to a gym or being involved in some type of taekwondo or martial arts or boxing or something like that. That allows you to kind of, you know, really get into a structure and a habit and even take out some aggression here or there in a safe and controlled way. Meditation and really taking a look at yourself and being able to sort through what emotions you can control, what situations are in your life that you know you just got to kind of let go and deal with. And then what can be fixed because that's the other part of it is, we can't fix everything, even in our own lives. You know it's okay to talk to a doctor and a psychologist, someone who really doesn't know you from Adam And yeah, some of them suck, don't get me wrong, but you know I have found some good ones that will talk to you and help you through things, and so I think that is a huge part of it is, you know, being able to talk to these people. No, i get it.
Speaker 2:It's not easy, as men and things like that, you know we find it very, very difficult to open up to anybody, but it's a necessity. The suicide rate of men is way too high right now, of anybody in general, but as far as you know the actual rates of suicide and successful suicides going through with it, you know the men's rate is way too high And we need to get it down to zero. I'd love to get everybody's down to zero, but you know we need to fix the problems within us. And so for for walk with me for this week, i really want you all to concentrate on finding your communities and your people that you can open up to. Finding those How do I put this? Or family members, or you know, religion or whatever it may be, that you can open up to them.
Speaker 2:Well, on the flip side of that, you know, call your brothers, call your uncles, your fathers, your cousins, your, your buddies, whatever the case may be, because you may have to cry, you may have to dig in a little bit to figure out what's going on. Meaning that you know I'm okay means you're not okay, i'm fine. No, you're not. You know I'm alive, i'm just getting by and you're not really okay. You know things like this.
Speaker 2:You have to really dig in and find out if they're truly doing good, or even, you know, in a good headspace, or if they're suffering, if there's something going on internally that they don't realize, or maybe they do realize it and they don't want to tell you right away. So you have to ask And, in that same vein, understand that just saying hello to somebody, just calling and letting someone know you care, will snap them out of that that mind frame, because at that point in time they feel like nobody cares about them, they feel like nobody's there for them, nobody's going to help them, and so just making that phone call is good enough, not all the time, but you know, a good bit of the time. So you know, take a good, hard look at your males that you know in your life, the men in your life, take a good, hard, hard look at them, because there will be a lot of times, i guarantee you that, if they feel they have no purpose anymore, that you know, all of a sudden, their life is hard to live and they feel no need to continue living. And you may not realize it. Some of the happiest people, or some of the people that seem happiest, are sometimes in the darkest of places. Some of the ones that tell the most jokes. You know, they seem like they're in good spirits all the time. Isn't always true. They're doing that to mask how they really feel, and so you have to look beyond the mask. You have to be able to know the person themselves.
Speaker 2:So so, yeah, so, you know, i hope this week, you know, really hits home for a lot of you, because I want you to start checking in on your brothers, on your uncles, your fathers, your cousins, your battle buddies, whatever the case may be, and really figure out if they're doing okay, because without everybody here, without you know these people in our lives, we never know how things are going to turn out.
Speaker 2:So make sure you check on them Now look otherwise. I know this has been a shorter episode, but this is a topic that I wanted to touch on and really try to drive home the point of checking in on. You know the men in your life. So this has been another episode of Walk With Me and I truly hope you got something from this and you know. If you feel like it go ahead, drop a rating down below. Check out the description, show notes for all the ways you can support the show and the multitude of shows I have, and otherwise, look, i will catch you all next week on another episode of Walk With Me and I will see you guys next time.
