BY:PRASHNA MAHARJAN
“Man up”, “Boys don’t cry”, “Stop being so sensitive”.
If you are a man then you must have heard these phrases quite a few times or maybe so many times that you actually started to believe them. From childhood men are taught that emotions are weakness. Cry and you will be called soft, ask for help and you are a burden, talk about your feelings then you are less of a man. So instead of sharing their emotions freely they go hiding it, bottling up the feelings, pushing through and pretending everything is fine until it isn’t.
Globally mens suicide rate is as nearly twice the rate of women. Yet men are less likely to seek mental health support. This is not a coincidence, it is the culture we have built. Mental health struggles don’t always show up as sadness, there are often signs that show they are quietly drowning when the world expects them to swim.
Here’s what nobody says enough: asking for help is not weakness, sitting with your emotions or talking to someone takes far more courage than pretending to be fine. Families, friends and communities must create a safe space where vulnerability isn’t punished, when “man up” is not encouraged and where mental health conversations are normalised for everyone. To every man who shows up everyday with a smile pretending everything is fine, it’s okay to not be okay. You are allowed to feel emotions, to be tired, to feel lost and show your vulnerable sides. You are a human too so be kind to yourself. Your mental health matters just as much as anyone else
