For most of my life, I thought suppressing emotions was simply part of being a man. I didn’t question it. I didn’t analyze it. I certainly didn’t talk about it. If something hurt, I kept it to myself. If I was struggling, I handled it privately. If I felt disappointed, anxious, overwhelmed, or lost, I…
There was a time in my life when I took rejection personally. Not just professionally. Personally. If an opportunity didn’t work out, I questioned my abilities. If someone said no, I questioned my value. If a relationship ended, I questioned my worth. Looking back, I can see that I wasn’t really reacting to rejection itself.…
For most of my life, I didn’t think of myself as a defensive person. If someone had asked me years ago whether I handled criticism well, I probably would have said yes. I considered myself reasonable. Open-minded. Willing to listen. But looking back, I can see that I often confused listening with waiting for my…
For a long time, I believed emotional resilience was something people either had or didn’t have. I looked at certain men and thought they were naturally stronger. They seemed calm under pressure. They handled setbacks without falling apart. They stayed composed during difficult situations. Meanwhile, I assumed that people who struggled emotionally were simply less…
There was a time when I believed confidence came from success. The logic seemed obvious. If you succeed, you feel confident. If you fail, you lose confidence. Simple. At least that’s what I thought. The older I get, the more I realize that some of the most confident people I’ve met are not the ones…
When most people think about losing confidence, they imagine a major event. A failed business. A divorce. Losing a job. Public embarrassment. Some kind of obvious setback that shakes a person’s belief in themselves. While those things can certainly affect confidence, I don’t think that is how most men lose it. In my opinion, confidence…
