As a woman surrounded by men her whole life, I care deeply for the men in my life. Anyone who knows me knows that I care about anyone in my life. As I read about the concerns for men’s mental health, I think of my three older brothers, my coworkers who are men, and my friends who lost to mental health. I think of how lucky I have been to have men confide in me about vulnerabilities and emotions. Most importantly, I question, who is doing something to lead the change. How can we improve this issue at hand? What can help solve this situation?
The other day I was reading through Reddit when there was a thread on a men’s mental health crisis. I remember reading about a similar concern in the Harvard Business Review, we need to talk about men’s mental health at work.
In Ruchi Sinha's HBR post, Sinha calls out: “The state of a person’s mental health has serious consequences — not only in day-to-day life but also at work. It impacts factors like employee productivity, performance, and motivation.”
But also at work. This is why companies need to care.
Society consists of various archetypes. The “traditional male stereotype in several cultures includes ideas that men are expected to be assertive, ambitious, independent, self-reliant, in control, strong, and successful earners who have stable jobs and high-income security” (Ruchi Sinha, HBR). This can decrease the likelihood that a man will open up about the internal challenges they face.
It is important to note, people from all walks of life face these challenges and mental health issues as well. Recent research found that women tend to face tremendous pressure to be perfect. There’s an unspoken expectation to be nearly perfect at work, at home, in the gym, etc. There are also countless stories of people discovering their own identity, where being a man or woman simply doesn’t fit who they are, and face pressure and anxiety to be someone they are not.
There’s clearly a commonality of pressure to be a certain way or seem a certain way, leading to anxiety and deeper mental health concerns.
This goes to proves that regardless of what privileges we think someone may have, they may be battling another demon hidden beneath the surface. At the end of the day, we are all human.
Can we accept that emotions are a part of being human? Can we accept that businesses are operated by humans? People [humans] do business with people [humans]!
In recent years, more podcasters and leaders publicly discuss their vulnerabilities and emotions. There has been an increase in the effort to create a safe space for men to discuss their emotions.
I’m curious, is there a community out there for men to have a safe space to open up? (Beyond therapy. A place where men talk to other men, people going through similar experiences.)
Is there a place for men to discuss their emotions in a way that feels safe and like it will not impact their careers or how they are perceived?
Is there a community that meets these requirements and does not involve constant upselling on other products?
If you know of leaders or communities addressing men's mental health, I'd love for you to comment with the information so that anyone reading this post has a list of resources available to them.
As usual, my goal with this post is: if this helps just one person, then it was worth writing.
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