The Men We Love Need Safe Places Too

June is Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, and this has been sitting heavy on my mind.

Too often, we talk about men’s mental health after something painful has already happened. After someone breaks down, disappears into silence, or everyone starts saying, “I had no idea.”

But what about before that?

What about while he is still smiling, working, showing up, joking around, answering “I’m good,” and pretending he is fine because that is what he was taught to do?

So many men are carrying pressure quietly. Grief, stress, rejection, responsibility, loneliness, childhood wounds, money worries, family expectations, and the constant pressure to be strong even when they are tired.

And a lot of them do not feel like they have a safe place to put any of it.

We tell men to open up, but sometimes when they do, we do not always