The right mind

It’s not easy being a dude in today’s climate. For years men have dominated the landscape and their female counterparts and now the chickens have come home to roost. Our behaviour over the years has culminated in a backlash that has thrown many of us for a loop. Machismo has become bad word.

Young men today are very different from those of just a couple of decades ago and the transformation has been stressful for many. In a relatively short period of time men, especially young men, have been encouraged to connect with their sensitivity in order to be able to understand and relate to the opposite sex. These are confusing times for both men and women, but men never seemed to have been wired for such matters. But now there’s no choice, no going back. Women have rightly put their proverbial foot down, and we have to play “catch up”.

Of course, things being what they are, a certain sense of extremism toward men has also surged. It’s not a palpable type, but it weighs on us and forces us to stress over things we never thought about, and although that’s a good thing in some cases, this hard turn in behaviour is taking its toll on the male species. But we must have seen this coming. You can’t expect to dominate forever, especially when the game is rigged! And that’s applicable to many other situations in society. Men’s role in society is forcibly changing, they are being asked by the opposite sexto make room for other manners of thinking. It’s only natural too, we may have different roles in nature, but in the world of work and decision making the paradigm has shifted. Many men don’t see it this way, although resistance is futile, but it may be one of the causes of ill mental health in males.

In any situation such as this there are always those who resist change. That is a very human trait, albeit in this case an absolutely necessary one. In the meantime, while all this is taking place, men are still dominating the stage, and with that comes all the stuff that hits the fan on a daily basis all around the world. Men still run the largest economies and still war to keep them robust. Those responsibilities live in their heads rent free, haunting their minds. Today’s conflicts, (and I don’t mean just the bloody ones), are more and more over the top. The dogs are more and more vicious and there’s no time to close your eyes.

This article is taking a dark view, possibly exaggerated, but the fact is men are crumbling under the pressure. As always, we tend to bear the weight of the world, even if we don’t have to, it’s in our nature. The world is so heavy right now that men are naturally beginning to buckle. We just have to find our way again, with an open mind and a new-found willingness to accept assistance. We suffer silently convinced that it’s for the good of all involved, but there’s where we could learn from women. And there are many other things they could teach us. We need to open up and listen, but we also need to be understood.
Fiquem bem,

Raul Freitas/MS