Me(ntal health) - What a man

My second interview in this series showing another ‘me’ of mental health is with Jon. Managing anxiety around toxic masculinity is no mean feat, and he tells explains why.... "I do think there's a lot of stigma around what it is to be a man. I live in Australia now, and I'd say toxic masculinity is even more prevalent here than back in the UK. I work as a carpenter, and I see a lot of young apprentices being given a hard time when they're still at that difficult stage between childhood and adulthood. They're not kids but they're not yet men - they get upset and they lose their temper, and I used to be the same. More needs to be done to change our fucked up definintion of masculinity, and show that regardless of how they look or how they act, they're men no matter what and it's ok to be them. Growing up I was always being told 'don't be so sensitive', but you know what? I am sensitive. I'm a big, strong guy who builds stuff for a living, and I have anxiety and fear. Why shouldn't I be allowed to be that what if that's who I am? If you have feelings you should be allowed to feel them. No one else gets to decide what you're going through." From being a father, to the alarmingly high suicide rate in our male population, we discussed what #mentalhealth means to him. Full interview: http://feelyourfeels.com/2019/08/20/mental-health-what-a-man/ #MentalHealthAwareness #FeelYourFeels #TheMeBehindMentalHealth