It's Ok to Cry

No man wants to admit it, but we all have those moments of weakness. For me, the first time I cried as an adult was when my first son was born. I shed a tear and had to leave the room. I was raised by a single mom for years, and she is still tough to this day, not in a bad way, don’t get me twisted. She taught me that men are meant to be strong, that we hold the family together. I rarely show emotions I perceive as weak. My wife and I argue about this often, she says I need to open up and quit being such a hardass. It hit me a few weeks ago, that I was doing something extremely unhealthy for both me and my sons. I am showing them how to bottle up all emotions and let it silently eat at you. I was fine with this until very recently. My health hasn’t been the best, and I think it is due to stress I’ve carried over the years. As men, we need our sons to understand that they are leaders, men that need to protect the weak. We also need them to stay mentally sharp, and if they are stressed all the time, how can the be good leaders? I’m trying something new, where my boys and wife can see my emotions, they can see that it is ok to be scared, it is ok to be worried. What matters is what you do with those fears and concerns. Fear is our way of self preservation. What we have to teach our

to be strong and to respect our fears, but to overcome them. Men that show a little emotion in the right settings have some of the healthiest relationships and it’s proven to lower blood pressure and general happiness as compared to those men that are more like me and bottle up our emotions. I have high blood pressure now. Not fun. The wife makes me check it every day and complains, but thankfully my cholesterol is down, so I can still enjoy my freedom meat aka Bacon. High blood pressure means she doesn’t let me enjoy my evening drink. So I have to be happier but without alcohol to calm me. Imagine that. Anyway, My point to this whole post is that you don’t have to turn your sons into little robot soldiers, they can still be tough and be more open about their feelings than those who we perceive as weak. So, next time we tell them to “Cowboy Up,” we may want to take a step back and rethink things.

By: Dad Hack