Our men have been raised to think that their job is to be strong, to never cry, to be a pillar and never fall. If they do fall it is wrong for them to wallow, they need to get up immediately, clean up and get back at it like nothing ever happened. It is a sin for a man to need therapy (in African homes). I don’t know why we want our men to be invincible, they too are human. It is because they have been raised to never cry that today they shy away from the idea of being depressed. Here is what I have to say to you gentleman.

• IT IS NOT A WOMANS JOB TO FIX YOU: Do not get into a relationship in the hope to find yourself, you will find nothing. I know it is easy to expect them to cuddle you and give you the answers but that is not it. Seek for help, a therapist is your friend, do not place the burden on the women in your life. Remember that they too are battling life, they too are possibly going through depression.
• TALK ABOUT IT: The fear of being judged rules over you, I know. It only lives because society raised you to believe that your problems are your own, that if anything takes a left you have to fix it. Naturally men are fixers, I get it, but you are also human beings that FEEL. Keep in mind that the people that raised us suffered from depression too but just never knew what it was or how to deal with it, watch the toxic traits they inherited to cope. Speak to someone, it helps, believe when I say it.

• CRY IF YOU NEED TO: Another sign of weakness they say. Well I say they can go shove their opinion where the sun don’t shine. Cry if you need to, it is a elease and if you do not release you are bound to burst instead one day. Depression takes us all to this place of immense sorrow, block the voices that keep telling you you lose when you cry because that is the road to winning.
• BEING DEPRESSED DOESN’T MAKE YOU LESS OF A MAN: I do not know if there is more I could possibly say. But yes I have heard older men say, ‘What sort of man get’s depressed?’ The kind of man that has a heart, a brain and a life. So again flush this mentality out of your system, the earlier the better.

Depression is not a myth for men. It is not a myth for humans. It is not a disease for a certain race or a certain class, it creeps up on all of us. So I say today, to every man, please get help. Do not walk around feeling like you have the power to defeat the world on your own, it doesn’t work that way. From a concerned woman to you! CIAO!