The Internal Struggle Men Battle in Silence
No matter what we do, no matter how much success we achieve, this struggle is real and affects every man.
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There are all kinds of emotions and feelings every guy struggles with on a daily basis. Some of these we feel comfortable telling friends, family, or loved ones about. Others, we battle within our minds and bodies. You could look on our face and see someone who appears “happy” but inside, we’re dying. Inside of us is a daily struggle that threatens to derail anything we want to accomplish in life.
I’ve fought this battle since I was 17-years-old. I didn’t grow up rich. I didn’t grow up with any lucky breaks. At 17, I had to leave home and was homeless for six months. Every day I slept with one eye open worried about the cast of characters that wouldn’t hesitate to hurt me on the streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
I had to survive. I did get off the streets and met an amazing woman who would become my wife. I got an excellent job at Pepsi Cola that paid $55,000 a year as an 18-year-old. We got a place together; we bought all the toys we wanted. We had a happy honeymoon phase of our marriage, but the internal struggle still continued.
Flash forward to today. In the last three years, I’ve lost 170 pounds, I quit a job I hated, and I moved our family to our dream destination of Maui, Hawaii. I wake up every day living my dream life, yet the internal battle is even stronger. The battle I’m referring to, and one every faces every day, is the feeling of Not Being Enough.
Here are some areas that guys don’t feel like they’re enough:
Not feeling like a good enough father.
Parenting is complicated and rarely goes as planned. There are more days than we can count where we feel like a failure as a father. We tell our self we’ll be more present for our children, and that we’ll listen and play with them more, but work or life happens. There are situations that may or may not be out of our control that keeps us from honoring the type of parent we want to be. Cheer up, dads. If you’re reading this, it means you’re still alive and still have a chance to make a change. Take…
