Nobody Ever Understands the Hardest Part of Grieving as a Man
As life unfolds, I realize there is one thing men never talk about
“You’re the man of the house now. Take care of everyone at home.”
“I’ll try my best”, I replied.
“Hold your tears. You need to be strong for your family.”
I don’t understand why they always have to say this — I wondered.
“I am sorry about your loss. How are your mom and sisters doing?”
But what about me? — I felt a strong urge to ask, but I couldn’t.
They say strength is a man’s currency, something we are supposed to have in endless supply. But what they don’t tell you is that being strong isn’t just about steering a ship through a storm.
It’s about doing it while waves of grief rage inside you.
The hardest part of grieving as a man isn’t the loss itself — it’s the emptiness that follows. The world expects you to be stoic, to swallow your pain like it’s a bitter pill that will somehow make you stronger.
But no one teaches you how to fill the void that the pain leaves behind. Nobody tells you how to mourn when mourning feels like a luxury you cannot afford.
