I'm a man in my early 50s. Thank you so much for the submissions. As I was reading them in bed before I started my day I did feel a little bit of relaxation and likeness in my body, that maybe I should give myself a break, and I also felt a bit of kinship with the submitters.
I have to admit that in my mind I kind of felt like oh it can't be that bad for them they're probably just exaggerating, while I feel like my issues are insurmountable. But really I don't necessarily think they're any worse or better than what's been described here. Sneakily in my mind I think they're probably not as bad and I'm just too weak to get over them.
Anyway I hope that I can go through my day giving myself a bit more grace as I think about and feel through what's been submitted here.
All of these testimonies are so powerful, and I thank the authors for laying them out here with such generosity, vulnerability, and unadorned clarity. So many of them resonated with me, in a way that I found surprising to start with, but by time I got to the last account was entirely expecting. Which makes me think (as I guess was your inkling when setting up this particular feature, Mr TSB..) that what we are dealing with here are some universal truths or commonalities, so rarely acknowledged among us menfolk. I thank you most sincerely for creating this 'safe space' in which they can be shared, serving individual and collective recovery, growth... or even just enabling day-to-day subsistence through the present day and into the next one. Which (it feels almost superfluous in present company to stipulate) feels like sure as hell no mean feat sometimes. I'm so grateful to have found this place.
How do you write in to these posts? Just asking. Not promising I'm going to share something as I'm scared to death of something like this, even though I know its anonymous.
But this series on fear, and especially todays post makes me feel heard so much, that i might actually try to write something even through the fear of it.
I'm a man in my early 50s. Thank you so much for the submissions. As I was reading them in bed before I started my day I did feel a little bit of relaxation and likeness in my body, that maybe I should give myself a break, and I also felt a bit of kinship with the submitters.
I have to admit that in my mind I kind of felt like oh it can't be that bad for them they're probably just exaggerating, while I feel like my issues are insurmountable. But really I don't necessarily think they're any worse or better than what's been described here. Sneakily in my mind I think they're probably not as bad and I'm just too weak to get over them.
Anyway I hope that I can go through my day giving myself a bit more grace as I think about and feel through what's been submitted here.
Thank you.
All of these testimonies are so powerful, and I thank the authors for laying them out here with such generosity, vulnerability, and unadorned clarity. So many of them resonated with me, in a way that I found surprising to start with, but by time I got to the last account was entirely expecting. Which makes me think (as I guess was your inkling when setting up this particular feature, Mr TSB..) that what we are dealing with here are some universal truths or commonalities, so rarely acknowledged among us menfolk. I thank you most sincerely for creating this 'safe space' in which they can be shared, serving individual and collective recovery, growth... or even just enabling day-to-day subsistence through the present day and into the next one. Which (it feels almost superfluous in present company to stipulate) feels like sure as hell no mean feat sometimes. I'm so grateful to have found this place.
How do you write in to these posts? Just asking. Not promising I'm going to share something as I'm scared to death of something like this, even though I know its anonymous.
But this series on fear, and especially todays post makes me feel heard so much, that i might actually try to write something even through the fear of it.
well hello! Thank you: tsbcheckins@thesmallbow.com
I am grateful for the honesty, courage and vulnerability of these brave men. Thank you for seeing yourself and for doing the work.
You give me hope.
Please, please give yourselves grace. ❤️
Thank you to everyone who wrote in. These are powerful, important, real. They're what I needed to read today.