Behind the Mask: The Unspoken Battles of Men’s Mental Health

*In commemoration of Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s an honour to feature the reflections of a young man who is learning to redefine what it truly means to be strong. His words remind us that strength is not about hiding emotions or enduring pain in silence. There is no shame in asking for help and there is no weakness in vulnerability. Men do cry too and that’s okay.

This serves as a reminder that emotional truth and Mental Health Awareness are essential to the journey towards healing. To every man who has felt the weight of silence—this is for you. You are not alone.

A lot of people perceive strength as physical resilience, stoicism, or the ability to endure pain. But the true meaning is more complex than that, strength is also the courage to speak, to feel, to heal and for many men that strength is fought for and rarely acknowledged or celebrated.

The month of June is recognized as Men’s Mental Health Awareness month; it calls for attention to an often brushed over struggle. Despite strides in progress for Mental Health Awareness, men are still far less likely than women to seek therapy or openly discuss their emotional well-being. According to collected data, men are four times as likely to die by suicide compared to women, a sobering statistic that underscores the cost of silence.

From an early age, little boys are constantly reminded and taught that to be a real masculine man, a boy must not cry or express too much emotion. Toughen up as they might frame it. I know, at least that was my experience. Even if your immediate family didn’t think like this, society would find a way to tell you your place. Whether its being told not to overreact from the pain of a playground injury or not to whine about unfair treatment, you were always expected to take it on the chin and keep it moving. Many of us have internalized those remarks and now carry them like an invisible boulder. Hoping that no one sees through our expressionless faces, exposing the turmoil eating at us from the inside.

Today’s men grapple with a rapidly evolving world and a lot of us feel as though we are being left behind. Shifting gender roles, economic pressures, digital overload and social expectations collide. No one seems to care that we are the first generation in history to experience all this at once- and it’s suffocatingly overwhelming. This often leaves us men without a clear roadmap for expressing emotion or finding safe support networks.

The problem with technology is that it makes us seem more connected, yet in reality pulls us farther apart. A text message or emoji does not carry the same weight as relieving our fears, burdens or anxiety verbally does.

Back in the old days, men used to come together everyday under a tree and discuss important events happening in the village as well as just share their issues and frustrations commonly known as, “Dare”. Nowadays, we have lost that practice and most men no longer have a space like that to feel open and express emotions. We are forced to bottle it in or find new vices – whether narcotics, alcohol or work.

Hopefully by bringing this topic up more we can encourage men who struggle silently to know that they are not broken, not alone and they are not weak for feeling what they are feeling. If you know a man in your life- father, brother, friend, partner, consider asking them how they are really doing. Not just in passing. Really ask and listen.

This June, and every month after, let’s start redefining masculinity to include emotional truth. Because mental health doesn’t make us less a man, it makes us whole.