Every guy I’ve known has had the same fantasy at one point in his life, myself included.
Something horrible happens in our life, like a death of a loved one, and we are the embodiment of cool and calm. We don’t react, we don’t cry, we don’t show emotion. We stand at the graveside, stoic and dry eyed and with a level voice say some impactful words with poise. Everyone looks at us as this beacon of strength. No feelings and emotions, always in control even at the worst of times.
I’ve had “big feelings” my whole life. And being a male with big feelings in a society where you’re supposed to not feel things, a society that has men fantasizing about not showing emotions, has been interesting. For years, I tried to turn them off and play the part. By day, layering myself in stone, pushing down anxiety and forcing myself to “man up”, and by night cracking & crumbling under the weight.
We spend our whole lives being pressured to harden ourselves, keep things in, and push feelings down, but in actuality it makes us more fragile over time.
Stone statues inevitably crack and break.