Let's Not "Man Up"

   So this is something else that you're not supposed to talk about (yes I know I touch on taboo topics quite a lot lately, but it's important), but it's close to my heart, because this is something that I have a lot of toughts about.
   So apparently, men are not supposed to share their feelings. If you ask me, that's ridiculous, how are your ability to share your feelings supposed to be tied to your sex? What the heck, people. Men are not allowed to cry, they're only allowed to be angry, but then only when people can't see it. I don't understand, I really don't, because if a man cries, he's suddenly weak. I've always considered showing your emotions to be a really strong move, no matter what sex the person is. What.
   Suicide rates are high in my country, especially for males, although they are getting lower, and I think that the biggest reason is that men are not allowed to talk about feelings (which is a global concepts) and women aren't allowed to complain either. You're just supposed to shut up and take whatever life throws at you, then suffer in silence. We don't talk about traumans, sadness, anger, sorrow, stress... Nothing. We talk about nothing. But despite this being a thing for both men and women in my country, globally, this is a concept mostly directed towards men.
   I have never understood this, why are men supposed to be these stoic statues without any "real" feelings, and whenever they do decide to show them, they're ridiculed for being weak and unmanly. What. Why. The world is so strange, there are these concepts that I don't understand. Where did this come from? Has it always been like this? When cavemen got emotional, were they thrown out of the groups because they weren't cavemanly enough for the others?
   Look at this map. As you can see, my country is in the red, which means 13/100.000 people take their lives. I don't understand why we're not focusing more on working towards preventing this. I personally don't know someone who has taken their own life, but I know several people who do. And the weirdest thing is, when people take their own life, people don't talk about it, you have to read it between the lines whenever you meet the people who knew them. Instead of talking about their struggles with mental illness, they'll just tell you "oh, they passed away". Nothing more. Like their struggle was nothing.
   Thankfully, I am noticing a change in younger people, especially in women. Slowly but surely, we're learning that having feelings is okay, and that goes for men too, despite their progress is a bit slower than that of women. Younger men are starting to share their feelings more openly, even when it's something that they consideer negative. And to be honest, it's one of the most positive changes I've noticed in a very long time.
   So if you're a male reading this, no matter how old you are, you really should talk about your feelings. You don't have to go to a professional for it, but just tell someone. You'll feel better, and they'll be flattered due to you trusting them, it's a win-win. I used to think that I didn't need someone to talk to about my troubles, but as I noticed that people didn't shun me because of the troubles I had, I felt a lot less uneasy about talking about how I really felt about things. Trust me, if I can shar my feelings, so can you!
(Image source; upper: instagram, lower: Suicide.org!)