Andy

The Emotional Education Many Men Never Received I think many men grow up emotionally underfed. Not necessarily unloved or uncared for, but emotionally undernourished in ways that often remain hidden until adulthood. Many boys learn early which emotions are acceptable and which are not. Anger may be tolerated. Success admired. Independence encouraged. But fear, tenderness, uncertainty, loneliness and emotional need are often met with discomfort, ridicule, dismissal or silence. The writer bell...

I’ve reached a point in my life where the noise has quietened just enough for me to hear what truly matters. Not the striving, not the endless internal negotiations, not the familiar tug of old drivers insisting I do more, be more, fix more . Lately, when I sit with myself - really sit, without rushing past the discomfort or the longing - I keep returning to two simple, almost disarmingly ordinary words: peace and joy . It turns out that, after everything, that’s all I really want now. Not...

There are chapters in my life that I wish I could rewrite - not to erase the pain, but to rewrite the silences. I suffered with serious bouts of depression throughout my daughter’s childhood. At times, it swallowed me whole. I separated from her mum when she was two, and from then on, I mostly saw her alternate weekends - every other Saturday felt like a glimpse of sunshine through thick grey cloud. I loved her fiercely, but I know there were times I felt unreachable, even to myself. My...