Lee's take on Toxic Masculinity

 It's 2022 and we live in a world where, when somebody acts masculine, men get scrutinised for being toxic. Men get blamed for a lot of issues, but I for one will not stand for blatant disrespect and cancelling of men voicing their opinion. I call bullshit on not being able to defend ones right to freedom of speech or somebody not agreeing to a mainstream opinion. Allthough it is very hard to stand for something that differs from the way you are supposed to act, think or speak I will always protect the right to fight for what you believe. That being said I do not condone misogyny or bigotry in any way shape or form.

When I was still just a kid I used to watch war movies and cop-shows with my grandfather.
Burly men solving problems with their fists and getting the woman by being arrogant and just plain badass! I loved it and so did my grandfather. Times have changed and a lot of those shows wouldn't fly in todays society. If you compare the old badasses of film like John Wayne and Sean Connery to the newer ones you will see a massive difference, a woman talking back? Smack her in the mouth! Do I condone that kind of stuff now? Absolutely not, but back in the day nobody batted an eye. So what changed?

"That's toxic!"

I feel that with the advancing of technology more and more people got a voice in this world. For example with the click of a mouse you can watch the opinion on climate change of a 15 year old girl from Stockholm Sweden or the take on toxic masculinity of a 30 year old straight white male from Flanders Belgium.
I do applaud that, but with great power comes great responsibility and that is what some people don't really get, with the advancement of technology came cyberbullying and many unpopular opinions spread around the world.
A lot of vile things get posted on the internet and we as a people got lost along the way.
Back in the day before the internet we lived in simpler times and the only way to voice your opinion to several people at once is to go scream them from the top of a tower and you would be depicted as the town's fool. So why do we listen to stranger's opinions now? I do not know the answer but I guess it is to fit in somewhere?

Woke up!

"Being Woke" is the new hot thing– being used as praise by themselves, but more commonly as an insult by level-headed people.
Whenever a man disagrees with a certain topic he will get told that his opinion doesn't matter, well I for one think that in order to have a debate you need different opinions, but in this day and age you will get tanked before even being able to explain your concern.
We try, believe me, we try, but we just get bombarded.

• When a man online says it's weird for a guy to dress up as a woman he gets cancelled.
• When a man jokingly tells his teammate at basketball that he throws like a girl he gets put on the bench.
• When a man tells his co-worker something is gay (in reference to something girly) he gets a call from HR.

Where have we as a society devolved to where we can't have opinions or joke about stuff anymore? Why does everything need to be taken serious all the time?

Do we have a problem?

Short answer "no."
Longer answer "Maybe because of the influence people have these days."
Young men are easily influenced by older "wiser", but mostly succesful men.
Take Andrew Tate, that flamboyant masculine influencer, for example. I had never heard of him before last month. He was saying some pretty controversial (for this generation) stuff. I will not say I agreed with all of what he said, but some stuff was bang on. All of a sudden I hear that all of his presence was erased from social media. He got cancelled.
Do I agree with that? Not in the slightest, but that is what I mean with the wokeness taking over.

Tate was a rolemodel for a lot of these young men and that is a little bit of a problem. He was a bandwagon and a lot of these young men just followed him like cult-members even after he said so many dumbass things like "How women are like dogs and that he doesn't think they should be allowed to drive, monogamy is unnatural,."  He swayed away from helping men find their path in life and lead them to a path of misogyny and anti-women. He had a big following as well. This promoted toxic masculinity.

I urge young men to find a strong respectful male rolemodel in their private lives and not to find a money-hungry influencer that does crazy speeches for fame and bling. 

Toxic Masculinity VS. Healthy Masculinity

Toxic masculinity pressures men into behaving a certain way. It promotes homophobia, misogyny, violence, aggression and sexism.
I find that toxic men have like a caveman mentality of "Me is strongest, Me is best!"

While on the other hand I do promote healthy masculinity. 
Healthy Masculinity means to care about your loved ones and being prepared to protect them at all costs, it means to be strong in other ways than just physical.
Healthy Masculine men address disrespect and value honour! They listen and validate when needed.
They encourage other men to speak up.
If you want to be a manly man, break the stigma and be a healthy masculinity type man!

In conclusion: Everything can be toxic and it is up to you to just use your noggin'! Go out there and be a proud man and spread joy and wisdom, not hate and stupidity. Stick up for what you believe in, but do it respectfully. 

Protect the people who can't do it themselves, be a sheepdog in a world of sheep and wolves!

- Lee Stormy

MENtal Health is important

It is a worldwide phenomenon... Men all over the world feel neglected, unappreciated or overwhelmed from the day to day struggles that we undergo everyday. In the Western world, males die by suicide three to four times more often than do females.

It might be a hard nut to swallow, but the reality is that, and here it comes, nobody cares.
Strangers that have nothing to do with us in our day to day life simply do not care about us.
Whenever a man talks about his feelings other men portray him as a pussy, sissy, weenie or something along those lines. Men are eachothers worse enemy in that regard...
Which brings me to the first point I want to adress in this article.

Find a person in your life to talk to

It is the most important thing for your mental health that you can't talk about how you feel.
"There is a stigma in this world that men can't talk." that is a quote from Paddy Pimblett after his fight against Jordan Leavitt.
Paddy went on to talk about the fact that he lost one of his best mates to suicide and pleads the world to talk more. After that a lot of men and women came to like Paddy for more than his fighting.
It is very rare for men in a macho profession or male dominated setting to speak out about these sort of things. 
Wether it is your girlfriend, wife, best friend, or anybody else it is vital for you to talk about your worries.
You need to have a good relationship with this person based on trust in order for this to work. 
When you feel like you have no one there are other places you can go to to talk, a quick search on the internet for local support groups will get you results.

Women DO have it better

It is way easier for women to talk about their feelings as it is considered normal.
Women also have a lot of ears around them that will listen to them.
Let's be honest how many of us have told a woman "I am here if you want to talk.", but how many of us have told a man that. We simply do not care most of the times.
Women learn pretty much early on how to talk about their feelings and men learn from when they're kids to "don't be a crybaby."
I will be the first to say that man need to be masculine and women need to be feminine, but speaking out about your mental health should not be considered unmanly.

Go out and fight for yourself!

There are other things to do to get yourself out of the slump of depression.
Work on your physical health to better your mental one.
Eat right and workout on a regular basis is what we all should do. We all know that we are supposed to do that, but it is easier said than done.
If the foresight of excersice and lettuce make you cringe and make you feel even more depressed, wait.. I get it and got you!
You don't have to go all apeshit in the gym or only eat kale and rice for the rest of your days, that alone is enough to jump out of a window...
It is in the little things.. I know guys that in their twenties have a gut the size of a beer keg... That is in my opinion inexcusable. A sixpack is not necessary to be healthy, but when you eat junkfood every day and the most excercise you get is getting up from the couch to get a beer and slouch back in to the sweet relaxation in front of the television, you are taking a wrong turn in life and need to get back on track. 
There is nothing wrong with having a nice beer with mates and you can get wasted every once and a while, but when "once and a while" becomes more and more frequent it is time to get off your ass and do something about it!

Some tips to start living better

• Drink diet soda or even water instead of those sugarry drinks

• If you like fried food, get an airfryer!

• When there is a choice between an escalator or stairs, you know which one to choose

• If you have to go somewhere for a short distance don't take the car, but walk or take the bycicle

• Take care of yourself in regards to hygiene

• Wake up early, not needing to rush in the morning gets you in a better mindset

• Take a cold shower, it reboots your body

• Start with a private workout every week. There are so many youtube vids focussing on beginners

• Breathe!!! Focussing on your breathing has a calming effect

• Cut out the negative people in your life

It is not difficult to take matters into your own hands and step by step you will see results.

If you find yourself struggling with day to day life just breathe and relax. Try to find something positive to focus on.
All will be ok! A wise man once told me when I was feeling stressed or unhappy about something "Is the problem you are having now going to be a problem tomorrow, next month or next year? If not then why worry?!"

In conclusion: Keep your heads up and keep going!

- Lee Stormy

Help is here!

To all men that need to hear this!

Listen to me!

Are you guys tired of having to always defend yourself while voicing an opinion that nobody seems to agree with? Well, I am here to tell you that you have a voice for a reason and that every man deserves to be able to voice his thoughts and beliefs without being scrutinised by the woke-brigade...
Under no circumstance do I condone misogyny or bigotry, but I do find that we are going down a slippery slope and that, if nobody speaks out, soon real men will be diminished to a minority.

I might not be the best man for the job, but whenever I hear another man being scolded for just existing and doing something manly I just can't sit idly by.

A man dies for his country and he is depicted as an idiot that doesn't think for himself and just follows orders and deserves his faith.

A man voices his opinion on a matter like "gender identity" or race and is crucified and cancelled.

Lots of those woke knuckleheads just hear the subject and immediately chooses to not listen and yell slurs just for the sake of politically correctness. 

Am I a licensed therapist? Fuck no, but I do think I can help men feel like men again or at least get a chuckle out of you guys while trying! 

This blog only serves one purpose... To be a beacon of light in this dark gloomy world of wokeness and just sheer ridiculousness. It might be a bit outdated to have a blog, but hey, I am trying something and maybe somebody will feel solace in this little attempt of a blog.

I will update regularly on man(l)y subjects!

Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted,

-Lee Stormy