Vulnerability Is My Strength

(hushing) (clicking) (soft music) Headspace Studios. (soft music continues) Greetings, my mindful peoples. My name is Kessonga, and welcome to "Radio Headspace." And happy Friday. Another week in the books. So today I would love to talk about a topic that I'm very involved in, willingly or not. And it's also a topic that affects almost everyone. I'm talking about the topic of masculinity. And keeping in mind that I am not a scholar on the topic, (chuckling) there are actual scholars with PhDs that have studied this topic in depth. Me? Not so much. (laughing) So I say that to say I may indeed say some things that are incorrect or that you don't like, and that's perfectly fine. Just please know that my intention is always respectful and mindful. So let's get started. Well, let me first tell you all about what happened the other day that kind of sparked this entire thought process for me. I was lucky enough to be invited as a guest to this symposium at a local university. The symposium was centered around mental health, and it featured a fireside chat between two very prominent and well-known Black men. As you can imagine, I was deeply intrigued by the event, as its rare to see two prominent Black men sitting face-to-face to discuss mental health. What was also beautiful about the event was that the audience was mostly college students, and I never think it's too early to learn about the benefits of taking care of your mental health, especially with all that the younger generation has to deal with today. I wish I had that kind of explicit guidance when I was a kid. So like I said, it was really awesome that the young college students were in attendance. And so the fireside chat got started, and I was fully present. I was in it, hanging on to every single word that was spoken. And then one of the gentlemen started talking about how he was raised to quote, unquote, "Be a man." And that meant not crying or showing emotional vulnerability. And so when a certain tragedy hit this immediate family, he didn't have the practice and knowledge of how to respond. He stated that all he really needed to do was cry. And on stage, as he's telling the story, the tears came to his eyes, and he had to pause. And then he said, "Men, you have to learn how to cry because it can really be so healing." It was such a moving experience. And it got me to thinking about masculinity and the role that it plays in men's lives, what it is, and what it ain't, and how it looks different from person to person. So I just want to talk a little bit about it, if that's okay with y'all. (laughing) So what exactly is masculinity? Well, at its core, masculinity is a social construct. The formal definition says that it comprises a wide...