Welcome back to Men Like Us. Today I want to crack open something big — masculinity. Not the chest-thumping stereotype, not the “be tougher, speak less” version we grew up with. I’m talking about the real thing… the stuff that actually gets lived, not performed.

To me, masculinity isn’t about pretending you’ve got everything handled. It’s about standing up when it counts, owning your mistakes, protecting what matters, and being honest enough to say, “Yeah, I’m struggling,” when you’re actually struggling. It’s roots and responsibility. It’s fire and vulnerability. It’s knowing who you are without needing the world to clap for it.