 Hello Laura and her subscribers. Thank you so much for spending some time with me. A very brief moment to talk about males and mental health. I am a male, also known as a man, and I suffer from depression and anxiety. And what's interesting is that if you're a man or if you're a woman, they're the same diagnosis, but they each have a variety of challenges that can be unique to each gender. And I'd just like to talk to you about that for literally a couple minutes. So can you believe that some people still believe, some people still believe that women should not have careers. Women should be housewives, not leave the house. They should be the caregiver. And let's say they should even make less money than men. Can you believe it? Most of you are probably saying, yeah, because it actually still exists. Some people. For males, people still believe we shouldn't be emotional. Maybe we should like sports. Maybe we shouldn't cry in public ever. And we should be very masculine, strong. And we should be the breadwinners and bring home all the money and have the career in the house. These these gender roles that are thousands of years old can't fit into society today, yet there are still lingering effects, effects and perceptions that have lasted through the ages. And although many people say, no, it doesn't exist. We're all good now. A lot of men still feel that a lot of women still feel that we feel pressure to still fit into these roles. And for me, being a man who suffers from depression and anxiety, there was some pressure where I had to first cry in front of my friends and say, I don't know what's wrong. Something's wrong. I don't know what I need help. Some friends have disappeared. Others have stuck by me and I've gained a lot more over the years. When you suffer from an illness like this, female or male, you really figure out who your true friends are. One of the things that helped me is finding that group of friends that I can be myself around that understand me. And if you have a group of friends, you don't need to tell them about your mental illness. What I mean by understand is you can be your emotional self. If you're a male, you can talk about your feelings. You can with a group of friends that understand you, whether it be in person, whether it be online, whether it be family relatives, doesn't matter. Finding people that understand you, that you can express yourself to makes, for me, made and makes the world of difference. So that's one thing that's really helped me being a male who suffers from depression and anxiety. Letting me express myself to different people, having sound boards is so crucial. And you know what? That then prepared me to go talk to a complete stranger about my problems, also known as therapy. When you think about it, it's such a weird idea. I'm going to pay money. Okay, there's a lot of money there. And okay, so who's my appointment with? Dr. Sandy, blah, blah, blah. Okay, I don't know them. No, you don't. But you're going to tell them all your problems that you've never told anyone before. And I'm paying for this? Yes, you are. It'll make you feel better. Don't worry though. Strange, but it actually does help. It did in my experience. So having that group of friends, being vulnerable to them, being able to vocalize what I was feeling, which sometimes is difficult for a male because of these different gender stereotypes and gender roles that then prepared me for therapy. And now guess what? I'm comfortable. I'm comfortable being me. I'm a man who cried his ass off watching Inside Out, that movie. Did you see that? She just missed her old house, but she didn't want to disappoint her parents. I like talking about my feelings. I like that. I don't watch sports. That's difficult to find male friends that don't also watch sports. This is life though. It's fun. It's an adventure. All I want to say to all the males watching and females that again, there are unique barriers. And I'm just talking about the male ones for now to all the men watching and women, but men know. Whatever you feel is what you feel. And it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. It doesn't matter if you are gay, straight, transsexual, bisexual, does not matter. Your feelings are your truth. And it's such a damn shame that there are stereotypes and pressures in society where we cannot express ourselves fully. It doesn't matter who you are. What you feel is what you feel. And it is your truth. I invite you to express that to the world. So that's all I have to say. Sorry I went over the two minute mark there. Thank you so much, Laura. Thank you for your subscribers for allowing me to be on this channel. Namaste. Express yourself.