{"id":997,"date":"2025-06-06T13:31:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T17:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/?p=997"},"modified":"2025-06-06T13:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T17:31:16","slug":"its-not-weak-to-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/2025\/06\/its-not-weak-to-speak\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Not Weak to Speak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/men-together-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/men-together-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/men-together-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/men-together-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/men-together-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/files\/2025\/06\/men-together.jpeg 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>A few days ago, I saw this slogan on the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) website, and I <em>love<\/em> it. It\u2019s their slogan for Men\u2019s Health Month, encouraging men to speak up about their mental health and emotional needs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019d like to expand it even more, and say that it\u2019s not weak to speak about just your mental health needs, but also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Your physical health needs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your relationship health needs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your financial health needs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your planning health needs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Your friendship health needs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You get the idea\u2026it\u2019s not weak to talk abut any of your needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is true not just for men, but for <em>everybod<\/em>y. We\u2019re all taught not to whine and to hold it together with a stiff upper lip.\u00a0 That is so bogus! If any human being needs something, it is fine to ask. In fact, it\u2019s the right thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we\u2019re going through a rough time, and others who care about us can see it, not talking about it or asking for help hurts both us and them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, we don\u2019t stand a chance at getting what we need.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;\u2639<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, it basically says to the other person \u201cI don\u2019t trust you to still care about me if I show weakness\u201d (a really hurtful message).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, if we don\u2019t talk about what we need we are sending the message that it is wrong to talk about needs\u2026and the other person feels like they have to keep things bottled up too. No one gets their needs met, and we all feel worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What are you needing today?&nbsp; Pick something (something small if you\u2019re more comfortable with that) and find a trusted person and talk with them about it. It will make both you and the other person feel better. We all have needs, and it is definitely not weak to speak. In fact, it\u2019s essential to thriving!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want some more information on Men\u2019s Health Month, try <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nami.org\/get-involved\/awareness-events\/mens-health-month\/\">this<\/a> page from the NAMI website or look at the resources at the <a href=\"https:\/\/menshealthmonth.org\/\">Men&#8217;s Health Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few days ago, I saw this slogan on the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) website, and I love it. It\u2019s their slogan for Men\u2019s Health Month, encouraging men to speak up about their mental health and emotional needs. I\u2019d like to expand it even more, and say that it\u2019s not weak to speak [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":999,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997\/revisions\/999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/thriving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}