Why do we still live in a society where boys are told "Real men don't cry?"

It takes strength to be vulnerable and not everyone has the strength to sit with what can feel overwhelmingly painful. The funny things is that if you do sit with it it goes away quickly, if you avoid it it just stays with you until you deal with it, showing up as random outbursts or as an over reaction to something that doesn’t warrant such a big reaction.

I’m not sure when I stopped myself from crying as a kid, I learned it somewhere, probably from the other kids because my parents weren’t anti crying. But I did know not to cry. Until I was probably 25 or 26 and had started dealing with my shit. I cried a lot that year and am so grateful for it. Now I cry often and have no aversion to it. It’s such a beautiful thing, a good cry heals so much.