In Friday’s post, I said many guys struggle to feel alive and masculine. In the comments one of you asked “Why do men struggle to feel alive and masculine?” and someone else seconded the question.

This is one of those times when something is so obvious to me that I didn’t consider it needed to be addressed. The vast majority of men struggle with what I mentioned and the few who don’t understand it all the same. I’ve discussed it here before, but it appears to have been seven years since I did that. My bad!

God made men a bit wilder than women. Or a lot wilder, hard to say. But we crave adventure. For most of human history, this was a good thing because men’s lives tended to contain a good deal of adventure whether or not they wanted it. But today many men have no real adventure in their daily lives and this can be crippling. It’s like being artistic and not having an outlet for that. It hurts, it eats at you, and it makes you less than you should and could be.

I watch the four boys ages 3 to 14 living on our property. They climb trees, fence with sticks, venture into the woods (with the awesome protective dog), play king of the mountain on a dirt pile, canoe in the pond, catch frogs, snakes, and grasshoppers, and so on and so on. We go up into the mountains to forage for Morel mushrooms and huckleberries. All but the youngest went fishing this summer. As they get older they will join the oldest in learning to shoot a 22 rifle, and then other guns. They will hunt for wild turkey and eventually deer. They will build a treehouse, or a fort, or more than one of both. Come snow they will build snow forts, have snowball fights, and go sledging on increasingly steep slopes. These boys have many daily opportunities to engage in adventure. Likewise for the adult men living in our area. Building a home or a barn or adding onto a building is common. Most men fix their own cars, trucks, tractors, and snowmobiles. Hunting and fishing are the norm. And the majority heat their homes with wood they fall, haul, cut, and split.

But this is no longer the norm. Boys and men who live in cities often lack good healthy safe outlets for their wild hearts. And that leads to all kinds of problems. I’ll write more about that on Wednesday.

~ Paul – I’m XY, and this is the air men breathe! 

❤️ #Couple’sQuestion: What is challenging or difficult about being a wife/husband?

A book worth reading:

Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul | By John Elderedge ◄ The classic text on this issue. If you want to understand your husband better, or if you have sons, this is a must read!

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
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