This tWitch situation has got me messed up today.

I don’t follow mainstream anything anymore, but never did I not recognize the joy and presence this man brought to anything he was a part of.

I have followed him on TikTok for the last year or so, because his joy brought out mine. His beautiful family and the fun they had together was genuine and heartwarming.

And that is part of the problem- we all assume everything is okay with others because all we see is the highlight reels we choose to show the world. The 5% of our life that doesn’t actually cancel out the other 95% that is full of the ups and downs of life.

Our world, our society, our relationships are SO SHALLOW.

This man had a phenomenal career, a loving and supportive wife, a beautiful family, incredible talent and a smile and spirit that captivated millions.

He and his wife celebrated their 9 year anniversary 4 days ago.

2 days ago, he posted “just another video” full of joy, happiness and dancing- no one could have imagined that today he would be found dead by suicide.

Obviously I don’t know what was happening in his head, heart or his life. But I DO know that modern day men don’t have real relationships or support systems outside of their families and it’s literally killing them.

Men- excluding your spouse, immediate family and those living under your roof…. Who are you going to call on in an emergency? Who can you reach out to at 3am and they will run to your side no matter what it is? Who are you celebrating that promotion with? Who are you crying to and confiding in about a heartbreak?

WHO?!
Who’s there for you? Who are YOU there for?

Maybe I’m so messed up about this because I’m not sure I can even answer my own questions. There has been so many friendships, relationships and connections through the years… but life tends to take us away, right?
We find satisfaction in tagging each other in funny memes and commenting on pics of each others kids. “Yeah- we’ve been friends for years! Known them since high school!”

But we’ve never even actually met each others kids.
We don’t know each other’s phone numbers.
We don’t want to “bother” you, so we keep to ourselves.

Men, we have conditioned ourselves to be so fiercely independent that we don’t know how to process our feelings and work through our emotions anymore.
And it’s messing us up personally, professionally and spiritually while putting the relationships that we actually DO have with our spouse and family at risk.

Men, I implore you to work harder on building REAL relationships with other men. We are meant to do life together; we are not meant to face ANY battle by ourselves.
The world will continue to tell you the lies that it always does… ”you’ve got this”, “toughen up”, “power through it”, “man up.” That mentality has destroyed the ”modern” man, and it is destroying true masculinity and relationships more and more every day. That mentality is poison and it has got to be stopped.

Build bridges. Swallow your pride. Apologize. Be vulnerable. Be bigger than your ego. Be authentic instead of proud.
Find other men that you can trust, support, encourage and help. Allow them to do the same for you.

If you need help, please reach out. If I can be “that” friend for you, I truly want to be.
No man should ever have to face what tWitch had to today, and no wife or child should be left to deal with it either.

We are meant to do life together. Please know that you are NOT alone.

#tWitch #manhood #restoringhuMANity #masculinity #suicide #vulnerable #friendship #family