Two thousand and sixteen was a year that wanted to be a teacher. It was the older brother who forced me to sit down and taught me things which I did not want to know and what I did want to know. Plenty of people were longing for the year to end and stop taking the precious lives of their beloved celebrities. I was hoping just to make it to the end of the year and could honestly have little emotion towards the lives of popular culture that were fading away. In reflecting back upon the year though I think it has been a subtle teacher for a few issues on masculinity that I believe will be pivotal in my life. 

-<{ Finding one's moral and emotional compass is essential to feeling secure as a man. }>-

I am unsure about you, but I know I can speak for myself in the fact that finding direction in life is something I am always seeking and desiring. Trying to find something that I can hold to and know is safe and will lead me on the path I wish to go down. It is almost like trying to find the workout plan for the type of body I want to build. To read more on this topic check out this article.

-<{ Political seasons show man's actual character. }>-

I have never been so unimpressed by a political season as I have been from the last presidential election. I learned that just because you have millions of dollars or have a stable mind as a man does not stop you from being a dogmatic dumb ass. I could write for a long time on what this election taught me but instead, I will just link to an article that I wrote about this topic. 

-<{ Learning how to make hard decisions is essential to masculinity. }>-

I think men from the beginning until the end of the ages men will be faced with hard decisions and it is essential to know how to face and address them with confidence and a sound mind. This is an area that I am still weak in but I am working towards getting better at. Here is an article I wrote about this topic.

-<{ Failure is imminent, but men can overcome it. }>-

Failure is something all of the humanity is faced with on a consistent basis, being that this blog is focused on men I feel that overcoming failure is a huge deal in the process of masculinity. Overcoming insecurities and looking your failure in the face and defeating it. For more on this topic check out this article.

-<{ Confidence plays a huge role in feeling masculine. }>- 

If I have learned anything from working in construction and just the professional world, in general, being confident plays a massive role in everyday life. People buy confidence over knowledge all the time. I find that men who desire to feel more masculine want more confidence in themselves and their masculinity. Here is a short article on that topic.

I guess I could keep going and going but the above articles are an excellent example of what two thousand and sixteen taught me and made more clear to me about masculinity. I hope this next year unfolds much more and that the journey will continue! 

Cheers,

Timothy