Nov 30, 2019

Globally, every minute, a man dies by suicide. In the United States, 75% of suicides are men.

The causes of depression are many, including genetic, environmental, psychological, and biochemical factors, and some people are more prone to it and suffer more severely. For many it’s a crippling condition. Sadness, loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, change in weight, difficulty sleeping or oversleeping, energy loss, feelings of worthlessness, and thoughts of death or suicide accompany an episode of depression.

Risk factors that have been linked to an increased risk of experiencing poor mental health include previous family or personal history of mental health problems, drug and alcohol use, serious medical illness, isolation or loneliness, unemployment, homelessness, conflict or other stressful life situations.

We have to talk about our feelings.  

As the Movember Foundation puts it on their website. We have to be men of more words.

But to make something compelling, honest and real we don’t have to express ourselves in a way that is soft.

Blues music relies on an expression of gritty, honest feeling, mixed with a sense of humor and perspective, rather than on hitting all  the right notes.

It’s the clunker notes, rhythm and lyrics that lets you know its real, and draws you closer because of it.

Be a man of more words. Sing the blues, figuratively, of course, but literally if you have to. It’s the emotion that matters, not the right notes or rhythm.

The sound fragment at the end is a cover of a Bob Dylan song, "You're Going to make me Lonesome When You Go,"