Clint, there’s a story Brené Brown (a shame researcher) tells where a guy approaches her and said, “I like what you had to say…but my wife and daughters? They’d rather see me die on top of my white horse than watch me fall off. You say you want us to be vulnerable and real, but c’mon. You can’t stand it. It makes you sick to see us like that.” I took that idea of the white horse and expanded on it in this story because I felt it was right on point. But there was more to what she said after he approached her.

Dr. Brown went on to say that, “Men are smart. They hear us asking for their vulnerability, but are also very aware that we may act scared or resentful when they show their vulnerable side.” It’s a hard line to walk, and we often don’t know how to weather those storms. I’m trying more, but like you, find myself in the well of sorrow often trying to escape.