It isn't easy to reach out to male friends or strangers and ask them to write me a blog post about their feelings, life happenings, or an experience. It's awkward to ask people to expose themselves publicly, primarily through writing, in general. I know how that sentence reads but I'm leaving it.
Luckily, I have some pretty amazing friends who want to support me and others. Rudra is one of those individuals, although I'm sure he's protesting my sincere words as he reads this. We're both wEirD about our feelings.
Anyways, I'm continuing this attempt at branding (which I don't know how it's going; trying to obtain feedback is like pulling teeth). My biggest goal with the writing of The Human Zoo was/is to connect with people. It's my creative way of sharing life experiences safely through fiction. Sometimes though, we have to remember that life moments also happen in reality.
How do you explain something is wrong when you don't understand what it is?
How do you fall asleep when you feel tightness in your chest?
How do you lie in bed when all you want to be is anywhere else?
How do you not stare at the clock knowing it's a school night?
How do you rationalize waking your parents knowing it will be dismissed?
How do you know how to self-regulate at ten years old?
How do you ask for help when one parent believes in 'just dealing with it' and the other struggles with their own mental health?
How do you manage for another eight years before someone finally can explain how you feel?
How do you wait another five years before you learn of emotional intelligence?
How do you accept that half of your family struggles with anxiety and depression, but no one ever discusses it?
How do you answer family when all they want to know is if you're 'better?'
How do you counteract generations of cultural, emotional suppression?