Men's Mental Health
Awareness Month 2026
What Did I Learn?

Men's Mental Health Awareness Month is recognized in the United States every June (running concurrently with Men's Health Month), aiming to break the stigma around seeking help, raise awareness for the high male suicide rate, and encourage men to openly discuss emotional struggles, stress, and burnout. 

Men's Mental Health Awareness Month 2026 has come and gone and I would like to share what I did over the past month of June to address my own mental health. 

In 2025, I shared two separate blog posts concerning Suicide Prevention Month, but for 2026, I wanted to do something different in terms of sharing what I did this month in terms treating my own mental health. You can revisit or read them for the first time at the following links below:  

Suicide Prevention Month 2025 Part I: Toxic Fandoms & Communities | Suicide Prevention Month 2025 - Part II: Testimonies 

I took the month to reflect and withdraw away from most social media interactions to the bare minimum for multiple reasons. 

1. After noticing my online peers having condescending and dismissive tones as if I was bothering them when I DMed them.

2. When I would chat with people, it always felt like it was a chore for them to interact with me. 

3. I wanted to unplug from this notion of always being that friend who is always available to help or lean on with the sympathetic ear. 

4. I wanted to take back how much access people had of me for my sanity. 

5. Last but not least, I wanted to free myself from being a slave to these apps, constantly feeling like I have to check my phone for new messages on Discord or other services.

And for the record, I didn't plan this "break" of sorts. It came on a whim when it was feeling like almost every online interaction I had with my peers on these platforms was like pulling teeth in terms of having a conversation. I can take a hint when I'm not wanted, especially when I message you about something I'm excited about only for silence and a status change to "I don't give a fuck about _____". Alright, well fuck you too then.  

I would have told people that I was taking a break but I hit the point last month where it really hit me that no one cares what I think nor what I do, so why even bother caring about what everyone is going to think if I just disappear. There are VERY few people in my life, especially on that platform that show me that they genuinely care outside of wanting something in return from me, whether that be some physical service, something to feed their egos, or provide some sort of dopamine hit or something to get their rocks off. One of my art mentors made an explicit point to enlighten me that I have an uncanny knack to attract the worst people to me. I'm inclined to disagree as I tend to bite my tongue to keep hostilities to a minimum, especially when dealing with online strangers, in a vain attempt to kept things civil while not establishing boundaries that should be laid in terms of not crossing the line when it comes to being disrespectful. Instead, I discovered that I subconsciously invite this behavior and make it seem okay when I don't call it out in the people that I call my "friends" and "peers", resulting in my blowing up at them or cutting them out of my lives completely when they go too far. 

I went as far as deleting the app off of my phone so that isn't the first thing I jump to look at every morning when I wake up. It took about a week to stop looking for it on my phone but I was able to deprogram myself from that addiction. Why am I so fixated to that line of contact when most people aren't going to bother hitting me up for a simple conversation? Oh wait, let some admin/mod of one of the many servers that I'm in tag everyone in this server on some sweepstakes that I'm not going to win or some random spam bot post that the other mods aren't going to do anything about until there's tons of people complaining about it.

As I'm writing this, I'm thinking about another relative who died this week right before the 4th of July holiday and thinking about how another good person won't get to see his grandchildren and nephew that he raised as if he was his own son ever again. He was found alone in his home, much like my parents' elderly neighbor, dead and unresponsive, after years of people just neglecting, ignoring, and failing to reach out. I wonder what men like that think about when they have photos of people they genuinely love and care about on their walls and nightstands but don't receive a single letter, visit, or phone call once the person in question stops taking the initiative to be the one who does that first. 

Shit, I see it with my own father to a frustrating degree after my mother died. Mom was the one who always dragged him out of the house to be with her to all of the social events with the family but after she went to Glory, he completely withdrew from any of that interaction. I would offer invites and pass them along from relatives and siblings to the point where I don't even bother anymore because I know he's not going to budge. Do I want to become like that? No, but at the same time, I don't want to be everyone's punching bag, personal therapist/psychologist, and emotional care animal all in one. In my father's defense, I understand that he's still grieving in his own way and carrying a lot of his own emotional baggage that I sure as hell won't share here. I talk to one of my co-workers alot; she lost her husband around the same time from pancreatic cancer around the time who is the same way as my dad. She goes to work to keep herself sane but by the time she goes home, she’s done wanting to interact with people outside of her daughter. After wounds like that, I can understand not wanting to put up with leaving yourself open like that.

EDIT: It’s the 4th of July as I’m writing the final touches to this and I have to admit that single most beautiful moment that I shared with some of the men of my family was today, simply standing out in the driveway of my parents’ house with my father (who lost his sister, his wife, and the woman who treated him better than his own mother), brother-in-law (who just lost his uncle and aunt within the span of a few weeks), and my youngest nephew/godson (who lost both of his grandmothers, uncles, and aunts on one side of his family) simply drinking a cold bottle of Coke reminiscing about the good times. We’ve all lost loved ones, but we managed to just take this one simple thing and just make the most of it while enjoying each others’ company. 

And don't give me that shit that “it's okay not to be okay.” I've heard that as much as the shit you're fed as an artist to just “enjoy the journey.”

If you're not making money or doing something for other people, then you are considered worthless by our society as a man. That point hit harder than ever when I resorted to just venting my thoughts on X/Twitter. I’m not looking nor fishing for any interaction. I was just putting my thoughts out there, especially when I didn't have time for longer form blogging. 

“Stop thinking about what everyone else wants/thinks and just create.”

THEN WHY THE FUCK DOES ALMOST EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE, ESPECIALLY FUCKING ART THAT I'M STUDYING AND TRYING TO BETTER MYSELF AT, IS PREACHING ABOUT TAILORING EVERYTHING I DO TO ATTRACT THE MOST EYEBALLS AND ATTENTION TO IT IF THAT DOESN'T MATTER!!!???

I want to choke every fucking single person who tells me that shit like it's the magical solution to all of this shit in life when it's not that fucking easy. I don't have a comfy luxury gig that pays me out of the ass for this content. I don't have any government pensions nor a free ride from Uncle Sam to pay my bills. Nor am I an entitled trust fund baby. I'm just like a lot of lower-middle class Americans right now, barely making ends meet, paycheck to paycheck. I can't quit my day job as there's nothing else out there and the job market is so fucked right now I'd be insane to try to survive on unemployment. I've been laid off before and that shit isn't fun either. I don't wish that on anyone. 

I would love to make more money, but at the same time, I don’t want to turn all of my hobbies and interests into a goddamn job. I’ve tried video game streaming before and it’s not for me. If I stream/record anything nowadays, it’s mostly for preserving that experience for my own future reference. If people dig it, then cool, if not, that’s fine too. That goes for my other interests too. Taking this step back was an eye-opener in terms of reminding myself that I don’t have to chase this “content creator” mindset.

I learned that it’s okay for me to just simply sit back, do nothing, and not feel guilty about it. It’s okay for me to simply disconnect from everything and everyone without it being the end of the world. It’s okay for me not to provide any explanation either. This blog post will serve as a courtesy to those to take the time to read it. 

I turned off both Discord and Bluesky to mute the voices and start just winging it, listening to my own voice that has been constantly told during this learning process that it's wrong - not just in art but all aspects of my life - and it's another liberating feeling. That was the only way I was able to finish Diosa Ch. 12 after going back and forth worrying about what people were going to think about the suggestive, erotic content. Why the fuck should I care what everyone else thinks when I can guarantee that 99.9999999% of the people who follow me on these platforms aren't even going to check out anything I do nor this blog post either?

People don’t know how much of my creative process is hindered by taking on this learning mindset where almost every resource or mentor I turn to points to tailoring art or anything creative I create into something that will garner the most interest/attention. I know one specific one of my mentors, who I seriously doubt will read this, would be pulling his hair out from how many times we’ve debated this that he is adamant in telling me that doesn’t mean that I have to sacrifice my vision to do so. My argument has always been that what the hell is my vision when I’m tailoring whatever I’m doing to what the audience wants to see or dumbed down for their comprehension? I don’t even know what my vision or creative voice is anymore that doesn’t include avoiding nitpicks from my peers and mentors or whatever I know a particular niche/community would love or hate to see because I lurk in a lot of those communities and I know how they react to everything. Not talking to people has muted that constant need to satisfy those demands to an extent. It’s not completely gone but definitely quieter than it was previously from constantly reprogramming myself to act and react a certain way or remix/rewrite my behavior to make other people comfortable. 

I discovered the two above videos by Carl Jung on a whim while taking on this task of disappearing. I was already at least two weeks in that point and it was really eye-opening and spoke to my soul as this was EXACTLY what I felt like I was going through. The only people I had explicit contact with was family of course since there was a death in the family (again) on one of my brother-in-law's side of the family. I wanted to make sure that side of my family was doing alright and spent time with them for the most part. Outside of that, my days were simply going to work, keeping conversation with my co-workers to a minimum and going home. Anything else I wanted to convey, I simply stuck with my X/Twitter account. Very few people interact with me on that platform if at all, so that was perfect to be the outlet for my thoughts and whatever interested me/float my boat without anyone shitting all over since you have the option of limiting who can/cannot reply to your posts. 

I found it ironic to see that the people who find my silence and absence the most deafening are the same people who take every opportunity to take the wind out of my sails and make me feel insignificant for showing any interest in anything that doesn’t tickle their fancy or cater to their beliefs and align with their own personal interests. Maybe those people will appreciate a good thing when they have access to it again - if I ever allow them into my space again. 

I know I’m not playing with a full deck and I have a lot of issues to navigate through when it comes to my own headspace, but that doesn’t mean that I should allow everyone and anyone to pollute it with their negativity and bad vibes.