[quote=may22](would also suggest reading novels from the POV of someone unlike yourself)
If I have to stop reading sci-fi and history and start reading self-improvement books I might have to commit hari-kari ... !
I'm almost afraid to ask for recommendations ...
Anything by Brene Brown is worth trying. I'd say Daring Greatly is a good start, she digs into the whole idea of the Catch-22 of men showing vulnerability and how to overcome it.
Quote
What Brown also discovered in the course of her research is that, contrary to her early assumptions, men's shame is not primarily inflicted by other men. Instead, it is the women in their lives who tend to be repelled when men show the chinks in their armor.
"Most women pledge allegiance to this idea that women can explore their emotions, break down, fall apart—and it's healthy," Brown said. "But guys are not allowed to fall apart." Ironically, she explained, men are often pressured to open up and talk about their feelings, and they are criticized for being emotionally walled-off; but if they get too real, they are met with revulsion. She recalled the first time she realized that she had been complicit in the shaming: "Holy [censored]!" she said. "I am the patriarchy!"
