There is more to men than their role as a provider and protector. Men have to face far greater challenges than they think they have- from longing to see their kids to fulfilling expectations to provide for their loved ones. This day, men express their thoughts on International Mens Day, and the hopes they have for the future.
A leading personality on X, Nikhil Saini posted
To all my brothers who keep going despite the struggle, the grind, the pressure to smile even while carrying the heaviest battles inside. Your strength is silent but powerful.
To all my brothers who keep going despite the struggle, the grind, the pressure to smile even while carrying the heaviest battles inside. Your strength is silent but powerful.
pic.twitter.com/hzCY5JwYge— Nikhil saini (@iNikhilsaini) November 19, 2025
Suppressing feelings has forever been expected of men, with a society that generally looks down on men seeking help. For many, this has meant carrying all their hopes, challenges and concerns deep within, as expressing them could make them feel ‘unmanly’.
“Because of my gender, I will die by suicide because I’m not allowed to get any emotional support and any attempt at “opening up” makes people uncomfortable so you just suffer in silence until it becomes unbearable, your mental health deteriorating more and more each day as you turn to drugs and alcohol to cope,” a Redditor noted in a viral discussion.
“Men have lots of struggles in our “patriarchal” society, and are oppressed and/or unappreciated in all kinds of ways. It’s completely ignorant and unfair to act like women have it so much “worse” than men, when both sexes each have their own plethora of issues, and both deserve an equal amount of support in working towards a better society for everyone,” another observed.
“To compare struggles between genders is where you miss the mark, both genders face their own struggles that shouldn’t be downplayed on either side. The struggles that men face aren’t just emotional, for instance, there is a heavy bias towards women in the court system. This goes from sentences for crimes to stuff like child custody rights and domestic violence towards men,” a third said.
Being the stronger of the sexes, men are traditionally expected to love, and earn respect based on their ability to provide. These days, things are quite different, with men having to face much more than just providing for their families.
“Despite not liking aspects of our life, including jobs, lack of freedom, being stuck in a rat race in order to provide for a family becomes part of the routine.
We lose out on who we are and what we can become to what we can do to who to do it for. It’s a thankless role and often the ones you provide for will be the ones angry at you for either not doing enough or even for doing what you need rather than what they want.
Sometimes that’s life, and sometimes it makes us understand why our fathers were so rigid and tough and why we couldn’t connect with them emotionally. Sometimes you have to kill parts of yourself to provide, stay sane and go on,” another Redditor further explained.
Not everyone agrees, with some saying they’re willing to meet others expectations but at their own terms.
“I think I would have killed myself if I had let all that pressure get to me. I still don’t give a damn about what other people expect from me and live my life as I want. I am not giving up my life just to please others. I love myself and I am my number 1 priority. It isn’t like I don’t care about my family, I love them and will take care of them, but if they expect me to be someone I don’t wanna be, I just tell them that it is not going to happen, I am not a genius, I am a normal person. They might not get it initially and fight back, but once they understand you, you’ll be fine,”
