Heal the boy within and the man emerges.

Inside every man is a boy. For most of us, this boy is carrying the wounds of his unprocessed pain from childhood.

This pain remains unprocessed because we live in a culture that stigmatizes men’s mental health, contains no rites of passage for boys, and produces generations of physically or emotionally absent fathers.

This unprocessed pain stunts the man, keeping him developmentally stuck at the age the wound occurred.

We are only as developed as the boy inside of us.

Unprocessed pain halts the maturation of masculine virtues such as discipline, integrity, benevolence, responsibility, humility, duty, provision, protection, etc.

But if the pain is addressed and worked through, these virtues become unobstructed and emerge naturally, constructing a man out of the boy.

In essence, today’s man is made not by efforting but by surrendering.

Surrendering first to God and then to the problems, pain, and obstacles in life that beg our attention.

These “problems” are actually opportunities to humbly receive and work through in order to move toward wholeness.

But it is up to you to address them or continue sweeping them under the rug.

Stop sweeping them under the rug.

Find a good therapist or a group of trusted men and do the internal work.

When the boy inside you is felt, heard, and seen for the pain he still carries, he unburdens you, allowing your masculinity to mature and your authentic self to emerge.