It's A Man Thing

I’ve heard this so many times it almost makes me throw up in my mouth. However with every cliché there is a grain of truth somewhere. Take emotions for example. Women maybe because of hormones (I don’t profess to know why) can identify every human emotion like we can name every player on our favorite baseball team. I could be accused of prejudice but let’s face it men don’t know squat when it comes to why we’re feeling like crap. We can form a hypothesis surely but as to really what it is that’s bugging us well we’d be more likely to know the ingredients of Quiche Lorraine than what emotion we are feeling. 

One day some years ago I had in a glimpse of what it must be like to be a woman with full cognitive ability. I found myself being angry, afraid and resentful all at once. It was an epiphany of sorts but those moments of clarity rarely present themselves even today. I am relegated to asking my big brain (as opposed to the little one) what’s wrong Jack? What is it that you need attending to? Most times it’s just free floating anxiety made up entirely in my head. I listen to my heart and if I can put my ego aside and listen it’s usually nothing. When it’s a combination of things not just one thing I attend to what I can, accept the changes that are beyond my reach in time or space and when I breathe deep I can distinguish between the two. Often the Serenity Prayer in rapid fire does the trick.  

It’s a man thing however just as we learned to lace our shoes we can do what women do and that is to be a sentient human being even though we are stuck with testosterone. By the way I wouldn’t have it any other way but well it’s a man thing by golly.