Category: Basic Training

In my last post, Many Boys and Men are Struggling, I explained how many males in America are falling behind girls and women educationally, economically, and socially. Sadly though, males lead in the “deaths of despair” from suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, and real-wage decline. Despite what many in the media and culture want us to believe, too many males of all ages are failing. In this post, I suggest ways to change the narrative about who to blame and how to reverse the negative trends affecting boys and men. As I’ve stated throughout these recent posts, equal concern for men is not “Zero-Sum” thinking. We must start by changing the narrative. Not All Men are ”Toxic”  Some suggest that being a man today is bad and that all masculinity is “toxic.” They attribute this viewpoint to societal pressures, cultural norms, traditional patriarchy, or the feminist movement. Many blame the

My last post described the Sigma Male, a slang term for a primarily male archetype romanticized for its independence and self-reliance. Sadly, too many men have adopted this mindset to detach from traditional social hierarchies, responsibilities, and relationships. This post describes the ways boys and men are struggling today and why better friendships can help overcome this isolation and “lone wolf” mentality. Males are Falling Behind Despite what many in the media and culture believe, statistics show that boys and men in the United States today are failing. Males of all ages are falling behind girls and women educationally, economically, and on many indicators of social well-being. Since the 1970s, boys have struggled to learn properly in elementary school and high school. Young men are now far less likely than women to attend or graduate from college with the ratio approaching two female undergraduates for every one male. Many males

This series about Becoming a Well-Balanced Man concludes with a post about how better friendships can help men learn proper balance which is critical to mature manhood. Earlier posts covered The Benefits of Becoming a Balanced Man and how steadiness and stability (synonyms for balance) in our emotional, mental, and physical health, our financial and social life, and spirituality can help us find peace, contentment, and purpose. This last post contains the practical ways that friendships that help create mature men who learn balance, rather than the immature and unbalanced “boys” we see too often in the world today.    Better Friends = Better Men My book Get Out of Your Man Cave: The Crisis of Male Friendships provides practical ways to develop closer, more genuine relationships that help us become better men. Written as part guidebook, part memoir, and part confessional, the book comes out of my struggle with workaholism