Choices That Make You a Better Man
6 Ways to Start Being a Better Man Right Now
Some guys can spend a lot of time thinking about the concept of the alpha male. Hell, we’ve even published more than a handful of articles on the subject.
But for all the brouhaha about how great it is to be at the top of the pack — tough, unconcerned with anyone else’s opinions and dripping with sex appeal — we ignore that to be a leader of a group is not about being a monomaniacal egotist; true leadership means you take care of the people in your orbit and make sure that everyone’s functioning well together. Soon enough, the alpha who doesn’t care about the other wolves is going to become the leader of not much.
Meaning, if you’re genuinely concerned with being the kind of guy other guys look up to, or who’s gotten a well-earned reputation for being a leader and inspires genuine respect and admiration from his peers, you should also be the kind of guy who knows how to look out for others.
“Wait a minute,” you might be saying. “Caring about what other people think is not an alpha male trait.” But that’s not what this is. Caring for other people doesn’t necessarily mean you prize their opinions over your own and let them dictate what you do. It just means you recognize that they, too, are human beings, and deserve to be treated with dignity, and doing the right thing means taking their experiences into account.
With that in mind, here are six ways to start making better life choices for yourself, starting now that’ll positively impact both you, and the lives of others around you.
Considering Therapy
We’re part of a culture that not only discourage men from showing their emotions, it actively suppresses it, too. Men who are in touch with their feelings can be seen as effeminate, while reaching out for help may be taken as a sign of weakness. In the case of therapy, not everyone views talking to a medical professional as a tool that can has plenty of benefits. Even just a few months of seeing a therapist can seriously change your life for the better; it can give you coping strategies, bolster your self-esteem, help you work through issues you’d buried rather than confronted, and improve your relationships with those around you — meaning you’re not the only one who benefits in the long-run.
Adopting or Fostering a Pet
While not every guy is in a position to take care of an animal, offering it safe home and good treatment can both massively benefit an animal, and help reduce strain on a local shelter. Meanwhile, having a pet can have a real impact on you in small, day-to-day ways, too. Being forced to take care of another living being, rather than just yourself, can actually make you a more mature person. Think of it as a trial step to being a father — having to feed, bathe and care for another, more vulnerable living being can genuinely change your perspective on things. And if long-term pet ownership isn’t right for you, consider pet-sitting for a friend.
RELATED: Why Having a Dog Will Make You Better at Dating
Donating to Charity
Every guy has a slightly different financial situation than the next, so you might not be in a place right now where you have money to spare. If you do, you should seriously consider donating some of it to charity. Find a cause that’s meaningful to you — whether that’s disease research or disaster relief, clean water accessibility or encouraging literacy, saving the environment or supporting an animal shelter — and pay some of your good fortune forward to those in need. The capacity to give back rather than hoard is one of the most important ones that humans possess.
Doing Volunteer Work
If you don’t have the means to donate money (or even if you do), you might consider doing some volunteer work or community service. There’s never a shortage of charitable organizations who could use volunteer help; not only would helping out your fellow citizens enrich and improve their lives, the experience might help give you a different perspective on life. Whether it’s volunteering in a homeless shelter, working for a crisis hotline, being a Big Brother to a child in need, or simply helping out at a community center or library, spending some of your life helping other people without regard for any tangible benefits to yourself is the height of selflessness.
Talking to Your Male Friends
How often do you have real conversations with your pals about how they’re doing — their hopes, their fears, their innermost thoughts? And how often are you sharing yours? Studies have shown that men often grow increasingly isolated from their friends as they grow older, relying on their wives for the bulk of their socializing, in part because their friendships weren’t as anchored in trust and closeness and simply eroded over the years. Don’t let that happen to you — consider reaching out to some of your friends and bonding with them on a deeper level than your usually do.
Living More Eco-Consciously
Even if you’re one of those few who don’t believe in man-made climate change, you can’t really deny that humans are massively impacting the planet — our non-biodegradable plastic garbage is everywhere, we’re cutting down forests left and right, and animal species are going extinct at an unprecedented rate. In light of that, perhaps the most morally upright thing you can do is to start living more eco-consciously. The famous “reduce, reuse, recycle” motto is a good start; buying less, getting more use out of what we own, and recycling what we can rather than sending it all to the garbage heap can have a positive impact. Things like going vegan or vegetarian, choosing public transit over driving or Ubering, and purchasing carbon offset credits when you go on vacation can also make a difference, too, but nobody’s perfect.
There are a lot of different ways to be a good man, and as the saying goes, “the journey to getting there can begin with a single step.” What kind of man do you want to be?
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