Over the past few months, I’ve started listening to a new podcast. My wife introduced me to it as it is co-hosted by someone that we admire: Justin Stumvoll.
He and his wife Abi are two amazing people from Redding, CA and are both life coaches. They do an excellent job of analysing situations, seeing them for what they are and providing real and achievable solutions.
So, when I heard that Justin was starting this podcast, that it was called The Liberation Project and that it was all about helping men who have grown to become passive and uninspired, I was very interested, not least because I feel like that adequately describes me.
There’s been 10 or 12 episodes so far, but I got to the point the other day where I felt compelled to write about it because one particular episode nailed me.
“The Needless Man” hit me hard. They talked about how some men (like me) have gotten to a point where they have no more needs in life. Asked what they want for dinner and they’ll ask you what you want. As fathers and husbands, they devote all their time to helping their families do what they need and want because they have no need for any time for themselves.
What it results in is a wife and family that don’t feel needed at all, because their husbands are asking nothing of them. Because of this, they can be led to feel useless and unnecessary. This blew me away. I had never even thought about it this way.
There’s of course the other more obvious issus of the husband having no hobbies and interests and getting completely burnt out on serving others: it’s just not healthy.
So, with that, and after some excited conversation with my wife, I have committed to more actively having my own needs, expressing them and asking for help with them from my family.
The Liberation Project is an excellent listen for today’s man and I can’t recommend it enough.
