I’m FTM and have been transitioned for a few years, so I can understand and relate to the stigma about being vulnerable as an adult man, but I may be lacking understanding of what it’s like growing up how things like this normally are handled in male friendships.

I have one friend in particular who struggles with talking about deeper feelings; he’s pretty expressive overall but says he thinks talking about his problems would be “cringe” and just tries to get over things as quick as possible, even in pretty serious situations. We’ve been close friends for a long time so he probably talks about that kinda stuff to me more than most people but still only on occasion and i worry abt him sometimes, plus i feel it limits the amount of close we can be if we can just barely talk to each other about things like that. I’ve ofc said he could talk to me anytime and I wouldn’t judge him but sometimes that’s just a thing people say, so I don’t know if I should be doing more (not like a grand gesture but rather habits to be a more approachable person for that kind of thing).

I also have trouble opening up about my problems but I’m not sure if we’re coming at it from the same place or not, which makes me not as sure on how to handle it. I’ve seen this with other male friends too and I want them to know I’m genuinely there for them, but it’s also a difficult topic to approach and may be out of my hands to a certain degree, although I’d like to do what I can.