Welcome to the Tweep Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette, hey girl! And you are tuned in to Tweep Trends.
It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. It's almost Men's Health Week. Let's get started. Men's Health Week starts this coming Monday and runs all the way through Father's Day.
And the purpose of it is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of diseases among men and boys. Now, it's not just that though. It's also an opportunity for us to remind politicians, policy makers, health professionals, and the public that men are worth saving. And if you are a single female out there that is looking for a good man, I am sure you can amen to that one, right?
But it is one of these things where, kind of like with women and their health, they're so busy pouring into other people that a lot of times they neglect themselves. And men, they're the same. They are busy trying to be the head of the household and to hold everything together for everyone else. But a lot of times, little things here and there, they let it slide under the radar.
It's like, oh, there's a hurt right there, a twinge, an ache, a something. And rather than looking into it, they'll look around it and say, you know what? I worked out really hard yesterday. I'm probably just sore.
Or, you know, yeah, I've been having issues with something for a while, but there's something else out there that's more important. But guys, there's nothing more important than your own health because if you're not healthy, then you can't help anyone else. So I'd like to talk about some ways that we can celebrate Men's Health Week. But the one way that I would love to see it celebrated is if men got together around the globe and had a conversation about vulnerability.
Because we all know that since childhood, many men are taught that if you're vulnerable, that means you're weak. And because of toxic masculinity, you can't be weak. Therefore, you can't be vulnerable. But I feel like vulnerability is so misunderstood because to me, it's more of a strength than it is a weakness.
Because in order to be a strong and healthy individual, vulnerability has to take place with those people that you love and trust. And in doing so, then it strengthens the relationships that you have with those people. It improves your mental health because now you don't have that weight on your shoulders by yourself. You have that village that's helping you to hold that weight up and you're all participating in that.
And then another thing, it improves the quality of your life. Now, for an example, I'd like to use my father. My father had a number of health issues. And the first one that I'll mention is that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
And when he got that diagnosis, he was kind of fine just to be like, oh well, I've got cancer and let's just let it run its course. But then something amazing happened. His friends came forward and were vulnerable. They shared their story.
Come to find out, my dad had a number of friends and relatives that had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. And they were on the other side of it. They were diagnosed. They were treated.
And they were cancer-free now. And they were sharing their stories with my dad. And it made him change his mind. He no longer wanted to just kind of let it run its course.
He said, you know what? Well, let's try something. And it worked. And I was so grateful to these men that thought it not robbery.
To share those intimate details about their diagnosis and how their doctors and their families worked through that whole time period. And I was so appreciative. So then moving further down the line, my dad had hyperactive thyroid and so did I. I was diagnosed with it.
And when I realized what it was, I recognized it in my father almost immediately. And I wanted to have these conversations with him because my endocrinologist ended up getting me to a place where my thyroid was back to working normal. But I couldn't understand why my dad wasn't. You know, why did he still have the swelling in his feet and his ankles?
You know, why did it appear like his eyes were still bulging? You know, and you know, those sorts of things. And he did not feel comfortable, I guess, sharing that information with me or whatever his doctor was saying. Because whenever I brought the conversation up, it was a, oh, I don't know, and a brush off, move on to another subject.
And I eventually stopped trying to get information. You know, I tried to get information for my mom and she's like, you know what? He doesn't let me come to any of his doctor's appointments. I ask questions.
He doesn't tell me a whole lot. My dad was, was fighting that, that vulnerability. He was not letting us in. He was not sharing that information with us.
Well, later down the line, he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. And looking back on it now, I can see and understand that maybe he didn't want to share that information with me because maybe he had already received information about his heart by way of his diagnosis with his thyroid. And he didn't want us to worry or he didn't want to share that information because he would have to be vulnerable with us. I don't know.
I wish I could ask him. But what I do know is that even with my mother, I would ask her, you know, well, how is it, how are you supposed to prepare his food? And she's like, well, he says, do this, do that. But he's never let me go to a doctor's appointment with him so I can ask more questions or I can get more information.
Is there anything else I can do? How else can I support him so that we can get him better? Well, and that was the thought that you could get better. But as many of you may know, congestive heart failure is not something that gets better.
It just gets worse over time. And, you know, my dad, he exercised. He would go walk around Colonial Lake every morning like right in early in the morning. But, you know, as it got worse, you know, you could tell that, you know, he had trouble getting around, but he didn't complain.
He didn't say a whole lot about stuff. But that other piece of that whole puzzle for me is he wasn't vulnerable. He did not allow himself to be vulnerable. And I just wish he would have.
So that's my desire for men around the globe to come together and have that conversation share the stuff that you know with the younger men and boys. So that when they get to be your age, that they're not holding that information in, that they're not letting the weight of whatever it is, weigh them down, wear them down, you know, that they feel open enough to be able to find that maybe it's just one person, one male in their life that they can go to and be vulnerable with. They can let them know what's happening, what's going on, and ask for help. It's okay to ask for help.
We all need help every now and then. And so that's my desire for Men's Health Week is that men come together and they support each other. Before I go on, let me just say this. In that last segment, I mentioned that men should support men.
And I was saying that in terms of like healthcare type things, because like women, women have lady problems. You don't necessarily go run out to a man to talk to him about it. So if a man is having male problems, I wouldn't expect him to come run out to a woman to tell her. So that's why I was saying men support men.
In my opinion, women support men, boys, girls, children, babies, aliens, women support everybody, except themselves sometimes. But in terms of personal type things, men, you should be there to have your brothers back type deal. Now, as far as things that you can do to celebrate Men's Health Week, it may be too late since it's coming Monday to plan a health fair or even a mini-health fair. But what you can possibly do is maybe do a small fundraiser.
There are plenty of ways to do that online. You can maybe put together a fun day with your co-workers or family. That's nothing more than saying, hey guys, meet me at such and such park and let's play Frisbee. That's something you can social distance with and have fun, you know, and bring up the conversation, something about Men's Health Week coming up, maybe something about Men's Health, give some tidbits, some little bits of trivia that did you know type deal.
And you can also do that on your social media platform. That's the perfect place to put that kind of stuff. And if you don't have time to do any of those things, the one thing at least you can do is plan a wear a blue day. That is so simple.
It gives you an opportunity to go shopping. If you don't feel like you have anything blue to wear, even something as small as a blue-ramp. Even something as small as a blue ribbon is enough to show your support for Men's Health Week. Well, and as Biggie said, if you don't know, now you know this coming week, Monday, running all the way through Father's Day is Men's Health Week.
This is also Men's Health Month. And it's a perfect opportunity for you to not only address issues with men about their health, but also the politicians and, you know, all of the doctors and other rule makers out there, as far as how you feel we should all be supporting men and Men's Health in our community, in our neighborhoods, in our cities, towns, states, and across the globe. Do me a favor. Head on over to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and you can find me at HeThat.
That's at H-E-E-V-E-T-E, or just look for the hashtag Tweet Trends. I hope you have a great weekend, and I'll see you back here on Tuesday, which will be the second day of Men's Health Week.