I'm watching him intently. His every move. He doesn't know I see it all but I do and I know him well enough to know it hurts. But somehow it hurts him differently than it hurt me.

He is going through a divorce and he has had to walk away many times in the early stage of conversations to avoid breaking down. That's how he is with me as his friend; I wonder if he is stone faced with his wife (how my ex was with me during the process).

We live through our own personal emotions more intensely than through others; but, I've often wondered if men and women hurt differently when it comes to tragedy and loss. It is evident to me that he is in a challenging space and biding his time. There is so much uncertainty but still the heartache seems like a bruise to him, compared to my internal bleeding. I don't believe I was any more invested or had stronger feelings toward my ex than he. This to me is part of being a man. Men handle things differently, especially emotion. They internalize and don't let the piercing get as deep or as interconnected; at least from my perspective.

A psychologist once described the differences in the brains of men versus women and how men have separate boxes for everything and they DO NOT touch; whereas women have a ball of wire and all are intertwined and fed by emotion. Check out his video. Its one of my favorites.

https://fb.watch/8cCePXvb6M/

I am not in any way disparaging men or their levels of emotion. I'm also not sure it is accurate to claim that men necessarily feel less either. It has just been my observation that when we hurt, we hurt differently. It may be one of the thousands of items I just inherently understand when I reach heaven. One thing I do know is that God created Men and Women differently for many reasons, even if some can be slightly baffling.