⚔️ Not Enemies, Just Wounded: The Myths We Burn

Unlearning Strength to Learn Love

Men and women have been taught to carry pain in different ways—by a world that never asked if it made sense, only that we obey.

For many women, pain lodges in the heart and nervous system. It becomes constant alertness—a kind of internal siren that never quite shuts off. She’s told to smile, then punished when someone misreads it. She shrinks herself to stay safe in rooms never built to hold her truth. She’s touched without asking, then blamed for what follows. So she learns to scan every room for danger, and then feels guilty for feeling unsafe at all.

Men are trained to carry their pain in the chest and jaw. It shows up in silence, clenched teeth, tight shoulders, and that familiar need to just keep going. From a young age, he’s told not to feel—only to fix, push, provide, protect. And if the pain becomes too heavy? He tucks it deep inside, afraid that speaking it out loud will make him seem weak.

But here’s the truth:

So many men ache to be held—not just physically, but emotionally. Yet they don’t know how to ask without feeling like they’re breaking some unspoken rule. So they harden. They grow useful. They go quiet.

And so many women are beyond tired. Tired of holding the emotional weight for themselves and everyone else. But putting it down risks being called unstable, selfish, or too much. So they smile. Nod. Swallow the scream.

This is not a war between the sexes. This is a silent grief we’ve both been carrying.

We don’t need to debate whose pain is worse. We need to meet each other in the middle of it.

Because a woman’s pain does not erase a man’s. And a man’s pain does not invalidate hers. They are both real. Both sacred. Both worthy of being seen.

Healing begins not with blame—but with curiosity. With the courage to ask:
“What has it been like for you?”
And the grace to truly listen—not to fix, not to win—but to understand.

Two nervous systems.
Two stories.
Woven by pressure, silence, and misunderstanding.
But still capable of creating something deeper.
Not perfection.
But partnership.
The kind where no one has to vanish in order to be loved.

⸻

Artist & Author: Samantha Syrnich TLC
Artwork Title: “Not Enemies, Just Wounded: The Myths We Burn”
© 2025. All rights reserved.

Blanca & Dante Bowe – The Healing
[https://youtu.be/S5tGdzyeRYc?si=67IwpIsabiVEPWNM]