I'm a visual artist so be my own worst critic is going to come with my nature but I have started to know this with other things in my life that I considered a part of my identity as a man

Right now I'm 25 years old and I have no car and I live with my grandparents.

My critical mind tells me that I'm a failure. Despite everything I was told and everything that I did I still ended up with absolutely nothing after college

Made double so when you do all the things that you're told to do as a Young Man

Work two jobs and go to school and work on your personality. Work out more. Getting away from toxic environments etc...

But I still ended up in my twenties with nothing to really show for any of my work.

Yet at the same time as I say this with how our society and economy is. I'd argue at least half of college-age kids are living with parents or have help

I'm so hard on myself yet all of my friend group still live with their parents.

And the ones that do live with roommates still get some type of help and even still there about one bad paycheck away from losing it

This seems to be the norm for this generation and I find a crazy because I'm so hard on myself yes I don't view my friends as losers even though they're in the same spot.

Does men wear socialized and condition to be hypercritical of ourselves and to try to stamp out any perceived flaw or weakness even when it's not accurate

I'm 6 ft 6 and 240 lb and I know I can deal damage but I still second-guess myself whenever I think about having to protect myself or family or girlfriend

It's true that we shouldn't compare because our lives are going to be that different

I have a co-worker who got fired from my job so I basically doing something very heinous and illegal.

But he's a rich kid so he can get away with things like that.

The guy has no social skills and just says whatever is on his mind but a rich kid like him can do that type of thing with no repercussions because all mommy and daddy have to do is get him out of trouble.

I've been on a date with a woman who straight-up admitted to me that she has coasted through life.

She's the daughter of some Hotshot in New York and to this day still gets her parents money and support even though she's married

When I was younger I used to over criticize myself to a horrible detriment

And that's partly because it's so conditioned for young men to have no excuses for themselves and give themselves almost near hyper agency as if they are really gods

And playing compare and contrast is natural to The Human Experience but it does us no good.

To give a point, my 71 old grandfather only have to work one job in his lifetime. He comes from the 1960s where he has to deal with civil rights and dodging the KKK and the police and etc...

Of course everything was different and he is an elder black man. But the cost of living was different for his time.

He didn't need to balance two jobs

Yet here I am a 25 year old millennial who's been called lazy and entitled since I was born. And yet I have been working two jobs since I was in high school

I would never question his life experience though because he did go through it but what we're talkin about money

My grandfather had a much easier time at the age I am now despite coming from the dark times