As kids we cried when we felt like crying, laughed when we felt like laughing etc. If our parents were good parents they'd listen to our problems and worries and issues and let us be our loud crying yapping selves. Then as time elapses and a boy ages the parents start having less slack for his tantrums and sobfests, tell him to be a man.

We at this step go from feeling our emotions to expressing them. Whether to our parents, or our friends. (LPT a mate isn't a mate until you can talk about what's going on negatively in your life without concern of "weirding" someone out, until then a lot of "friends" you think you have are actually just guys you go out with and get lit with but aren't actual "friends")

Years later many men forget how to properly process their emotions and I give you the answer.

Many men get into relationships for the "emotional" competent, either their parents are dead or have turned onto deaf ears to your problems or you aren't close enough with any other man to talk about the shit you've been through in your life. This is level I of the Trap.

Expressing an emotion through words or actions don't do shit for you or anyone.

Instead feel your emotions. My advice to you may be anecdotal but it works and works well. Once a month or once a quarter of I've been really busy I go for a run into nature, then walk far off the beaten path and find a tree to sit on. Start bringing up the fights you've had, the failures you been through and don't "think" about how they made you feel, actually GO into your body and FEEL it. There's usually a click point where you realise you've actually been resisting feeling that emotion and you then allow it to cascade over you. Really BECOME that emotion, if it works well you'll even notice that your emotion is taking form in the way you remember it as a child. Personally I start sobbing lightly, then screeching then there's a lull, followed by another wave of screams yells and screeching followed by some hyperventilating and then another crash of crying that all of a sudden turns into manic laughing and life feels splendid afterwards.

It's important to not judge yourself as this happens, it's weird as fuck, very animalistic, and very raw, you will literally feel like when you were 3-4 years old and kicking and screaming in your bed. But do it properly and you've ACTUALLY PROCESSED and released those baggages and chains.

Past a certain age your parents don't care to hear about your complaints the same way they once did, any girls you're seeing don't want to hear it either, and while it's important to have mates that you can talk to about that kind of stuff, YOURE NOT ACTUALLY PROCESSING THE EMOTIONS.

This "hack" is life changing because you realise that you can release these wounds on your own, and that you don't need anyone to 'help' or talk you through it. You never "needed" anyone and therefore never will.

All psychologists do is ask questions that lead you into the right state of mind to let the emotions wash over you. Sometimes it takes sessions to get to that point. I'm not saying not to use psychologists they have their place, but you can do a lot for yourself psychologically and you might not even know it.

Release the good and the bad and you build your way towards a more and more rational mind more and more grounded in the now and free of emotional and mental baggage of the past.

Books like Letting Go by David Hawkins, RSD Julien's letting go technique, The Work by Katie Braun(?) Might be useful for you to understand how to get to this. Ultimately it's something you have to figure out on your own, this isn't a 1+1 type of lesson, learning how to go into yourself and actually feel things will take practice but it is extremely refreshing and rewarding. If you've had a bad week, got into a fight with family and haven't had things going your way, it's human that you're going to feel beaten down and your mood is going to suffer, can't escape it. Being immune from a depressed mood after negative events isn't human. The problem is that most don't ever actually let themselves FEEL into that depressed mood.

I've gone from flat and emotionless and empty to absolutely ecstatic and loving life and having a radical perspective shift, and all it took was 5-10 minutes of leaning against a tree trunk letting it all out like when I was 5.

Good luck in all your endeavors.

Tldr: crying as a man isn't bad, just don't do it in front of others, we are ships out in the ocean, we must remain steadfast in the face of high water. When docked back at Port however ships need repairs and refurbishment, likewise as men taking moments of solitude to feel out emotions isn't only "acceptable" but mandatory