A writer would say that about his book, wouldn’t he? But this is sincere.

This week the Guide offered me a level of comfort I really needed. And that’s the point of What Men Do. We started writing it as a means of using the lessons we’ve learnt through our own life experience to help other guys on the journey to find out what it means to be a Man today.

That’s not to say we hold the answers – we’ve said from the beginning that we’re still on the journey ourselves – but the thinking was that if we’ve been through it, chances are lots of guys will. As males we’re alone on this planet so by sharing our experiences we might ease the loneliness of other men and be of some solace to guys dealing with their own shit.

Over the last week I think What Men Do has helped me in this regard. We are a triumvirate (not so much The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit; more The Shouter, The Stubborn and The Sneaky), so we’ve three different sets of experiences and three perspectives on life. This means that some of the content of The Guide will naturally be drawn more from the well of one of us than the others.

I think I’m just starting to understand that some things aren’t explainable.

In the What Men Do Guide we’ve written about Mythos and Logos, the two means of comprehending life’s events (or non-events). Logos, translating as logical explanations. Why did the crop fail? Because it didn’t rain this winter.

Mythos, translating as, roughly, mythical – the unexplainable. Why didn’t it rain this summer?

In the Guide we also quote Pascal, “The heart has reasons that Reason cannot understand.” This is something you can only really comprehend through experience. It’s a strange thing to have your head point you one way but your heart drag you another.

And on this blog, we’ve discussed Thinking Man, Sensing Man and Feeling Man. At What Men Do we further this distinction as linking the three Men with, respectively, the head, the gut and the heart.

So, if we’ve studied, thought and written about it, why am I only just now coming to understand it? Because of Experience. Life’s lessons are all in Experience.

You have to have a broken heart, grieve, love, father for yourself to ‘get it’. I say ‘get it’ because ‘know it’ is too simplistic. And for me, that’s the greatest lesson for What Men Do. You have to get out there and live your life your way. No book can give you the answers; you’d have to write that book for yourself and only in hindsight. All a book can do if is offer solace and guidance.

That’s something every man needs to know.

If this has resonated with you, or you think The Guide might be of use to a guy you know, then we urge you to get them a copy or fire the blog their way.

We’re alone and dealing with our own shit here fellas, but knowing that other guys are going through it helps and makes sure the journey isn’t lonely.

And, for what it’s worth, we don’t take a penny from any book. The money made from each sale goes back into The Workshop, a youth charity in Yorkshire whose membership is roughly 70% male.