What does it mean to be a man? Where do we get ideas about what that means?   

In this episode, I was joined by retired muay Thai champion and mental health advocate Richie hardcore to explore this idea amongst some other topics such as mental health and addiction. Richie is also an educator and public speaker who works in family and sexual violence prevention, and fitness. He also spent 6 years working in drug harm prevention.  

Richie stated that he was a sensitive kid that liked reading books but fighting at school made him cool. Being masculine also made him feel strong and cool but he said that he was fortunate enough to be steered away from that path and didn't turn to gangs and violence like his friends. He credited a lot of this to his passion for martial arts and the sober culture of the straight-edge hardcore scene.  

Richie shares his life story then we dive deep into ideas surrounding masculinity from both a sociological and spiritual perspective. Finally, Richie tells us about his battle with depression and suicidal ideation and how he pulled himself out of that dark place.   

I really enjoyed this conversation. Richie does some fantastic work, please check him out.   

https://www.richiehardcore.com/podcast https://www.facebook.com/richie.hardcore 

https://www.instagram.com/richiehardcore/?fbclid=IwAR2RQyyoQsg7S96MDvqhmBmE0aDmgQzgOMctup7CY7xhK5t788RXyOMyZFc