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Jennifer Hacker's avatar

I absolutely love this Jason. MANY MANY men (and people who love them) need this. Thank you for sharing your story and your hard-won insights. God bless you as you continue to travel this road of life after loss.🩵

Re: your thought about renaming to “Man Up and Heal”… if you’re really wanting to reach a man in the very early days/months of grief, Man Down is better. Because that’s where he is. He’s not thinking about “healing”… he’s thinking about (presumably because he’s reading your book) surviving. And your subtitle points to the fact that there is growth. But first they have to survive. Just my 2 cents which are worth 0 in reality so take it for whatever it means to you 🤓

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Jason MacKenzie's avatar

Thanks so much for your feedback and encouragement Jennifer! It means a lot to me.

I think I didn't explain what I intended very well. My thought was to create this guide for men in the immediate aftermath of a devastating loss - so I'll call it Man Down.

The Man Up and Heal idea was for another book I'm writing for men about grief. It's less focused on right after the loss and more about grief and healing in general (for men). So I wanted to combine the idea of "manning up" and healing.

Does that change anything for you or do you still feel the same way? Thank you for reading!

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Jennifer Hacker's avatar

Yes, this helps. For a totally different book (and audience) I like Man Up and Heal. 💙

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Lila's avatar

Holding on to this one for myself: "You don’t owe anyone a performance while your world is burning." Thank you Jason.

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Jason MacKenzie's avatar

You're so welcome Lila. I'm glad it resonated with you ♥️

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Stephanie C. Bell's avatar

You truly inspire. Thank you for transforming your pain into healing for others.

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Jason MacKenzie's avatar

Thank you friend. I really appreciate that ♥️

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Precious Kilpatrick's avatar

This is some real stuff. Valuable to the ones who are going through fresh grief.

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Jason MacKenzie's avatar

Thank you friend. I'm doing my best to try to help people and I appreciate your encouragement!

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Kay H's avatar

Your words can help anyone, not just men. I’m a grieving mom 13 months in and I’m still waiting for things to get better while I watch the dumpster fire continue to smolder. ☹️

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Anne's avatar

Reading with interest, Jason. I've often wondered if knowing about a death ahead of time might make it easier. Time will tell, for me, I guess. Meanwhile, I am soaking up your wisdom.

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lawfair's avatar

Not sure why for men only? That's a stereotype and generalization that at least I, personally, don't subscribe to. The ability to deal with, learn from, survive, and thrive after great loss, trauma, or grief can apply universally, to all, young or old, male or female, generally regardless of race, religion, or culture. Maybe it's more about those topics from being born you, and man, your views, your challenges, your background, and your overall life experiences. Isn't it really about experiencing and healing from grief from "one" [real], [strong], [grown] [growing] [metamorphasizing] (or the like) man's perspective? It's each individual's uniqueness that creates the story and underlies any pablum-type generalizations. Just some food for thought.

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