upworthy

men's health

Humor

A guy revealed the 12 simple things that make men happy and it's 100% accurate

If it's not a dog, a buddy, a beer, and a cool stick, we don't want it.

Nolan Reid / TikTok
A guy definitively listed the 12 things that make men happy and it's 100% accurate

Minimalism is on the rise, not just in design and architecture, but in the way people live their lives. Having fewer things, sporting simpler styles, and enjoying the fundamental good things in life is cool now. Regular people who aren't influencers post fewer updates to social media. The world is just so loud and chaotic, more people are getting satisfaction out of just... chilling out and existing.

There's an old joke/meme that goes something like this: "Guys literally only want one thing and it's disgusting." Its used to imply, obviously, that men are shallow and crude creatures. TikTok creator and simple-life advocate Nolan Reid, however, has a different idea of what men really want.

Nolan recently made a video about "Little things in life that make men happy."

The hilarious list includes:

  • A fridge full of beer.
  • Drinking said beer in the garage. With your dog. And a good buddy.
  • Finding a cool stick.
  • Kicking a rock.
  • Staring at water.
  • Dropping rocks into said water.

As a fellow man, I would say: Yeah. That pretty much covers it.

It really doesn't take much! Watch Nolan's full video to see the rest, and just appreciate how much joy and satisfaction he gets from these simple things.


@nolanreid7

It’s that simple #beer #mustache #muzzymade



People loved Nolan's list—so much so that they began adding their own ideas of "simple things men love." The video racked up hundreds of thousands of views across TikTok and Instagram.

One commenter wrote, "He just described my whole personality." Another added, "This guy gets it."

Others chimed in with their own additions to the list, like staring at a fire for hours or just peace and quiet.

But most of the nearly 200 comments were just people chiming in to say one thing:

"Hell yeah."

Finally, someone who understands us! The video was such a hit that Reid put out two sequels where he added things like skipping rocks, throwing a thumbs up in a photo, or making something from scratch. "A dog" seems to make an appearance in every single video, and for good reason: Dogs make guys happy!

Nolan's ultra-relaxed vision of "masculinity" is honestly so refreshing.

@nolanreid7

And many more #littlethings #muzzymade

Men on social media are usually bombarded with the Andrew Tates and Jordan Petersons of the world—influencers who constantly berate us to make more money, lose weight and add muscle, sleep with more women, take charge, and relentlessly self-improve.

I like Nolan's much chiller idea of masculinity. It reminds me of being a kid: taking pleasure in the simple things, not racing to be anywhere, not trying to impress anyone or prove anything. And I love that all the things listed are timeless. They were enjoyed by men, and all people, in the 50s, in the 90s, and they'll be enjoyed by people 50 years from now, too.

Nolan's entire account is a breath of fresh air, an antidote to hustle culture. His videos find joy in:

  • Breaking down cardboard boxes
  • Driving at sunset
  • Going fishing
  • Throwing a frisbee
  • Wearing t-shirts

A daily visit to his page is almost like a meditation. I highly recommend giving him a follow to add a little counterprogramming to your social media feed.

Nolan says in another recent video that he started making TikToks and Instagram reels just for fun, but discovered along the way that he was really passionate about the message.

@nolanreid7

And many more #littlethings #men #happy #muzzymade

"I never thought that my simple living and love for little things would resonate with so many of you."

He said he hopes to inspire people to "take a step back and enjoy the good simple things in life." And now, I suddenly have the urge to go chuck a rock into a river, so I would say: Mission Accomplished!

This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

From Your Site Articles
men
HumorJoy
Family

Chris Pratt has a unique reason why he thinks people should 'rush' to have kids instead of waiting

His advice came from Adam Sandler.

via Wikimedia Commons

Chris Pratt at the "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" Japan premiere red carpet in 2019

Americans are waiting longer to have children than they ever have in history. Since 2007, the birth rate for women in their 20s has fallen by 28%. Over the past three decades, the median age for women giving birth has jumped from 27 to 30.

“The story here is about young women, whose births are plummeting,” Caitlin Myers, an economist at Middlebury College, told The New York Times. “All of a sudden, in the last 10 years, there’s this tremendous transformation.”

There are many reasons for the change in the birth rate. Women are dedicating more of their time and energy to building their careers and putting off having children. Further, the cost of living and raising children makes it prohibitive for younger people to have kids.

A poll taken earlier this year found that more than 50% of 18 to 34-year-olds said they would consider having children if the cost of living was lower.

Actor Chris Pratt, star of two of the summer’s biggest hits, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” thinks that people should push back against the trend of waiting until later in life to have kids. He says he got the idea from fellow actor and father, Adam Sandler.

Pratt has three children—Jack, 10, whom he had with his first wife, Anna Faris, and Lyla Maria, 2, and Eloise Christina, 1, from his second marriage to Katherine Schwarzenegger. The couple tied the knot in 2019.

“People say all the time, ‘Don’t rush to have kids.’ I personally disagree,” Pratt told Men's Journal. “Rush. Have them. Of course, make sure you find a great partner but don’t wait.”

“I was talking to Adam Sandler a while back, and he said, ‘Every day you wait is a day they don’t get to have you in their life,’” he continued. “The younger you have kids, the more time they get to have with you. It’s wild. Having kids is incredible. The things you normally take for granted in life are new.”

Sandler, 56, has two daughters Sadie, 17, and Sunny, 14.

“As they grow up, it becomes more about connecting with them as individuals and what makes them unique,” Pratt continued. “The softness of their hearts. How their minds work. How they’re the same as you. How they’re different.”

Sandler and Pratt have a point. The earlier you have kids, the more time you can spend with them. You will also share the years when you are healthier and more energetic. When many people think about the time in their lives they spend with their kids, they only consider when they are young and living at home. But the adult parent-child relationship can also be very meaningful.

As a parent, having more years with your child also means you’ll have more time with your grandchildren as well.

However great the advice sounds, Sandler and Pratt are both very successful actors, and they probably don’t have the same concerns about having the means to raise children that most parents do. So, it’s a little easier for them to believe that people should have children while they’re younger instead of waiting until they are more financially stable.

But that being said, most parents would probably agree that they hope to spend as many years with their children and grandchildren as possible.

From Your Site Articles
chris pratt
FamilyFatherhood
Wellness

SNL's 'Man Park' skit has sparked an important conversation about how men handle loneliness

YouTube

"Man Park" on YouTube

“It’s not their fault masculinity makes intimacy so hard.”

This was a line from a recent "Saturday Night Live" sketch, aptly titled “Man Park.” The premise: A girlfriend is so concerned that her male partner has no friends, that she takes him to the “Man Park” to socialize. ”It’s like a dog park, but for guys in relationships.” Like a cute clumsy puppy, the boyfriend (Pete Davidson) plays with other “breeds” as the women cheer from the sidelines. Finally, the boyfriend gets to bond with his fellow males over Dave Matthews, Marvel, and Rick and Morty. You know … guy stuff.

That sketch might be hilarious, but it is touching on the very real loneliness that men experience. If you have any doubts, just take a look at some of the comments to the video:

“I feel personally attacked but also kind of disappointed this isn’t a thing. How do you make new friends as an adult? … my girlfriend is also my only friend lmao.”

“This really hits home. It’s incredible how men fall into this state of loneliness of friendships apart from their partners. I had lots of friends when I was young and have a lot of old time friends, but as an adult it’s been pretty hard forming these new bonds. It’s a mix of a lack of time, social events and COVID has kept us isolated and at home.”

“Jesus's biggest miracle was he had 12 close male friends at age 30.”

Loneliness. A problem...

Avrum Weiss, Ph.D., wrote a brilliant article on the subject in Psychology Today (it even references the SNL sketch). In it, he pointed out how in heterosexual relationships, men often rely on their female partners to maintain friendships. And that boys start out with as many close relationships as girls do, but often start to neglect their personal relationships to “pursue external success.” Basically, the skill of making friends is not like a bicycle. You do forget if you don’t keep at it.

Add to that a culturally taught association between vulnerability and weakness, and it’s no wonder that so many men find themselves lost.

Though SNL makes light of it, Weiss notes the serious toll isolation takes, stating that “loneliness is not only an unpleasant feeling; it is an interpersonal impairment that causes significant harm.” This includes less satisfaction in their intimate relationships, and even extends to a steep decline in physical health.

...and a solution

Billy Baker, author of We Need to Hang Out, has become a bit of an expert in overcoming loneliness. His now famous article for The Boston Globe retells him getting asked to write a piece about being middle aged and having no friends. Which is, as Baker shares, quite typical.

Baker eventually solved the puzzle of the elusive male companionship with a simple, yet radically effective strategy: He made engagement a regular activity. Wednesday nights were, and still are, planned friend nights.

Meeting new people could be as simple as taking a class or even volunteering (doesn’t hurt that the last one also appeals to a masculine drive for service and purpose). The real challenge, however, is maintaining those connections once they’re established.

Though regular social interaction is important for anyone, sociologist Rebecca G. Adams notes that regular activities might be particularly important to men, who tend to use friendship to escape reality, while women tend to use friends to face reality.

...and an invitation

Perhaps the biggest takeaway though, was that Baker reframed his outlook on masculinity. As his article expresses, he learned that admitting loneliness does not make you a loser. Nor does showing affection—even to another man—imply a lack of strength. Circling back to the SNL sketch, it’s not men’s fault that many of them have been taught to think that emotion = burden. The only way to change this belief, however, is to put themselves out there and move through the discomfort of potential awkwardness or rejection.

Sounds like a pretty classically labeled male trait when you think about it: a willingness to persevere through a difficult circumstance, in order for something better. That inherent determination serves to create emotional well-being, too.

Though finding friends might not be as easy as a walk through the “Man Park,” the results are well worth the effort. And men deserve to experience the type of emotional fortitude that comes from knowing people are out there when times are hard.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
men's health
WellnessFamilyCulture
Popular

What sucks about being a guy? This viral thread offers some funny and touching answers.

via Vic / Flickr

In the never-ending quest for equality of the sexes, female issues have become a major focus in society.

Ending the gender wage gap, stopping sexual assault, encouraging female participation in STEM, and projecting more positive imagery of women in the media have all been important issues that have received growing attention over the past few years.

However, at the same time, there are important issues men are facing that haven't been getting the attention they deserve. A big part of that is society's attempt to correct generations of oppression faced by women. While, at the same time, men suffer in silence because they're socialized to internalize their problems and emotions.

Here are a few of the issues men face that should get more attention:

In 2017, men died by suicide 3.54x more often than women.

Men are more than ten times more likely to die in the workplace than a woman.

Video game addiction is becoming a serious problem for men.

Men are falling behind women in college enrollment.

Men lose sole custody of their children in about 90% of custody cases.

RELATED: Kumail Nanjiani opened up about the work it took to get fit, because men also have impossible beauty standards

A Redditor named zeldarangerr reached out to the online forum and asked men out there "What sucks about being a guy?" and it was a great opportunity for men to open up about issues they aren't usually asked about.

The thread is also a great opportunity for women to better understand some of things that men go through that they rarely speak about.

In the thread men honestly discuss the difficulties they have being the instigator in romantic relationships. It's hard for a lot of guys to muster up the confience to ask a woman out on a date. It can be just as hard to attempt to hold a woman's hand or ask for a kiss.

They guys also revealed the day-to-day problems that come with having a penis and testicles. Why the hell is the most sensitive part of ourselves hanging outside of our bodies?

Here are some of the most revealing answers to the question: What sucks about being a guy?

Penis problems.


from AskReddit
Related Articles Around the Web
what sucks about being a guy
Culture
Trending Stories