Some of you may know but last year was quite the terrible year for me for a number of reasons. Worst of all, I lost a friend.

Throughout all our lives, men are told exactly how to behave - and ‘be a man’. The most pernicious part of this aspiration to be a man is that we are told to bottle up all our emotions - or, even worse, not to have any. We can never be anything other than ‘OK’ because that would contradict what it means to be a man. That has to change.

It’s OK to feel, OK to cry, OK to not want to get out of bed in the morning, OK to have days you just don’t function, OK to think ‘what’s the point?’, OK to take time just for yourself, OK to feel too anxious to speak to others, OK to have panic attacks, OK to avoid situations because of anxiety, OK to go to therapy and, most importantly, it’s OK to admit to yourself that something isn’t ‘OK’. I know all this through experience.

We mustn’t just respond to the question, ‘How are you doing?’ with the typical reflex of ‘fine’. It’s time to be honest with ourselves and our friends. I’m running the Cambridge Half Marathon precisely in an attempt to destigmatise not being ok. I’ll be raising money for Papyrus on the way. I also want this to become a discussion and I really want to engage with people on these topics. I’m always more than willing to have a chat! Thanks for the support!