10+ Daily Struggles That Only Men Will Understand
By Jack Clark
1 year ago
1. The Perfect Beard
Image Source: Reddit
Beards have been in fashion for many years, but not every man can grow a good beard. For those of us who can, it isn't just a case of growing it and leaving it - if you want to look respectable that is. A neat beard takes constant maintenance and it's not easy to do. The number of times we've trimmed our beards and noticed one side doesn't match the other! Looks like we're shaving it all off.2. 5am Shadow
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Yup, this really is a thing. For those of us who need to shave every day for our jobs, stubble is literally the bane of our lives. Some of us can get away with not shaving every day, but for those of us whose facial hair grows at the speed of light, we need to get up 15 minutes earlier every single day just to get the perfect shave in. Imagine having to shave your face every single day!3. Itchy Beard
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We've all tried to grow our beards out at some points in our lives, some more successfully than others. Growing out your beard is plain-sailing until you hit the 2 week mark, and then all hell breaks loose. At 2 weeks, your newly-grown beard hair suddenly starts making your skin feel like it is on fire, and you cannot stop itching it to save your life. Luckily, after about 4 weeks the itching starts to pass.4. Tight Jeans
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When we were teenagers, wearing skinny jeans was the fashionable thing to do. However, it's quite hard to get away with wearing skinny jeans as adults. Not only does it look like we're trying to cling on to our youth that has long since passed, but skinny jeans are super uncomfortable to wear. Unfortunately, non-slim jeans make us look 10 years older, so we're constantly trying to find a middle ground between comfort and fashion.5. Opening A Jar
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Opening a jar is hard. We've all struggled trying to open a jar of jelly at some point - those things are basically glued shut. As a man, opening a jar that our family have failed to open is a rite of passage. It's an initiation into male adulthood that we've all had to pass at some point. Once you get one lid off, everyone expects you to be able to open every jar; with great power comes great responsibility, or something like that.6. Toilet Bowl Accuracy
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Yup, the ongoing struggle of trying to get all of our bodily fluids neatly into the toilet bowl. However, it's not as easy as it seems! Sometimes it's dark, sometimes we're in a rush, sometimes the toilet bowl is smaller than we're used to. What's weird though, is that our accuracy increases tenfold when we have to pee into a urinal - maybe it's so close it would be impossible to miss?7. Is Someone Cutting Onions?
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As men, we're told we're not supposed to cry (well we do, it's not the 1950s anymore). However, whenever we watch a film about dogs or father and son relationships, the floodgates fling wide open. As much as we try to remain stoic, the second we see a father hug his long lost son on screen, we're done for. Yep, we're basically Chandler from Friends.8. Bro Hug Or Handshake?
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Women have it easy when it comes to greeting people they know. Outside of a work environment, if they meet up with someone that they've not known for long, they can still go in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Men don't have the same luxury though - if we're meeting up with our partners friends, do we go in for a conservative handshake or straight in for the bro hug?9. Man Flu
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That's right, man flu is basically a death sentence. It's way worse than the standard cold or flu. For 5 days, we feel like we're on death's door. The only cure is constant attention, moaning about how bad we feel and regular meals brought to us. After about 5 days, the man flu starts to subside and we can see the healthy light at the end of the tunnel.10. Six Pack Or Dad Bod?
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Now, our current body composition depends entirely on whether or not we're single or in a relationship. When we're single, we're trying to attract potential partners - working on getting a six pack is a good way to do this. However, once we've settled into a new relationship, a dad bod seems pretty appealing. You can eat what you want and go to the gym less - unless your partner loves your six pack!11. Parallel Parking
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Men always brag about their driving skills and how parallel parking is super easy. It's all well and good until we get into a situation where we actually have to execute a parallel park. After all the years of bragging, the pressure is on. Our partners and friends are watching and judging our every move. Sweat is pouring down our forehead - will we back up our bragging with a successful parallel park? Probably not.12. Rearranging You Know What
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We had to mention this one - as men, we have to rearrange our private parts throughout the day. Depending on what we're wearing, a rearrange can happen a number of times in the space of a work day. Luckily, we're pretty good at doing this discreetly (well, at least we think we are), and we pick our times to make sure that no one is watching us.13. Healthy Diet < Beer, Pizza
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Men have an eternal struggle when it comes to dieting. We want to eat well, exercise regularly and live a healthy lifestyle. Honestly, we do. However, that gets increasingly hard to do when we see our buddies. Men bond over beer and pizza - there's something about sinking a bottle of bud and eating a big slice of pepperoni pizza with our pals that is therapeutic.14. Multitasking
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C'mon, doing two things at once is literally impossible. We physically can't engage in a conversation with our partner whilst simultaneously play video games. However, women have somehow adopted this superpower. The amount of times we'll be speaking to our partners whilst they're doing something else, and they've heard literally EVERYTHING we've just said. Scary.15. Horror Movies Aren't Scary
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Newsflash, men hate watching horror movies. It's not the fact that it's scary, it's the fact that we have to pretend we're not scared. Most of us want to hide behind a pillow or blanket, but we're not allowed. We have to sit there with our eyes glued to the screen, watching every single moment of the movie. On top of that, we have to try our best not to jump out of our skin.16. The Perfect Handshake
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We've all been told that a good handshake can make or break someones initial impression of us. Having a good handshake as a man takes literally years of practice. How tight or loose do you shake? Too loose and the person receiving your handshake might think you're weak, but too tight they might think that you're trying to break their hand. It's a constant battle.17. Carrying All The Shopping Bags At Once
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If you didn't carry all the shopping bags in at once, you didn't do it properly. Every man knows that you have to pick up every shopping bag and do the journey from car to house in one trip. Also, every other man in the neighbourhood is watching you from their windows, judging your attempt. You have to do it anyway you can - multiple bags on one arm, even carrying one by your teeth.18. DIY Projects
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We all think we're carpenters or woodworkers at heart, and our ignorance and arrogance will have us perusing the shelves of Home Depot looking for materials for our next project. We'll have watched a YouTube video of some DIY expert talking about how he made a table from a piece of pallet wood and sold it for $500, and we think we can do the same thing.19. Dad Jokes
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As men, we make a promise to ourselves that we'll never tell lame dad jokes like our fathers before us always told. But, for some reason, the older we get the more susceptible we are to telling a dad joke. It starts off innocently, but before we know it we're actively researching dad jokes online to tell at the next family BBQ, laughing to ourselves and realizing how funny our Dads are.20. Road Rage
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Driving can be frustrating. Especially when literally everyone else on the road has seemingly put blindfolds on before they got in their car. Road rage only intensifies as we age - we start out with grumpy facial expressions and hand gestures, but we quickly graduate to full-on rants littered with some pretty colorful language. Hmm, maybe we're the bad drivers?21. Not Knowing How To Use An Iron
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Now, not every man is useless when it comes to daily chores. However, most of us just don't know how to use an iron. Unless we went through military training where they teach you how to iron your uniform, men are pretty useless when it comes to ironing our shirts. For some reason we just can't get to grips with how to get the creases out of our shirts. We end just ironing the collar and hoping for the best.22. We're Not Lost
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As men, we like to think of ourselves as resourceful. We like to think we can get out of sticky situations using our logical thought processes and quick wit. However, we've all been in the situation where out phones have died and we're using an outdated map to get somewhere we've not been before. The only thing to do in this situation is admit defeat and wind down your window to ask a stranger for help.23. Constant Fear Of Getting Kicked You Know Where
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Generally, adult men don't go around kicking other men in the groin area. We've usually grown out of it by the time we hit our twenties, and it's usually pretty safe to assume that you won't receive a swift kick to your crown jewels when out and about. However, we've all experienced that one kid when we were in school who thought it was cool to attack our groin, so we're always on high alert.24. Losing Hair
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Not all men lose their hair. We get what is called a mature hairline, which isn't to be confused with a receding hairline. Some of us, however, unfortunately didn't win the genetic lottery when it comes to keeping our full head of hair, and we have to make a decision: to shave our heads or cling on to delusion. Unfortunately, a lot of us pick the latter, and we end up with hair round the sides of our head and nothing on top.25. Gaining Hair
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Aside from losing hair, we also have to deal with random hairs sprouting out of places that were once hairless. What is it with suddenly growing hair in your ears or nose? Why do we go our entire teenage years and early twenties with a lovely, smooth back, but as soon as we hit 25 we resemble a hairy chimp? Also, to couple up with our receding hairline, the hair we have remaining turns grey!26. Manscaping
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We hate this word, but it's the only other way of describing the act of shaving your gentleman's area. Having to groom your private parts is one of life's great non-pleasures, and we constantly have to contend with cutting our groin area. Not to say that women don't suffer the same fate, but men have it worse here. Luckily there are some pretty advanced grooming tools available now.27. Spend Time With Partner Or Play Video Games?
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The eternal struggle: spend time with our partners, or play video games with our friends online? It seems like an easy choice, but with the amount of different games available now it really throws a spanner in the works. Now we're adults and we live away from home, we can play video games for as long as we like without our Moms telling us off - it's quite the dilemma.28. Flirting With Potential Partners
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For those of us men who are single, improving your flirty conversation skills is one that requires care, attention and practice. We've all fell flat on our faces (sometimes literally) when approaching and trying to flirt with someone, and it is a constant struggle. What do you say? How do you start a conversation? What if she is with her friends? It's a minefield.29. Getting You Know What Caught In Our Zippers
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This doesn't affect every man, but those of us who chose to go commando have to worry about this. Briefs, underwear, boxers: they can all be pretty uncomfortable, especially in hot weather, and sometimes we need to let our groin breathe. Obviously we still wear pants, but it's very freeing when you leave your boxers at home. That is until you have to use the restroom and get it caught in your zipper.30. Going Shopping With Our Partners
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The lifelong struggle of going shopping with our partners is one that men have had to battle for years. Food shopping is different - we can see the woods through the trees when we have to get groceries. Clothes shopping, however, is a different beast altogether. We've all seen those photos of men gathered outside a shop waiting for their partner to come out - this really is accurate.31. Leaving a gap between urinals
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All men understand the illusion that happens in public restrooms - the fact the bathroom wants you to think there are twice as many urinals than there actually are. Every man knows that you have to leave a urinal free with a gap in between each person, even if you have to queue and avoid using the 'available' one, which means if a urinal has a line of 10 on the wall, we all know only 5 are up for grabs.32. Getting your hair caught in your belt
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Wearing a belt is a must most days if you're working professionally and need to wear suit trousers and a shirt, or if you just need to keep those jeans in prime position. The only problem with that is how much the belt is constantly working against you, particularly when you bend over for something and the belt buckle decides it's prime time to trap your stomach hair in it.33. The struggle of the morning pee
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We all know why it's a struggle, so I don't have to say it. You just know. Getting out of bed and going about your routine in the morning should be a time to wake up slowly, grab your coffee, freshen up and empty the bladder you've been holding full all night. The only trouble with that is when you spend 90% of the time you have free in the morning trying to pee.34. Leaving laundry for as long as possible
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If you even do it at all. Doing laundry at a sensible pace when things are dirty just doesn't make sense to us. Clothes are all subject to the sniff test, and most of the time we know we're going to wear it anyway even if it smells a little bad, if it means we don't have to load the washer. We'll wait for that dirty laundry pile to get as high as Everest - or, get creative, and just put several dirty piles next to each other. Job done.35. Needing to pick out that wedgie
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There's nothing worse than when you get a tight, painful wedgie in public with nowhere free to pull it out. The wedgie doesn't just affect your behind, but you feel like your entire front junk is being compacted. You need to find a place to pull it out STAT, even if it means excusing yourself from a conversation to hurry to the bathroom. Then it's blessed sweat relief around your groin.36. When the urinal gets impatient
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We've all been there: when we need the longest, most desperate pee we've ever had in our life. Maybe it's been a day out or shopping where we haven't been able to find a bathroom, despite chugging water or maybe beers, and suddenly the flood gates open. It's nothing even a urinal has been prepared for and the automatic flush goes off more than once before you've even finished.37. Showering only 20% of our body
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Showering is an exact art when you want to get it completely wrong and cut some corners, which we absolutely do. There's no extra effort to use a variety of products to scrub clean every area of skin. We concentrate on what we need to - namely, the armpits and around the groin area where it's most important - and then rest of it we just hope the water will catch it before we get out.38. Being one of the two types of toilet users
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The world is firmly split into two types of men, there's no doubt about that. And it all depends how much mess or noise you're willing to make when you need to use the toilet. The first category is those opting for the side of the toilet bowl, in order to minimise splash and noise. The second category? Quite the opposite. Those are the men aiming directly for the center into the water to make as much noise as possible.39. Resting your hand on the wall
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Speaking of using the toilet (which has been mentioned a worrying amount this article) all men understand THOSE types of pees when you just have to rest your hand on the wall, full palm, until you've finished. Usually reserved for those long ones and the ones you've desperately needed for a while, the wall might provide emotional support for this time of blessed relief.40. Taking or fetching anything to the car in one trip
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We're not just talking about shopping here. We're talking about absolutely anything that needs loading up or getting out of the car. You're taking a trip or vacation? Then you best believe you're going to try carry every suitcase and bag at once. Moving home? Who needs a removal's van when you're going to try and carry 50 boxes all at once and somehow fit them in your tiny car!41. Putting a bra on your face as sunglasses
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We hope most men are doing this with their girlfriend's bras and not just going around doing it randomly in a store, but now that we mention it, most guys have probably done that at least once for a joke, too. It just seems logical (and hilarious) to put a bra across your eyes with one cup for each eye and make a joke that you're wearing some pretty chaotic headgear.42. Checking the wind's direction for... reasons
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Okay, desperate times call for desperate measures. You ate something questionable last night, or you're just having a painful bloating day, and you know it's better to get it out than in, right? Only you're in public and there are people around. This time, it's not the noise you're concerned about, it's the smell. You need to check whether it'll go upwind or downwind from you so you can choose the right moment.43. Having to sit on your wallet
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No, this isn't a flex about how big your wallet is, it's just the fact that the most logical place to put your wallet is in your rear trouser pocket and if you have to sit down all day, that creates quite the dilemma. You can't put it in your front pocket because that's just weird, and you can't take it out when you sit down and just weirdly hold it in your hand. So you have to put up with the pain.44. Just... shaving in general
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Why does it have to be so hard? No wonder guys just grow beards and have done with it. If you really care about not having a lot of hair on your body, it's such a chore - and it's a daily chore at that because of the speed your facial hair grows. And don't even get us started on trying to keep on top of all that chest hair when we have a ton of it and don't want it.45. Trying to choose swimwear
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We know that obviously there's going to be SOME kind of reveal when you're wearing swimming shorts in terms of what you can see or a certain... outline, but most men don't want that on purpose. Which means trying to find swimwear which isn't ridiculously tight and shows off way too much is a huge task, and an impossible one at that. Sometimes we just have to pick the best of a bad bunch.46. The cold water struggle
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Speaking of swimwear being revealing.. how about the battle we have to face with cold water? If there was a distinct outline before we got in the water, that outline would have shrunk a bit when getting out. We feel like we have to explain to everyone around us - no idea why - that it's cold and it's not our fault. Even more important to explain that to prospective partners.47. Getting caught checking someone out
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There are guys out there who have the full confidence (and audacity) to check someone out with no filter, openly gaping at them and not breaking eye contact. And then there are the other guys who just want to check someone out without looking like a creep. Which is why it's all the more mortifying when we actually get caught checking someone out when we just wanted a quick look.48. Just worrying about everything to do with intimacy
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No matter how you feel confidence wise, chances are your body is going to betray you at least once - or at least for the first time. It's the constant worry and struggle with every insecurity known to man about your performance or about things you just absolutely can't control. And then feeling like you have to explain yourself only to make it sound even worse.49. Worrying that person thinks you're following them
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Walking in the street shouldn't be as stressful as our brains make it out to be, but it absolutely is. There's so much to think about. Not only about watching where you're walking or wondering if you look stupid with your arms swinging, but you've been behind the same person on the street for half an hour now and you're started to worry they'll think you're following them, without being able to shout, 'I'M NOT FOLLOWING YOU!'.50. Deciding how manly to be
