The
Whole
Man
by Christopher Veal
Christopher works deliberately each day to live into his purpose of creating authentic connections. He knows that some days he does better than others at leaning in to being vulnerable, and aims to improve with every interaction.
In his life he’s worn many hats: father, executive coach, Marine Corps officer, TEDx speaker, organizational development professional, facilitator, traveler, keynote speaker, podcast host, student of life, music lover, and explorer. He is excited to finally be adding Author to that list with the publishing of The Whole Man: Evolving Masculinity, which is the latest iteration of his quest to destigmatize the word ‘vulnerability’ for men.
When he’s not busy with these other pursuits, he loves spending time with his amazing daughter, listening to music, playing piano and (a little) guitar, mountain biking, riding his motorcycle, and is somewhat successfully training their Boxer, Apollo.
“It is okay to be happy (though not too happy, don’t get full of yourself now.) You can be sad (but only for a little while and then you need to get right back at it!) Anger is okay in limited doses (and of course only in certain places and expressed in certain ways.) Fear? (probably best not to let that one show, or others will see you as weak or incapable.) The list goes on. Those lessons about which emotions are appropriate (or not) are taught and reinforced in movies, television, stories, and often in the examples we see from other men in our lives when we are young boys. I believe that is a limiting perspective that holds us back, that there is another way forward. Instead of an either/or approach, it must be about both/and. We as men can be strong and sensitive. We can be independent and know there are times in our life where we need to ask for help. We can fiercely protect those we care about and nurture and love them with the same measure of ferocity.”
- from The Whole Man: Evolving Masculinity