What does it mean to be a man in 2025? Is it grinding through a 60-hour workweek, deadlifting twice your body weight, or having the courage to tell a friend, “I’m not okay”? Society’s old playbook—stoic, silent strength—is being rewritten. Today’s man is both a rock and a river: unyielding when needed, but open to the flow of emotions. Rudyard Kipling’s 1895 poem “If—” laid out a timeless guide to character, but its stiff-upper-lip ideals need a modern twist. Strength and vul