The Importance of the Modern Man Cave

Remember the bachelor life back in college and early on in your career?

When you washed the dishes only because you ran out of paper plates? When you didn’t have a vacuum, so you just swept the dirt under the couch (and found several forks and a half rack of ribs)? When the extra furniture you brought in for your Super Bowl party didn’t move for several months after the game was over?

Those days are not dead. In fact, they are more alive than ever, but only in the one room in the place you call your home: The Man Cave.

The man cave is the last bastion of masculinity. A place seemingly void of all external pressures from society, work, and responsibility.

A place where you can host a Lord of the Rings marathon without interruption, assemble a shrine dedicated to your favorite sports team that could be mistaken for a place of prayer in some countries, create a well-stocked bar to mimic your favorite college hangout (yes, you’ll also need a pool table and shuffleboard), or travel through time back to your childhood to crush the souls of some punk teenagers in Halo or Call of Duty. 

These are the obvious reasons why man caves are awesome and will be the envy of your friends. But what about the benefits that do not immediately come to mind when daydreaming about this ideal scenario?

Picture this: you’re happily married with two merciless yet lovable children, a very demanding and rewarding career, and you have still managed to stay close with some of your buddies from high school and college. What’s the one problem the man cave solves?

SPACE. Plain and simple.

A space to call your own and retreat to when you’re overcome with the pressures of the modern man. You need to bust your butt at work, then come home and match your kids’ energy levels (their source of power primarily derived from candy corn and their sworn duty to fall down and fake injuries), all while taking care of personal matters and attempting to maintain mental sanity in the process. Demanding, right? You need a place to wind down, enjoy your hobbies, and separate from life’s stressors.

You need a couple hours during the week just to screw your head back on straight, relax with some TV and sports (not “The Bachelorette”, “Real Housewives of Albuquerque”, or “Sing Your Face Off While Formerly Successful Burnouts Wittingly Mock You…on Live Television!”), or reconnect with your crew over good beer and whatever competitive activity you can think of (the Big Lebowski drinking game or poker will do just fine).

The man cave can have a different meaning for each and every man. Some men envision five flat-screen TV’s, a pool table, and bar stools around a self-serve bar, while others dream of a soundproof room to shred on the guitar in peace and store their vinyl collection. Regardless of the preconception you have of the “dream” man cave setup, the concept remains the same in that it’s a place where a man can simply be himself.

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