Men of Reddit: How do you differentiate between emotional numbness and inner peace?

As someone who’s seen a lot of suffering around me, I often wonder about the emotional space men are expected to live in.

Do you ever confuse emotional numbness with calmness or peace?

How do you personally tell the difference between being genuinely at peace… and just shutting down to protect yourself?

I’m asking this from a place of deep respect. No politics, no blame—just trying to understand something we don’t talk about enough