Showing how you feel in a relationship can be difficult for men sometimes. We're trained from birth (less nowadays, but it does still happen) to suppress our more..."feminine" emotions in favor of stoic, rigid manliness. Don't cry, don't complain, don't whine about it, get it done, work hard, play hard, be a man! At the same time, when we're in romantic relationships, we need those emotions to make a connection with our partner. That's where we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle. We now find ourselves needing to do the very things we've been programmed never to do. If we do too much, we're pansies. Too little, we're emotionally shut off. It can be tricky finding just the right balance.
What helps is having the right partner. The right person beside you. The person who knows you and your habits and your idiosyncrasies well enough to KNOW when you're trying, to know when you fall short, and to thank you for the effort just the same. And vice versa. And the funny thing is, with the right person, it's really not all that hard anymore.
