By Joel Wregget
This is by far the hardest and easiest article I’ve ever written. But it’s something I needed to write and more importantly, needed to be said.
I’m going to pull back the curtain a little bit and give you some insight into the world of Free For All Sports. These articles we write come from within; an anger or disappointment that’s been stirred up, and not from a sense of duty. We aren’t assigned a topic every week to write about, we write these articles because we want to. Our motto is “It’s nothing personal, it’s just sports,” but I feel the need to break character after the way November ended and December began.
Allow me to construct a timeline, if you will.
November 29, 9AM: It’s a fairly dull Thursday, my kids are both in school, so I sit back and watch Spike TV’s tribute to Eddie Murphy. It dawns on me: wouldn’t it be nice if people gathered to pay tribute to one another, other than at weddings, retirements or funerals? Who wouldn’t want a gathering of their peers taking turns telling them how much they mean to them? Too often it’s too late to tell someone you love them.
November 29, 7PM: The chairman for Movember Canada is on the radio speaking to Bob McCown as I’m driving home. He talks about money raised and where it goes. I learn November is “men’s health awareness month” not just “men’s cancer awareness month” and that a portion of moneys raised will go to support men’s mental health initiatives, as well. Who knew?
December 1: According to police reports, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher murders his girlfriend. He then drives to the Chiefs practice facility, where he thanks Head Coach Romeo Crennel, GM Scott Pioli, and others for the opportunity they’ve provided him. Belcher then turns, walks towards his car, puts a gun to his head, and pulls the trigger.
I don’t believe very strongly in coincidences, but I think these three events are strongly connected, at least for me. Why have these events had such a profound impact on this grumpy and judgmental writer and podcaster? I think it’s because I’m meant to help.
Depression has become an epidemic and if the term weren’t already assigned, it would be the “silent killer”, especially among men. Men are the least likely to admit to such a condition and even less likely to seek treatment. We feel that by simply admitting that we suffer from depression, we’ll be viewed as weak, and our support structure will treat us differently.
I’m a sufferer. I was diagnosed with clinical depression more than 5 years ago, but “diagnosed” is the key word, since I now believe I’ve been afflicted my entire life. The more self-examination I go through, the more evidence I uncover.
Depression certainly has its peaks and valleys, and rarely will a sufferer let on that anything’s wrong. You have your good days and you have your bad. For me, my depression manifests itself as anger, and I can fly off the handle at a moments notice. I take medication and I’ve been in therapy. I say “been” because the cost is very high, I had spent my medical plan allotment, and my doctor and I had seen several breakthroughs and didn’t feel the need to continue. I’m definitely much better than I was, but like a car, a tune-up never hurts.
From my couch in Alberta, my guess is Belcher had some form of depression, possibly brought on by an undiagnosed concussion, and finally snapped. There is no way to know for sure, since doctor’s couldn’t speak about it even if he had sought treatment, but what else could possibly push an elite, 25 year old athlete and new father to do something so terrible?
Gentlemen, it’s okay to admit you suffer from depression. We need to take away the stigma associated with this taboo topic. I have no idea if it’s curable, but it’s certainly treatable. Maybe you never get to the point where you’re sliding down rainbows and dancing on flower petals, but treatable enough to make life worth living again. We need to start the conversation, and it begins with talking to your doctor and telling him or her that something’s wrong. It’s the first step to beginning the dialogue.
It’s hard to admit you hurt. But the more men we have step forward and say they’re suffering, the fewer eyes we’ll feel looking down their noses at us. And together we can break the vicious circle and prevent any more tragedies like the one affecting 3-month old Zoey Belcher.
It’s how we’ll get stronger, together.
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Source:
http://freeforallsports.com/?p=180