A conversation I had before the show that I wanted to share.
I talk often about how we need to VIEW MENTAL HEALTH SIMPLY AS HEALTH.

Last week, my anxiety gave me a full HEALTH SHUTDOWN.

7 months into the pandemic, I fear we all could be closer to one than we realize.

Between the kids, the show, the pandemic, the daily onslaught of terrible headlines, the incredible importance of the protests: I pushed past Empty months ago. We all have. Proof mental health is health: my symptoms were Covid/other serious illness symptoms.

It's critical people understand all the different forms anxiety can take, how real it all is.

Do we? Frankly, I don’t know, because our track record dealing with mental health is poor -and I'm talking nationally, globally, in the home, in schools, church, everywhere.

It’s uncomfortable to talk about, incredibly difficult to understand, stigmas are lurking everywhere.

But the mental toll we are all under right now requires us to deal with it, maybe more than any Depression or War generation.(& certainly more effect than those generations did)

The year we've all had - my fear is we are on the precipice of a mental health disaster. I say this not to frighten, I say this to embolden us to consider how we are going to respond.

We need to commit to mental health nationally, globally more than we ever have,

more than we’ve ever shown the desire to, more than we currently have the faculties to deal with. It's unknown unknown stuff.

We have to rethink everything we think about mental health because in many ways it’s polluted by stigmas. These stigmas affect everyone and

and we must locate ourselves in that. Stigmas are from the outside- the prejudice/harsh discrimination in how our society views mental health - and stigmas also come from the inside, too, the prejudice we can have as we turn against ourselves.

These stigmas in concert dominate private self thought, then dominate private conversation, bleed into public perception & then, most alarmingly, shape public policy.

That has to stop.

This pandemic/year of national anguish urgently requires us to fight to stop it. So how?

Part of that is what I was talking about in the video: the answers to everything is other people. As we're all so isolated and so exhausted, the key is in other people. When you're too tired to fight let someone else be there for you. I called that the act of love, agape.

I believe in that, but I can understand how that's conceptual for some. Sothese conversations and shining a light on those shadows the stigmas live in is another worthy pursuit in this.

But another way I'd like to talk about is how we prioritize mental healthcare.

Talk to any mental health professional and they will tell you the many, many ways their jobs are made more difficult (impossible) and that’s not just being underpaid although they are sooo underpaid.

Look at how our schools, our jobs, our rehabilitative and correctional

facilities view and consider mental health. How punitive it can be.

This goes beyond the 'putting the oxygen mask on yourself before you put it on others' approach to self care I was talking about in the vid. (A fit metaphor tho, 9 days later & I still have anxiety jet lag)

And this goes beyond the 'you have control of so little in life, but you do have control over how you respond.' Again another cornerstone of my self care that I extend to you all.

Mental health doesn’t discriminate. How we've addressed it in policy does.

We all need to have a more realistic view of that in our year of pandemic & anguish. Because how we treat our most vulnerable is a measure of who we are.

And right now we are all our most vulnerable.

Here's some general thoughts I've written in the past about it https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/personal-stories/ending-stigma-takes-all-our-voices-every-day-and-every-month

Some thoughts on postpartum anxiety https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/personal-stories/lets-talk-about-men-and-postpartum-anxiety

And since you know me from sports, https://twitter.com/TonyReali/status/1219749182615040001?s=20

This is the first interview I did after losing Amadeo and I talk about grief and a lot about life comes up here. With @JimmyTraina https://shows.cadence13.com/podcast/si-media-podcast/episodes/823447f7-65db-43a3-81be-c9f79f307e8f

Lastly: it is wonderful to work in an environment where you could have time away to deal with it. It’s really the only way any of this can work.

So thank you @asolomon6 @joshbard @ErikRydholm #espn @AroundtheHorn & huge thanks to my friend @SarahSpain for hosting for me!