Quote:
Originally Posted by sneaky
Triple M are doing a full day of radio today with no ads, no mic breaks, no news, etc.. the aim is to 'give guys a chance to talk' about their mental health. I'm not sure if this is nation wide or Newcastle only.
I don't know if anyone else is from Newcastle area but I noticed last Friday the normal morning presenters (Tanya and Steve) weren't on air on Triple M. On Monday they had a great chat on air about the circumstances around it.
Steve explained he has some mental health issues and triggers (didn't go into his trigger on air). Something hit his trigger early in the week and he spiraled until Friday morning, no sleep, I'm assuming heavy drinking (they often reference his drinking on air), feelings of being a burden (sounds familiar to me), 'no one' to talk to (he has separated from his wife in recent years).
He had showed up at the studio Friday morning and couldn't go on air, told his crew he couldn't do it and walked out. This was the lowest his colleagues had ever seen him. Tanya (the other presenter he has known for 20yrs plus) followed him home and waited outside his house, checked on him through the day until he had slept and was in a state to talk to her.
This is a guy at the top of his career with many years of number 1 rated breakfast radio show, some level of fame and fortune, close and caring friends and family and he still suffers and has 'bad' days.
I was very impressed with them for actually airing the story and having an open and honest discussion on air, not just glossing over the absence.
maybe the stigma of mental health will slowly be eroded and having a 'sick day' or two for mental breaks won't be so difficult in the future.
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Hey Tim, that's a great story. Thanks for sharing.
In my experience, people coming out and talking about mental health issues is becoming more commonplace. And I respect them for that and think its great, as it starts to normalise mental health as an issue. That's not to say that we shouldn't treat mental health because 'it's normal' more so that people can see that all sorts of people, from all sorts of walks of life and personal circumstances suffer mental health issues.
In recent years I've come to consider mental health issues as akin to physical issues. It's not normal that everyone has a broken arm. But when they do break it, we know the best way to treat it, and how to offer support for them to rehabilitate from it. Mental health is no different, IMHO. Albeit that (perhaps) mental health is a little more difficult to treat, because the forms of it are so varied.
I still find it strange the way mental health in the workplace is treated too. I see this very frequently. If someone has a mental health issue and they need time off from work as a result, then the details of their circumstances is kept from their colleagues for fear of releasing personal information. Yet, if that same person were to suffer a physical injury, then the details of their injury are normally reported widely, and the person receives all sort of support from their work colleagues to help them through it. By not sharing the circumstances of someone suffering mental heath issues, we marginalise them even further.
Each day I send out a quote of the day to my designated work group (I am a health and safety rep). Today, I came across a quote from Jim Carrey, the comedian we all know from movies such as The Mask or Ace Ventura.
Now, I'm not a fan of his acting, as he is too over the top for me. But, the quote today got me interested and I found some more quotes from him that were truly inspiring. I'll share some here as I think they may just help out some people here too:
Background:
Jim Carrey is now known as one of the best comedians to appear on the big screen, but he didn’t always have it easy. When he was young, his father lost his job and as a result, the whole family had to live in a minivan parked on a relative’s lawn. But despite all this, Carrey remained a true believer in the law of attraction.
If you ask Jim Carrey, he will insist that his life is proof that the universe does listen to our wishes. While still living in Canada and with almost no money in his bank account, Jim Carrey would visualize actors and directors telling him how they liked his work.
At the age of 28, when he was still struggling as a young comedian, he wrote himself a check for 10 million dollars and gave himself 5 years to cash it in. In the memo, he wrote: “For acting services rendered.” He kept it in his wallet it until July 1995, a few weeks before his self-imposed deadline when he found out he would be making 10 million dollars for his role in Dumb and Dumber.
But he tells this story by also reminding us that you still have to work hard to get there. In his own words and in a very Jim Carrey way he says: “ You can’t just visualize it and then go eat a sandwich.”
"Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them"
“As far as I can tell, it’s just about letting the universe know what you want and then working toward it while letting go of how it comes to pass.”
“It is better to risk starving to death than surrender. If you give up on your dreams, what’s left?”
“My focus is to forget the pain of life. Forget the pain, mock the pain, reduce it. And laugh.”
“If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.”
“I wake up some mornings and sit and have my coffee and look out at my beautiful garden, and I go, ’Remember how good this is. Because you can lose it.”
“I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which, was that you can fail at what you don’t want so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love”
There is a huge difference between a dog that is going to eat you in your mind and an actual dog that’s going to eat you.”
“I’m making a conscious choice to see challenges as beneficial so that I can deal with them in the most productive way”