Kevin Love and I Became Leaders in Mental Health Awareness. This is How.
Earlier this year, NBA role player Kevin Love wrote an article about his battles with mental health. His words were honest. He spoke about his pain. He spoke about the loneliness of suffering through mental wounds and by speaking his truth he made a lot of suffering people feel less lonely.
He also got a lot of attention. A lot more people like him now. I noticed this, but what I am about to say is completely unrelated: I am also an athlete and champion in the battle for mental awareness.
First, you have to trust me when I say I am an athlete. If you don’t, it would seem like you don’t take mental health seriously.
Second, I think you are already missing the point which makes you part of the problem. This article is not about me being an elite athlete. It could be — because that would be easy — but it’s not. This article is more about how Kevin Love and I ended up side by side as co-captains in this fight.
My mental health awareness journey began with a more low-key approach. I didn’t immediately write an article about my mental health for a website that has rejected all my advances. I fought in the trenches. While Kevin was in his ivory tower, I was on the beaches of Normandy.
I was at Rite Aid to get a refill of my depression medication. I don’t like to get my prescription at Rite Aid because Rite Aid smells like an unwiped asshole. But I needed my medication and I was close to Rite Aid. I am assuming everyone who is reading this is American so I don’t need to explain how a person could live their life perfectly without any sins or transgressions but still find themselves at a Rite Aid four to five times per year.
The pharmacy technician could not find my prescription. Not by name. Not by date of birth. She asked what the medication was. I looked over my shoulder at the growing line behind me.
“I don’t know the name. It’s Zoloft but the generic Zoloft. It’s an antidepressant.” I tucked my lips together and nodded my head as if to say, I am teaching you something about me. I’m teaching you about all of us.
“I know what Zoloft is,” she said.
I don’t want you to focus on the fact that I explained medication to a female pharmacy technician. I want you to focus on who I said the medication was for.
Me. I implied that the generic Zoloft was for me. Me, the person who seems like a warrior, is also a victim. The pharmacy was crowded when I said these words. If you haven’t been to the Rite Aid Pharmacy in Hillcrest, California it has a prime real estate tucked between the alcohol and nutrition sections. People in the days of yore would refer to this location as “in the middle of a lot of things.”
This is powerful stuff so I understand if you are confused. I am a leader in mental health awareness because I loosely referenced my depression in front of complete strangers. Multiple demographics of strangers: alcoholics, people who like vitamins, and other people who need to use the pharmacy. I know, I said “antidepressant” but if you can’t sift through that and determine I was talking about depression you are honestly stupid lol.
I don’t need to say “I have depression”. Other people said it for me. For example, when I did couples counseling with my now wife, my couples counselor took note of my erratic behavior and occasional outbursts and said, “I think you have depression.” Multiple doctors said something similar. Without me, these conversations would not have started.
It’s not important to know that I am getting help and taking care of myself. What’s important is that Kevin Love and I are working in tandem to bring mental health into the light and are proving that, yes, even elite athletes who have everything are fighting their own battles.
If you are struggling, do not struggle alone. My only request would be to struggle without any aspirations of leading the national conversations about mental health. Kevin and I are taking care of this, and we plan on suffering from depression for a very, very long time.
