My Why ..... for Mental Health Awareness Month

Описание: May is mental health awareness month, but truth be told it should be a year-round focus.  Those of you who have known me on a personal level have a pretty good understanding as to why I am so passionate about this and others may have an idea, but it is time that I share with everyone why this is such an important topic to me.
𝗠𝘆 𝗪𝗵𝘆

On September 5, 2004, we lost my brother-in-law Keith Milano to suicide.  Keith had a long-fought battle with his mental health and bipolar disorder, something I was well aware of, and my wife Denise and I 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢 in every way we could.  What I did not realize at the time was that Keith could die from this disease.  In my mind, Keith’s mental health would be something he struggled with throughout his life, we would support him as best we could and hope that one day he could find a treatment that he would benefit from and help him improve.
Keith had struggled with his mental health and he would tell us that he felt like he had the flu every day.  On the outside, he was young, handsome, in great shape, and had a great life ahead of him, but on the inside, he was being eaten away consumed with a feeling that he was running out of time.  I cannot imagine waking up every day feeling like that and being 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 or interest in understanding what he was going through.  This was a moment that certainly impacted me and caused an awakening.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗺𝗮 𝗶𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗚𝗼𝗻𝗲
As a recent father when Keith died, Denise and I wanted to make sure that our family, our young son Zach and future addition Jeremy, understood what their Uncle experienced and that they could always talk to us about anything.  We wanted to make sure they understood the 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝 and those around them.  We were very open about Keith’s struggles and ultimate death.  The way we told them changed over time and we always discussed it with them in an age-appropriate way.  Not telling them about their Uncle or changing the story to not be forthright was not an option in our mind.
Mental health seventeen-plus years ago had a significantly greater stigma than it does today.  𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙢𝙖 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙚, but it is certainly moving in a good direction and continues to get better day by day and year by year. Mental health should not be stigmatized and I am willing to have an open conversation about it with anyone, anytime, and share our family’s story.  It is stories like this, along with countless others, that will 𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 they need too.

𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀
I recently had someone tell me that they do not refer to it as mental health and instead call it mental fitness and that resonated with me.  Our mental health should be treated just like our physical fitness and it should be worked on every day.  We all have physical fitness goals so why not have mental fitness goals too.  I would make a case that 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩, 𝙞𝙛 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙝𝙮𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙝.  Great mental fitness can help our physical fitness and vice versa.  Use May as an opportunity to create your mental fitness goals and create a game plan to feel both physically and mentally fit.