Ride Don't Hide

Today I rode my bike in the Canadian Mental Health Associations Ride Don't Hide.  There are 3 distances, 105 km, 50 km and 10 km. I rode 10, hopefully 50 next year. They had their own focus for the ride. I had my own reasons.

I wanted to do something to give back. I am one of the lucky ones living with mental illness. I have had great support from the people around me. And I have health benefits at work that mean I can afford timely treatment. I don't have to wait for the public system access to psychologists. I can take the medication I want, even though it is expensive because it doesn't have a generic version. And I, for the most part, don't worry too much about the stigma. I wanted to find a way to pay some of that forward.

I truly believe that there is a shift in attitudes towards mental health and mental illness. I want to help push that forward. I know that so many people suffer for a long time because they are afraid to seek help. I get it. It took me a long time before I would admit to depression also. Hopefully the more the conversation is out in the open, the earlier people will be able to seek help. I hope this is true.

My last reason is that it does me good once in awhile to see the support that is out there for people with mental illness. There is a certan positive energy at these kinds of events. Energy that I take in. Energy that encourages me and makes me braver. Today when they were announcing how many people were participating across the country and the effort people had put into creating teams and fundraising, and seeing all the families out, it made me really emotional. Ok it made me cry. It reminded me again that there are a lot of people out there that think that mental health is important and that are willing to say it out loud and to show it through their actions. This is cool to me.

And so, I encourage you to talk about mental health. To continue to move the conversation out of the shadows into the open. And, if you like to cycle, join me next year. We can even form a team.