Here we go again! It's Time ... Time to get out there and do something for my own mental health - and for the mental health of so many women who, like me, have been affected by mental health challenges. I will be joining thousands of walkers and runners moving for mental health across Canada in the 2024 Shoppers Drug Mart Run for Women's Mental Health. The Saskatoon event will be held on June 15th and so I have finally gotten off the couch and started my journey to the finish line.
I, like many, have struggled with an anxiety disorder that surfaced in my youth. I kept the confusion and uncertainty and fear hidden behind obsessive compulsion, constant activity, procrastination and then frenzied perfectionism and a need to make others happy often at my own expense which only deepened the problem.
Over many years and through some difficult experiences, my resilience began to falter and I fell into a depression that deepened around the time of my father's death. My problems were then exacerbated by a toxic unsupportive workplace that negatively impacted my physical as well as mental health.
I am blessed to have a strong support system: from my wonderful husband, to an empathetic doctor, and caring family and friends who were with me when I most needed them. But not everyone has these resources or support - many are fighting alone in silence. And I know, while the past few years were hard on all of us, it was disproportionately hardest on women.
So, this May-June 2024, I again walk:
...for my mom and my sisters who love me unconditionally
... for my beautiful nieces who constantly inspire and amaze me
... for my amazing Grrrrrl-friends who empower me and help me be a better person
... for my colleagues who support me at the workplace and help me undo some of the damage my self-confidence has sustained
... for the men in my life – especially my husband who likewise has been affected by mental health challenges as we have moved together through life
... for my Onkel Walter who lost his life to suicide many years ago and who I never really knew but wish I had ..
... for my brother, and grandfathers who lived with the same anxiety and depression I have battled for many years and who left us far too early
... and for my dad and the love (and mental health challenges) we shared - always at war but always loved!
I want to be part of the solution, a resource, for people who need help with their mental health! I want to help people find what they need to come up with their own solutions.
I know you do too
How You Can Help? I will be walking/lurching/wobbling 10 km from June 1-15 and raising donations to support the Canadian Mental Health Association in Saskatoon. Then on June 15th, I will join more than a thousand women and men, families and individuals, in solidarity, together making mental health a community priority!
I hope you will consider donating to help me reach my ambitious fundraising goal of $1,000. Funds raised will go directly to support women’s mental health programs and resources at CMHA Saskatoon – a critical hub of the mental health network of support in Saskatoon.
Thank You for your attention! The Lady M
PS – A huge shout out to everyone who helped me reach and surpass my goal last year – your support means the world to me and I hope you can rise to the challenge again this year
Donate to my walk here:
https://secure2.convio.net/run/site/TR/Events/General?px=1085912&pg=personal&fr_id=1289