Talking about why it’s important to talk about it

I have had an anxiety problem for almost five years now. It was after four years that I told a family member or friend for the first time. I had heard for years that talking about an anxiety problem like I have would help. The problem was that I could not see how it was going to help. I thought that if I told my friends about the problem that they would think I’m weird and not want to hang out with me. I thought I would be slowly phased out. I thought my family would start to “baby” me and treat me differently. I didn’t want to be treated any differently and was convinced that I would be if I revealed the problem.

I thought I would be slowly phased out.

I came to a realization, after hundreds of hours of thinking about this problem, that a large part of the anxiety was coming from trying to keep it a secret and worrying that somebody might find out. I figured that if every person in a room knew about the problem, then half of the worrying would disappear. Although I still 100 percent believed that I would lose friends and respect if I did reveal the problem.

The turning point was when I watched an interview that Michael Landsberg did with Mike Babcock over Skype. I highly respected Mike Babcock’s opinion because of the thoughts he shares in daily interviews on not only hockey but life. The importance of being a good person. “If you do good things, good things happen.” I think everything out of Mike Babcock’s mouth is pure gold. When asked what he would do if he had a mental health problem he said:

I thought my family would start to “baby” me.

“I think when you go to a family member or friend, you tell them you have a problem, and you’re being sincere, I think people are dying to help you.”

I had never imagined that this would be the response from people but after Coach Babcock said it, I believed revealing the problem would be “real positive,” as he would say. I slowly told more people, and now, I’m where I don’t really care who knows. I was surprised when I told a good friend who I thought would “chirp” me for the problem and he was completely supportive instead. It is amazing how many people respond to my problem with “I have the same thing” (or something very similar).

I didn’t want to be treated any differently.

I feel as though it is key for strong advocates for mental health to explain a bit further why “talking about it” is going to be beneficial to the sufferer, like Mike Babcock has done, rather than just stating that we need to “talk about it.”