Our Lady Tigers host another Top Ten opponent tonight in Holy Family. C/JV tip at 5 pm/Varsity at 6:30 pm. Let’s go ladies! @TigersPrincipal @ErieHSAthletics
Mental Health Motivation today courtesy of me and @rondebarber.
So here’s the deal gang, 5 years ago, I was stuck in one of the darkest, most painful periods of my life. The dark gray got so bad I wasn’t thinking sensibly to the point where I would go to sleep at night hoping tomorrow wouldn’t come. This was well before I ever talked publicly about my depression, anxiety and mental health issues or wrote my book Unbreakable about it.
So for the first time I did something I now implore alllll of us to do when we are hurting. For the first time… I FINALLY called my boys (my teammates in life) and told them how much pain I was in and that I needed help.
I was heading to Tampa for the Super Bowl and the day before I left I called this man, Ronde Barber and two of our other friends Ben Heldfund and Brian Rhattigan and told them I needed to meet up down there because I was going through something. At first they couldn’t because they already had plans but then I communicated much more directly and said, “No, guys I NEED to meet, I AM STRUGGLING… BADLY!!!”
All three immediately dropped their other plans and said, “What time and where? I got you!”
I GOT YOU
Their reaction changed everything for me that day. I think it was the first time I ever really truly told friends about my mental health battles in detail. I didn’t hold back. Didn’t try to wear a mask anymore and hide my pain behind the mask of a huge personality. I was real with them. Their reaction changed my life. Showed me the power of “I got you!” And showed me the power of opening up and leaning into my teammates.
Folks, since I’ve opened up it’s turned friends into brothers and sisters. And those bonds will be the same bonds there for us now, in 5 years, 15 years, 50 years.
Safety in Vulnerability was the greatest gift they could have given me.
So I want to implore ALL of you… LEAN INTO YOUR TEAMMATES!!! I will do ANYTHING for my teammates.
Ronde, Ben, Brian… thank you! I got you too!
@CSURamT I assume you got numbers? I can pull them for national televised games. You can pull yours from your one nationally televised game (thank you CU). We could also go sell out games. There’s a picture of your last home game. Hot air? Keep believing. It’s cute.
@rickwatersjr Interesting. #5 most watched CFB game in the country this season with the game on cable and starting at 10:30pm on the East Coast. Just because you pretend that, doesn't make it true.