Maybe not w a ring, but someone who was also a champion in my eyes Sunday nt, was Eagles WR AJ Brown. Played like a beast. His stat line: 6 for 96. He caught a huge TD early in the game just going up & grabbing it over defenders bc he was bigger & wanted it more.
Why’s that a big deal? Brown revealed when he was on the Titans, that in Nov of 2020, he was having suicidal thoughts. Opened up to current & former teammates, & his coach Mike Vrabel at the time, abt them.
When he shared openly w the media about it back then, he said: “Life happens to everyone. I’m human just like everyone else. Just bc I play this beautiful game doesn’t mean life isn’t going to happen to me too.”
He gave some bkgrnd: “Growing up, I just kind of brushed off my feelings, & buried them. You don’t need to do that. You need to get things off your chest & talk to someone.”
Though he’d go on to have a Pro Bowl season that yr, the wk he opened up abt his suicidal thoughts, he caught only 1 pass for 21 yards. A shell of himself.
Having suicidal thoughts is the far end of a continuum of mental health➡️. As AJ shared, things build & build. He brushed them off. Much like physical health where you can brush off tightness in your chest/jaw…& it eventually leads to a possible heart attack…suicidal thoughts are the accumulation of emotional pain not worked on.
What AJ proved Sunday nt, on the world’s biggest stage…is just like you can survive a heart attack, workout, eat healthy, & come back strong…you can survive suicidal ideation, go to the gym for your brain, come back & dominate as well.
Talking abt MH needs to get to the pt where we can be as open abt it as physical health. Showing the continuum that AJ did Sunday nt is a great example. Being open abt your challenges doesn’t mean you’re damaged. It means you’ve learned from the pain, worked on your HEALTH, & can come back as an even stronger performer than before.
This should be a commonplace understanding so that ppl can be open, get the help they need, & use their challenges & support we give them to perform even better!
Final 2 slides➡️love to MSU, & Happy V Day from me/my nieces.