Yesterday we celebrated SameHere Segra Park in Columbia, SC. It was the first minor league baseball team to reach out to us to do programming together – in this case the Single A @colafireflies.
It was also the first chance I had to do an in-person event w my buddy @boombostick86 who played TE in the NFL for the Packers, Vikings, Cardinals, & Jets.
The Fireflies sold over 300 tickets to this “MH Awareness Night.” That’s in quotes bc as you’ll see as you scroll thru the slides from some of the highlights of the night ➡️, in my msg I talked abt some of the challenges that come w calling these events “MH Nights”…some of the preconceived notions that keep this topic from resonating w the masses, as it should…vs staying small & like there’s this “affected group” we need to hide in a side room, to talk to. These nights have a LONG way to go to get to where “Fights Cancer” nights are – known & acknowledged by EVERYONE in stadium.
I love Brandon’s story bc it’s such a connector. Not many ppl can relate to being an NFL athlete…for 4 teams nor playing in the NFC Championship Game. But what we ALL can relate to, is being a part of a team, or group, or org- where we had ONE role at a given time, & didn’t come thru.
We know what it feels like to feel we let others down. That our inactions or mistake affected the team’s ability to succeed.
In 2012 – Brandon tipped & lost an onsides kick (a routine play that usually ends the game) – & it was recovered by Russel Wilson’s Seahawks. It led to the Packers losing & not going to the Super Bowl. Brandon felt the feelings of “letting his team down.” But on the biggest stage in the world. 50 million ppl watched that game. What he felt was overwhelming. It was trauma.
We don’t have to go thru the EXACT SAME thing, to relate to emotional pain…feelings of trauma, chronic stress, overwhelm. The magnitude may be diff person-to-person, but we can’t even measure magnitude of emotional pain.
Come TOGETHER based on our similarities like Brandon helped us do last night. Let’s not separate bc our lab€l or disgnos1s is diff. There are WAY more out there who can relate, than we’d ever know.