Today’s #SameHere Hero: Chuck Weyer.
You look at this picture & you hear Chuck’s story & you just come away w: “good guy who had gone through some real shit & just wants to help ppl.
My biggest takeaway from Chuck’s story is that stuff came at him from sooo many angles – sports injuries to the head, injuries from car accidents, events from his life that have built up. And…from all of this, he has been diagnosed w just about everything. But at the end of the day, do the diagnoses matter? He learned to cope & heal mainly through the power of his breath, & talking down his anxious thoughts. He’s a great example of a hero! Please welcome Chuck:
“I’ve played Hockey as a goaltender my entire life & suffered many undiagnosed concussions. It wasn’t until I was older, in my mid 20’s that I started noticing & taking care of my mental health & ongoing concussions & concussion-related issues. I was involved in a pretty severe head on car accident that I probably took way too lightly in my early 30’s that lead to another car accident months later that caused yet another debilitating concussion.
Looking back, I feel as though I’ve always had undiagnosed anxiety & some sort of mood disorder. It’s unclear whether or not the concussions have amplified their effect but I have now been diagnosed w depression, anxiety, mood disorder, & potential bipolar. I battled PTSD for a while driving after the few car accidents because they were both out of my control, & not my fault – people hitting me. One with my wife, while pregnant & my one year old son in the backseat in the Jeep as well.
From all these experiences, I felt a sense of looming death like I dodged it but it was coming eventually, just hopelessness & grief after the accidents.
I decided to ask for help after taking to my primary doctor. She actually talked to me about PTSD because I was terrified to drive, having horrible nightmares, flashbacks & just generally terrified that my days were numbered somehow.
BREATHING has been my go-to… Always, it always comes back to breathing & refocusing my mind on myself & my breath. Slowing my breath & my heart rate as much as I can – trying as hard as I can to talk myself down. Especially when I drive now if I find myself getting anxious I tell myself to calm down & focus & not let anyone around me control how I drive because ‘I’ll never see any of these people ever again.’ I use that a lot if I’m ever in public & having a hard time trying to cope too, to try & take the pressure off myself, take the spotlight off me, make myself remember no one will remember me or what I look like or remember this exact moment or time.
It doesn’t matter how people react to my story as long as they’re open about what I’m saying & how I’m feeling because it’s real & it’s constantly changing. I take medicine to battle it & have my own practices I use to combat it as well but it’s ever-changing.
Just like anyone else I have good & bad days but I’m working hard for my family & friends & my future. I plan to keep spreading awareness & to be an open book to whomever wants to hear my #SameHere story. 🤙🤙🤙”
