Riding hamster wheel is not always good for mental health

Excusing yourself even for a short time is good for soul

Working on my Bell Let’s Talk piece in the home office.

Sometimes you just have to get off the hamster wheel.

That was analogy I didn’t know was a thing until about three months ago. It actually came to me via the sports entertainment world of pro wrestling early this past November.

During a promo on an AEW Dynamite show, CM Punk talked seriously about one-time rival Jon Moxley. Moxley, who had been that promotion’s heavyweight champion, had entered an inpatient alcohol treatment program.

Punk, whose real name is Phillip Jack Brooks, said he was proud of Moxley for realizing he had to take himself off the hamster wheel to get the help he needed and that Moxley was brave taking that step.

Moxley, whose real name is Jonathan David Good, is married to Renee Paquette, who first made a name for herself as sports broadcaster in Canada with The Score from 2009 to 2012 before shooting to a huge rise in fame in a run with WWE from 2012 to 2020. Moxley, who has been in the pro wrestling business for over 17 years, and Paquette met in WWE.

I had never linked the analogy of the hamster wheel with the mental health world until I saw that promo with Punk, who is very articulate and well thought out.

 I am starting to have what you would consider a longer run with the mental health world with my first realizations almost a decade ago.

On my own front, I have known I have battled with issues dealing with anxiety since 2012. I write about my experiences on the mental health front in hopes it will help others.

Since 2016, I’ve kept up with a tradition where I write a post regarding mental health on Bell Let’s Talk day.

A Jon Moxley AEW figure.

There is still a stigma around mental health issues, and they are unfortunately still treated as the elephant in the room in too many circles.

On my own front, I am in a way better place than I was 10 years ago. I am in a way better spot than I was six years ago.

While I believe I have gotten a tonne better over the last decade, mental health is something I continue to learn about. I will have “aha moments” come to me in the most unlikely of places.

That Punk promo was an “aha moment.”

He explained he made his own choices to get off the hamster wheel in the past. Punk said Moxley had been on a hamster wheel, because he had been going and going, thinking he had to show toughness all the time, battle through injuries like they weren’t there, be sick and show up for work, help other people and be super generous for a long stretch of time.

Punk said you get to the point you have to take yourself off the hamster wheel.

For Bell Let’s Talk day in January of 2020, I wrote that it was a mental health challenge to learn to take a break, and it was important to take breaks.

Punk’s explanation of the hamster wheel took that to a whole new level of realization.

No matter what walk of life you are in, you do get placed on a hamster wheel.

In the world of competitive sports where outcomes are undecided, elite athletes are on a hamster wheel. Whether it be hockey, football, baseball, basketball, softball, track and field, speed skating, soccer or whatever your athletic pursuit, you are training year round and being evaluated constantly to see if you are performing at a high level and continuing to reach new levels of high performance.

A picture of myself in front of photos I've shot over the years.

Sometimes that results in athletes shouldering extra pressure that their team will lose and they will let their teammates down, if they don’t perform well. That can be a hamster wheel.

Those in sports management positions can be on a hamster wheel too. They are constantly trying to ensure athletes, coaches and staffers are healthy physically and mentally, always having to ensure proper funding is coming in to allow athletes to get to events and have the best equipment possible and ensure the business administrative mechanisms are functioning well.

If you miss time as an administrator, there are always worries those jobs won’t get done. You are on a hamster wheel there too.

Those examples can be taken to any working environment be it health career, education, retail, banking, manufacturing, shipping, policing, energy production or whatever the job may be. All those environments create places where those working in them shoulder pressures that they will let everyone down if they are not there to do their roles.

Eventually, you do hit a point where the pressure becomes too much you have to totally cut yourself away from those worlds. It doesn’t have to be forever, but you might need to be away for a span of time.

In Moxley’s case, he got professional and ultimate returned to AEW after about three months.

In some cases, you might not even the assistance of professional help to come to that realization.

I realized that for myself when I attended a wedding for one of my nieces early this past September in Jasper, Alta.

I'm all dressed up out in Jasper, Alta., early last September.

My everyday world is the sports and media world, and I live those careers to a point they are a lifestyle. If I take a break from one aspect of that world, I am still busy with another aspect be it on sports writing, photography or communications.

That wedding marked the first time I totally cut myself off those worlds for at least a one-week period since the summer of 2014, when I relocated from Medicine Hat, Alta., to Saskatoon, Sask.

With Jasper being a resort town with no links to any part of my life, I truly made a clean break for a week. Ultimately, the wedding was awesome and the week was awesome.

On top of being cut off from the sports and media worlds, I allowed myself to be pretty much cut off from social media too.

One day after the wedding, a feeling came over me that this all felt really good. It was a good feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time.

It reminded me of a time when I took actual vacations during my 10-year run as a sportswriter with the Medicine Hat News from 2004 to 2014 and experience more periods of personal time, while still having a busy schedule. While I wasn’t jumping on a plane to go to Hawaii to lie down on a beach, I was off on social excursions with friends, or like the summer of 2007, taking a pleasure drive through the mountains in southern British Columbia.

A lot of that disappeared from 2012 to 2014 when vacations and personal time didn’t feel like those things as those were periods I where I was in my initial stages of working my way through mental health issues.

When Punk gave the promo about Moxley and the hamster wheel in early November, I realized I had gotten off my hamster wheel, when I attended my niece’s wedding. It added a sense of refreshment I hadn’t felt for some time.

Another game day is wrapped up for myself at the SaskTel Centre.

You can also get yourself on a hamster wheel with constant interaction with people you don’t know especially trolls on social media. Sometimes that happens with people you do know on social media.

During this past year with the world still stuck in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, I’ve found social media to be more toxic than ever before. Twitter is the worst social media line for this.

As for Twitter, I’ve followed an example set by Punk here in just blocking the trolls and people you need to block instead of engaging with them. For myself, it feels good every time I block a troll, especially if it is an anonymous account with less than 10 followers.

These days I try to be a bit more mindful of where I am on the hamster wheel. If anyone feels they need to get off their own hamster wheels for a bit, I hope they feel enabled to take that step, because it ultimately show a lot of courage.

Bell Let’s Talk in specter of “Bell Let’s Cut”

A Bell Let’s Talk toque.

I admit I was unsure if I was going to do my traditional mental health post on Bell Let’s Talk day this year.

In recent years, Bell Canada, which is the telecommunications company that run Bell Let’s Talk day, has had a habit of releasing employees in the months after the company’s mental health awareness and fundraising day.

Bell Canada received huge criticism bringing in job days after Bell Let’s Talk day was held last year on January 28.

Any time Bell Canada cuts jobs, the term “Bell Let’s Cut” is inevitably brought up.

The question is brought up that how can a company that supports mental health initiatives turn around and just cut people, who immediately are faced with the prospects of losing their livelihoods and identities.

Due to the Bell Canada operates in the media world, I’ve had friends that have been released from jobs with Bell Canada, and they were all hard working people that showed great initiative.

Bell Canada has been criticized for using the Bell Let’s Talk campaign as a tax write off while bringing in massive amounts of revenue to make you question why jobs are being cut.

After the layoffs Bell Canada made last year, I had to ask myself if I wanted to go through with a new post this year on Bell Let’s Talk Day.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, I often celebrated the fact so much awareness came up regarding mental health issues on Bell Let’s Talk day.

I also celebrated the progress I’ve made in my own journey often having a nice dinner with my mom in the evening of Bell Let’s Talk day at Cactus Club Cafe in Saskatoon. The last of those dinners came on Bell Let’s Talk day in January of 2020.

I decided to do a post, because of the awareness this day brings regarding mental health issues in Canada.

Searching social media on Tuesday the day before Bell Let’s Talk day, I saw a lot of posts from people saying they had supported Bell Let’s Talk Day in the past but wouldn’t this year due to the employee cuts that have happened in the past.

Today on Bell Let’s Talk day, I’ve seen numerous great shares regarding mental health issues in Canada and people coming forward to share their own stories of challenges on the mental health front.

If people feel better to make donations directly to mental health charities as opposed to participating in Bell Canada’s Bell Let’s Talk day program, I hope people feel free to act in that direction.

If people want to still retweet #BellLetsTalk on Twitter, they should feel free to do so.

It is always a good thing when you can keep the mental health conversation going.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com. My Bell Let’s Talk post from last year called “COVID-19 pandemic forces world to face mental health” can be found by clicking right here. A piece from 2020 called “A big mental health challenge is learning to take a break” can be found right here. A piece from 2019 called “Those facing mental health challenges can still be great in all parts of life” can be found right here. A piece from 2018 called “Being content can become a mental health challenge” can be round right here. A piece from 2017 called “Recognizing and respecting triggers is key for mental health” can be found right here. A piece from 2016 called “Feeling connected calms the mental health seas” can be found right here. A piece called “My Mental Health Story” can be found right here. Another post I like that I wrote in February of 2015 about my mental health journey call “Huskies hockey was good for me” can be found right here.

-------

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Kulbida roars in hockey and softball’s fast lanes

Jordan Kulbida is a solid two-way forward with the Cougars.

    Jordan Kulbida was always a stellar softball player, but there was a time she wasn’t sure if she should bring hockey into her life even though she wanted to.

    These days, Kulbida is a 21-year-old solid two-way forward with the University of Regina Cougars women’s hockey team in the U Sports ranks and ace pitcher with the Saskatoon G Force senior women’s softball team. She can also hit and field well on the diamond too.

    Back when she was about 12-years-old, Kulbida was playing softball, but she hadn’t taken up hockey. Her friend, Nara Elia, was playing the sport, and Kulbida wanted to try it out.

    With that noted, Elia was really good and Sophie Shirley was among the talented group of players that were on the ice. Elia would go on to play for Canada’s under-18 women’s team and currently is a standout with the Boston University Terriers women’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks.

Jordan Kulbida is an ace pitcher with the G Force.

    Shirley has gone on to be cemented in Canada’s national team system and currently stars for the University of Wisconsin Badgers women’s hockey team. She helped the Badgers win an NCAA national title in 2018-19.

    “Since I did start so late in my life, I was so nervous, because all these girls were so good,” said Kulbida, who has played three full seasons with the Cougars. “They had been to all these camps and like skating stuff, and I had never done any of that.

    “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this.’ All the girls were so nice, and they were so welcoming. All those girls that I grew up with like Nara and all of them, some of them I played with them.

    “For the most part, I played against lots of those girls. They pushed me, and they helped me become better. They were all very supportive, and it was awesome.”

Jordan Kulbida in action with the Cougars in 2017.

    Kulbida quickly discovered her love for hockey. She found her groove in that game making the Battlefords Sharks as a 16-year-old rookie in the 2015-16 season in the Saskatchewan Female Under-18 AAA Hockey League.

    During her second and final campaign with the Sharks in 2016-17, Kulbida was named team captain, and she piled up 17 goals and five assists appearing all of the team’s 28 regular season games.

    While she got into hockey, Kulbida kept going with softball playing with the Saskatoon Selects program through to the summer of 2018.

    In 2017, Kulbida cracked the roster for Saskatchewan’s women’s softball team that played at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg. Saskatchewan came away with a fourth place finish at that event.

    Kulbida believes softball will always be part of her life.

    “Honestly, I just loved like the atmosphere,” said Kulbida. “I was always with like the same group of girls, because it was like zone ball, when we were younger.

    “I became like really close with like all those girls. We were such good friends, and we had like such good parents and such good coaching. It was so awesome.

Jordan Kulbida plays in the outfield for the G Force.

    “I loved traveling with the team and going to tournaments. It was just so much fun. Getting to play the game that you love with all your best friends is like anything that anyone can ever ask for.”

    Due to playing in the Canada Summer Games and making nationals with the Selects, Kulbida was approached by post-secondary schools in the United States about playing softball.

    While those opportunities were there, Kulbida’s desire to play university hockey during her Grade 12 year increased. Even with the fact the goals were going into the net during her final year with the Sharks, Kulbida had her doubts if the opportunity to play university hockey would present itself.

    That all changed when she met Cougars head coach Sarah Hodges.

    “I wasn’t sure I was going to be good enough,” said Kulbida. “When Sarah (Hodges) came and talked to me at the (Athol Murray College of) Notre Dame camp (in Wilcox, Sask.), she was like, ‘I see some really good potential in you.’

Jordan Kulbida started playing hockey at around age 12.

    “I loved hockey so I was like, ‘Yeah. Sure. I should give it a shot.’ I’ve loved the past three years at the University of Regina.

    “It has been a huge eye-opener for sure. It has been super fun.”

    In 81 career regular season games with the Cougars, Kulbida has recorded 14 goals and 14 assists. Last season, she netted career high seven goals and tied her career high in points at 10 in 26 regular season games.

    By joining the Cougars, Kulbida was able to continue her duel sports life. She played for both the Selects and G Force in the summer of 2018 and with the G Force in the summer of 2019 and this past summer.

    Kulbida said her continuing efforts in softball have been supported by Hodges.

    Hodges was a multisport athlete herself playing for the Dartmouth College Big Green women’s hockey team in the NCAA ranks from 1992 to 1996 as a star utility player piling up 146 points while also being a member of the school’s track and field team as a javelin thrower. On top of those sports, Hodges also played competitive rugby.

Jordan Kulbida has played softball for most of her life.

    “She (Hodges) thinks it is good that I have other interests in my life,” said Kulbida. “She knows that I play softball, and she loves it.

    “Her daughters are getting into softball too, and she always like asks me for advice or how to help them. I am able to help her in that way, so that is really awesome to be able to give back to the community like that. She is super supportive of it.

    “She loves it that I am a double sport athlete.”

    Kulbida has found that she has been a good fit with the G Force. She adds it has been fun being one of the younger athletes on the teams, as a lot of her teammates are about two years older than her.

    Kulbida has been impressed with talents her teammates bring to the game. Growing up when she wasn’t pitching, Kulbida would usually play shortstop.

    With the G Force, they have a spectacular shortstop in Brielle McCullough, and Kulbida said it is amazing to see the plays McCullough makes. Kulbida is pumped to be part of the G Force team.

Jordan Kulbida has played three full seasons with the Cougars.

    “It is so awesome,” said Kulbida. “It is such a great group of girls.

    “Those girls have mostly been together since they were little, (and) they’ve been so welcoming and so kind to me. It has been so fun. I love all the girls, and I love hanging out with them.

    “Going to a game is like the most exciting thing ever, because we are there, we are having fun and we are also winning, so that is good. The coaching staff like Dave (McCullough) and Tony (Rupps) and Cory (Volk) are all awesome. I really enjoy it.”

    While she was able to play softball this past summer, Kulbida is keeping her fingers crossed she will get to play meaningful games with the Cougars for the 2020-21 season. U Sports has cancelled all its fall national championships due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Jordan Kulbida expects to play for the G Force well into the future.

    The Canada West Conference, which the Cougars play out of, has set Oct. 8 as the latest date about making a decision on whether the seasons for men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s volleyball will continue. At the moment, all those sports are targeted to start in early January.

    Kulbida is enrolled in kinesiology and health studies at the University of Regina and like all students is doing her courses online. She is still living in Saskatoon at the moment and continuing to work at her summer job.

    She said the Cougars have set a date of Oct. 5 to have all their players return to Regina, but the team has been flexible and understanding about everyone’s real life living situations.
    Whenever she can get back on the ice, Kulbida is looking forward to continuing her career with the Cougars.

Jordan Kulbida hopes to play more hockey after her Cougars days.

    She would like to have a chance to continue to play hockey for a campaign or two after her university career wraps up to in order keep playing hockey, while continuing to play for the G Force.

    “My first three years (with the Cougars) went by so fast,” said Kulbida. “I can’t believe that I am going into my fourth year already.

    “I look back and everything, and I am like, ‘Wow. That is crazy and all the good memories and everything.’ I’ve looked at maybe going to play hockey in Europe after I am done at the University of Regina.

    “Hopefully, I will get a cool opportunity to go play there (in Europe) for a year, because that would be awesome. We will see.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

-------                                     

    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.

Late Regina Rams head coach cared about the person first

Gordon Gray Currie 1923-2017

A picture of Gord Currie from his celebration of life.

    REGINA - “You win by not looking at the scoreboard at the end of the field but the scoreboard in your heart.

    “When you walk off the field, that is great when you look at the scoreboard in your heart. You walk away with something with substance, and it adds to the rest of your life to what you are.

    “It goes far beyond moving a football up and down the field. It is difficult to measure this type of growth. It is an amazing thing to witness in life.”

    Gordon Gray Currie spoke those words to me back in November of 2000, when I was putting together a history feature on the Regina Rams for the official website for university sports in Canada called at the time CIAU.ca. The piece ran days before the Rams, who were in their second season as a university team, appeared in that year’s Vanier Cup championship game. They ultimately fell 42-39 to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in that contest.

    Currie, who was the Rams head coach in their Canadian Junior Football League days from 1965 to 1976, was describing the intangibles as to why the Rams won. He followed these words during his whole coaching career, which included guiding teams in football, baseball and hockey.

    Currie passed away at age 93 on Feb. 22, 2017. He was in remarkably good health and active in his late 80s and his 90s. It was only in recent years he battled with medical issues.

    A massive group of family and friends gathered at the Conexus Arts Centre on Wednesday in Regina to pay tribute the legendary coach, who is best remember for guiding the Rams to six CJFL championships, at a celebration of his life.

    Currie was also an educator, school principle and a member of the legislative assembly in Saskatchewan for one term. He was named to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (1978), a member of the Order of Canada (1979) and to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a builder (2005).

A memorial set up at Gord Currie’s celebration of life.

    On the little known fact side, the sport Currie pursued and played at a high level was hockey, which was the first sport he coached.

    Everyone remembered that his greatest gift was his ability to make people feel important and special. The star running back for the Rams played that much better because of Currie’s influence. That Grade 12 student from Campbell Collegiate that was just scraping by and looking to drop out stayed in school and graduated at Currie’s request.

    People “upped their game” due to Currie no matter what walk of life they were in.

    What was more amazing was the fact Currie coached and taught at a time through the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s when it was unheard of to inspire people by treating them with respect. He inspired people to be better persons at a time when most coaches motivated through intimidation and fear. Currie never dipped into the intimidation and fear tactics that were prominent in his time.

    As a result of Currie’s approach, the results did look after themselves, as his coaching career resulted in numerous championships. One of those championships included his last game as Rams head coach in 1976, when he guided them to a CJFL title with 45-23 victory over the Hamilton Hurricanes before over 10,000 spectators at Taylor Field.

An old Leader-Post page paying tribute to Gord Currie.

    Everyone that came to his celebration of life had some memory of meeting Currie and feeling better about themselves. Even if you only dealt with him two or three times in your life, Currie still remembered you, and you came away feeling better about yourself.

    If you wanted to write a tribute about all the great things Currie did in his life, you could spend an endless amount of time doing that.

    Those that knew Currie would know the best tribute you could give to the late coach is just working to be the best person you can be every day and do your best to make a positive impact on your community and in life.

    That is also a great lesson everyone can follow and an enduring one coming from arguably the most legendary amateur coach in Saskatchewan.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.