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| Picture after finishing up work in the SaskTel Centre press box. |
Eventually,
everyone, even those that see themselves as being healthy, need to say “No” to
life’s stresses and take a break. When you come to think about it, they will
always be there.
Since 2012, I have known I have battled with issues dealing
with anxiety. Actually, I have to admit I see myself doing a lot better on that
front than I did five years ago or even last year.
Still, 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.
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.
While I
view myself as being a lot more healthy in the current day than I have even
just a few years ago, I find I can accidentally fire off my anxiety, if it looks
like I am going to bite off more than I can chew.
One of the
problems I have is saying “No” when people present projects to me. Being a
freelance sportswriter and photographer by trade, my first thought about when I
am presented an opportunity is figuring out how to make it fit into my
schedule.
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| A Bell Let’s Talk toque with sports items I have collected over the years. |
Often, the
opportunities first come when the schedule is light, and I figure I can let
other things I need to tend to in my life slide in order to complete the
obligations of an opportunity that comes up.
With all
that said, it seems when opportunities come they come in bunches and from all
sorts of directions. Often, I will try and satisfy everyone, which all of
sudden crowds my schedule too much and gets the heart racing about the future.
Ultimately,
a time will come when you have to step back and call for a “timeout.”
You have to
realize there are only a certain amount of hours in a day, and even the best
time managers and multitaskers reach the limits of what they can do.
What even
makes things that much more difficult in my life is the fact I live a life
where I work in the sports and media world.
Those worlds are not an environment
where you work 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and come home and watch
television or play on Youtube the rest of the night.
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| When you cover sports events like WHL, it becomes a lifestyle. |
When you
work and are involved in the sports and media worlds, it is lifestyle. There is
no hard line between being what most regard as at work or off.
The rare
times you go catch a movie or go for dinner at a nice restaurant would likely
be some of those slim moments where you are “off.”
For me, it
feels like 80 per cent of the world doesn’t understand this lifestyle, so that
can be a battle too.
One of the
pluses I find from the opportunities that have come my way is the fact lots of
them over the past year have come from old friends and people I have known for
a long time. A lot of times, you don’t want to say “No,” because you fear you
are going to let someone down.
Over the
past year, two of the most cool opportunities that I took advantage of came
during the Prince Albert Raiders run to winning the WHL title and appearing in
the CHL championship tournament, - the Memorial Cup – last May.
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| I was happy Darryl Leason took this photo of me interviewing his son, Brett. |
I worked as
a sports writer for that outlet from 2001 to 2004, and it ended up being more
special than I thought being back in the Daily Herald’s pages again.
Before last
May, I also penned a reflection piece on my time at the Daily Herald as part of
the publication’s 125th anniversary.
The other
opportunity from the Raiders WHL title run came from Peter Robinson getting
back in touch with me. I hadn’t talked to Robinson for some time, and he
oversees the creation of various publications for the CHL.
He asked me
to create the Memorial Cup program article on the Raiders, and that was a huge
thrill. I enjoyed working with him again.
Most
recently, I agreed to become the communications coordinator for the Gordie Howe
Sports Complex. I am still getting used to the ropes there, but they have a
good bunch there.
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| Pictured with the Bell Let’s Talk toque at U of Saskatchewan. |
As the last
12 months progressed, things just added up. Over summer I had to attend to a
number of things in my life outside the sports and media world that I pushed
off and had to be addressed.
That came
on the heels of what was a busy and fulfilling hockey season.
Working on
the items I needed to attend to bled into a very busy football season covering
the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies
football team in the U Sports ranks.
When
December 1, 2019 hit, I was complete drained of energy.
I felt bad
that with my brain in a state of mush that two great guys in Dan Senick and Cam
Hutchinson came to me about helping them with the Davidson Leader. My mind was
super clouded, and later on, I realized I couldn’t give them as big of a
commitment as they hoped.
It ended up
being a much smaller commitment than they hoped. I felt bad letting them down
on that front, but I felt it was the better decision for me.
I am
finding when I do say “no” to projects that people seem to be more
understanding about it than I realized.
Still,
there were a number of things I wanted to cover last December, and I hit those
things. When the new year hit, I finally took a break from producing anything
for this blog.
During the
break, I went and saw “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” twice because I
enjoyed it.
I think I settled my mind enough that I became comfortable in the
decisions I made on what projects I took on and what I didn’t take on.
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| I love working at the sports venues, but I realize it is great to take breaks. |
It felt way
better than I thought it would when I took my break. In the future, I will
definitely look for windows to do that again, when I need to do it.
I learned
taking a break was good for me.
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 “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 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 here.
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