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.

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2013 Grey Cup was Rider Nation’s best day at Taylor Field

Me, left, next to Chris Schultz on TV.

Thanks to looking over Chris Schultz’s shoulder, I had my moment at the 101^st Grey Cup.

Following the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 romp over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to win the Grey Cup at home on the frozen concrete of Taylor Field on November 24, 2013, I found myself heading to the booth on the north side of the legendary facility that was hosting TSN’s game day panel.

I was part of the group that got to look in through the window as the members of the panel gave their final thoughts on the contest. I was looking over the shoulder of Schultz, who was a former offensive tackle and 1991 Grey Cup winner with the Toronto Argonauts.

Later on that night, I noticed my TV appearance was captured on photo by a couple of buds in Mike Kaye and Jeff Urkevich, who posted the images on Facebook. I laughed when I saw them, and they are still a good keepsake memory.

This past Sunday, the CFL wrapped up a Grey Cup Unite promotion that began on Monday, Nov. 16. It marked a week long virtual celebration of the CFL and its iconic title game that dates back to 1909.

Grey Cup Unite ran during the same time this year’s Grey Cup festival was to be held in Regina, and the championship contest was to be played on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium.

With the world locked in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the 2020 CFL campaign got outright cancelled.

Rider Nation mingled in the streets before the 2013 Grey Cup.

There was talk about playing a shortened CFL season in a hub city format in Winnipeg, Man., but the entire campaign was officially terminated on August 17.

During the Grey Cup Unite week that just wrapped up, my mind drifted back to that seasonably pleasant day and night in Regina on November 24, 2013. That game was played seven years ago today, and it feels like some kind of other lifetime ago.

Still, I wish something could make me go back in time to relive that day again. Even just being seven years younger that I am today, I felt I was able to truly soak in and enjoy that day.

At that time, I was still working at the Medicine Hat News as a beat writer that covered the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. I had booked a vacation week that started on that Grey Cup Sunday.

With how the stresses were in the workplace at that point in time, I aimed to use my vacation weeks as tools to give myself strategic breaks. Looking at the CFL schedule, I thought the Roughriders could be in that game.

Fans walk to Taylor Field for the 2013 Grey Cup.

Even if they weren’t, I expected to attend a Grey Cup party in Medicine Hat and had plans to enjoy the day that way.

I was actually in Calgary a week earlier on November 17, 2013 at McMahon Stadium, when the Roughriders hammered the host Calgary Stampeders 35-13 in the CFL’s West Final.

When I got home, I did check Ticketmaster’s website to see if there were tickets available for the Grey Cup. Of course, the game was a sellout.

During my career as a sports reporter, I knew usually at big events like the Grey Cup a portion of tickets are set aside for dignitaries and special guests. Tickets that are set aside for those purposes that aren’t used usually go back on sale to the general public.

On the Tuesday just two days after the West Final, I was able to buy one of those tickets that were put back up for sale to the public.

The Saturday before the Grey Cup game, I actually worked a WHL regular season contest, where the host Tigers downed the visiting Regina Pats 5-1 at The Arena in Medicine Hat. The Tigers crew knew I was heading to the Grey Cup game, and they all told me they hoped I had fun.

Fans gather outside Taylor Field before the 2013 Grey Cup.

I believe I only slept five hours that night and began my jaunt to Regina at 7 a.m. on Grey Cup Sunday.

When I arrived in Regina, it was like everywhere I went in town was a joyful, feel-good party. After wandering the streets around Taylor Field enjoying festivities with the rest of Rider Nation, I made my way to the stadium to ensure I got to see the pre-game show.

During pre-game show, the sellout crowd of 44,710 spectators was already in a walking on air mood when the Saskatoon-based band the Sheepdogs was on the field playing. As game time neared, you believed this would be the perfect dream night for Rider Nation.

This belief was backed up when the Roughriders charged the field in their traditional “Bring ‘Em Out” style.

The game’s signature moment came early in the first quarter, when Roughriders franchise quarterback Darian Durant scrambled up field, got hit and fumbled the ball high into the air to be pulled down by star running back Kory Sheets.  Sheets rumbled off a magical 39-yard game for the home side.

Fans line up to get into Taylor Field for the 2013 Grey Cup.

As a Roughriders fan, you had a big gut feeling that this game was going to go your way after seeing that play.

That drive eventually resulted in a diving 15-yard touchdown reception by legendary CFL receiver Geroy Simon that put the Roughriders up 7-3. Saskatchewan scored 24 points in the second quarter to take a 31-6 lead into halftime.  The outburst included another beauty 42-yard touchdown catch by Simon.

After Hedley’s entertaining halftime show, Hamilton scored the first 10 points of the second half to create a little worry for the Roughriders fans cutting Saskatchewan’s lead to 31-16. That was as close as the visitors got.

A four-yard touchdown run by Sheets and a 26-yard touchdown reception by receiver Weston Dressler put the Roughriders up 45-16, and the victory celebration in Saskatchewan started in earnest.

Sheets had two major scores along the ground and piled up a Grey Cup record 197 yards rushing on 20 carries to be named the game’s MVP. He ran with power and authority.

The inside of Taylor Field at the 2013 Grey Cup.

Durant completed 17-of-24 passes for 245 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Slotback Chris Getzlaf was the contest’s most outstanding Canadian player hauling in three passes for 78 yards.

The game was also highlighted by two big sacks from Roughriders defensive lineman John Chick.

On a fan front, I was pumped to see the Roughriders run over Tiger-Cats star quarterback Henry Burris, who once played for the Roughriders in the early 2000s. Crazy part was I would met Burris about four years later after he quarterbacked the Ottawa Redblacks to a Grey Cup win in 2016.

I learned Burris was a gem of a person, and also having a better understanding of the business of sports, I regretted the fan heckles I sent his way over the years at CFL games including the 2013 Grey Cup.

Even with that noted, I still relish and have the greatest memories of the Roughriders Grey Cup win in 2013, which was fourth Grey Cup victory in team history. It felt like the right outcome for the final Grey Cup ever played at Taylor Field.

Taylor Field shortly after the Roughriders win the 2013 Grey Cup.

When the clock ticked to zero, people were hugging their neighbours all around them. The image of Durant hoisting the Grey Cup with a huge smile on his face will also live forever. The green and white confetti raining down on the Roughriders players was also a site to behold.

For the longest time after that game ended, I remember just sitting in the stands and soaking everything in. On the fan front, it was the greatest day.

I also had four buds who were University of Regina Rams football team grads on that Roughriders team in Neal Hughes, Brendon LaBatte, Getzlaf and Jordan Sisco. Thanks to those connections, I actually spent some good social time with a number of players on that Roughriders team over the years including Durant.

They are all great guys, and I was really proud that they got to achieve that moment in their careers.

Actually, the idea of the Roughriders winning the Grey Cup at Taylor Field wasn’t even something that seemed conceivable for the bucket list.

The final scoreboard of the 2013 Grey Cup.

After reveling in the moment, I made my way to the booth where the TSN panel was to get my TV moment.

From there, I disappeared to “the Green Mile” and into the Regina night to enjoy the celebration, which went well into Monday morning.

For like a 24-hour period, it really felt like life was just truly good. Even now, I feel fortunate I got to enjoy that feeling.

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

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Adult meeting with Hawerchuk was special

Jets legend passed away too soon at age 57

Dale Hawerchuk on a Jets all-time all-star team poster.

    I admit I had a misplaced fear that my adult meeting with Dale Hawerchuk wouldn’t go well.
    Way back when Hawerchuk was skating through his rookie season with the Winnipeg Jets in the 1981-82 season, I first met Hawerchuk at an autograph session that was held at the Athletes World sports store in Winnipeg. At the time, I was five-years-old, and I can’t remember anything about that meeting except for vivid memories of being inside that sports store.

    I received an autograph wood mini stick, which I still have to this day.

    Throughout most of the 1980s, my family lived in Winnipeg outside of one-year move to Regina for the 1982-83 school year and a two-year move to Edmonton starting in the summer of 1989.

    Due to being located in Winnipeg, Hawerchuk was my favourite NHL player, and he was the first athlete hero I had during my childhood years.
    I had the opportunity to see numerous Jets games in my youth, and I have lots of good memories watching Hawerchuk live in action.

A Dale Hawerchuk card from 1989.

    As I grew up, I continued to keep tabs on Hawerchuk’s playing career including his days with the Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers. I kept tabs on his life after his playing days were finished.

    It was cool to see him have a number of good seasons as the head coach and director of hockey operations for the OHL’s Barrie Colts over nine campaigns starting in 2010 and running through to 2019.

    He took a leave up absence from the Colts to battle stomach cancer before the start of the 2019-20 season. Hawerchuk was given a clean bill a health in April, but the stomach cancer returned and he passed away from his battle with the disease last Tuesday.

    On Dec. 2, 2006, I got to interview Hawerchuk for a story in the Medicine Hat News. He was in town for an oldtimers’ game that was played at the Kinplex.

    At the time, I was in my best years working as a sports reporter for the News, and the outlet’s sports department was really kick butt. That was a time where I was in really good spirits.

    Leading up to the interview, I had talked to a few friends who mentioned they had disappointing experiences when as adults they met their sports heroes they looked up to as children.
    Before I headed out to the Kinplex to see Hawerchuk that day, one thought that ran through my head was, “Please don’t let this encounter suck.”

    During that game, Hawerchuk made some fancy plays. You could tell that at one time he did play hockey at its highest level.

A Dale Hawerchuk rookie card.

    Right when the game ended, I happened to be in the hallway where the players came off the ice.

    When Hawerchuk came off the ice, I think he might he might have thought he should have known me from somewhere. He actually immediately came over to shake my hand and went out of his way to be personable.

    The next part of the ice breaker was mentioning I lived in Winnipeg through most of the 1980s. Hawerchuk went on and on talking about city and how fond he was of it.

    It was crazy how much he knew about the city. He knew about the neighbourhood I lived, and talked about some of the businesses he had shopped at in my neighbourhood.

    He mentioned how cool it was that no matter where he went on the oldtimers’ circuit he always met people who lived in Winnipeg and always got to see Jets fans.

    I told him I wanted to interview him for the paper, and I said I had some time and that he could shower up first if he wanted to. As there wasn’t a Sunday edition of the paper to file for, I was hoping to do the interview in a more relaxed setting.
    Hawerchuk showered up and gave me all the time that I needed. I remember the interview went great. Actually, it was just an overall great visit.

    When that interview happened, the first version of the Jets had moved out of Winnipeg 10 years previous and the current version of the Jets were still another five years off from moving to the Manitoba capital from Atlanta, Georgia.

A Dale Hawerchuk card from 1987.

    Naturally, Hawerchuk campaigned that Winnipeg is a great hockey town and the NHL needed to back there.

    When the visit wrapped up, I got him to sign my poster of the Winnipeg Jets all-time all-stars.

    That visit helped to restore the childhood faith in the hockey hero. Hawerchuk lived up to the hero expectations.

    Over the years leading up to that visit, I met people in hockey and outside of the sports who knew Hawerchuk. All of them said he was a genuinely nice person, and he was a real quiet guy too.

    He was the superstar who enjoyed being out of the spotlight and his downtime, but he always wanted to be good and genuine.

    On the ice, the fact that Hawerchuk was a key member in helping the QMJHL’s Cornwall Royals win Memorial Cup titles in 1980 and 1981 as major junior hockey champions or that he played in 1,188 regular season games piling up 518 goals, 891 assists for 1,409 points are a small part of his story.

    The same goes with Hawerchuk playing for Canada and winning the draw that allowed Wayne Gretzky to set up Mario Lemieux for the goal that won the 1987 Canada Cup tournament in the final two minutes of the event’s deciding game.

    The outpouring of tributes that have poured in for him over the past week showed the 57 years he lived on this world were meaningful ones.
    Many sympathies were passed on to Hawerchuk’s wife, Crystal, the couple’s children in sons Eric and Ben and daughter Alexis.

A display of Dale Hawerchuk memorabilia.

    Even if you just had one memorable visit with Hawerchuk, you realized the world just lost one of its great good guys.

    That fact he had a positive influence on so many lives should definitely be celebrated.

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

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    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.