Mental Health Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and that resonates with my decision to run this marathon for a few reasons.
Steps to Sanity
First and foremost is the impact of exercise in general — but more specifically running — on my own mental health. I have struggled with anxiety and panic attacks since childhood, but after I graduated from college and that nervous energy had less outlets to funnel into, it got more serious. Serious enough where I felt like I could never leave my house, relaxation felt impossible, and I could barely stomach meals some days.
With the help of a lot of resources including therapy and the support of my loved ones, I was able to start to heal, and one of the most helpful things I did was start running. I had always been mildly active and athletic, but I hated running at first. I started with just a couple miles at a time because it helped dull the sharp edges of my anxiety and get me back to some sort of equilibrium. But once those runs started to get easier, I began pushing myself just a little further every time, and felt myself excited to see if my next run could be better than my last.
Then I did something crazy: I signed up for a half marathon. I had never run more than 4 or 5 miles when I signed up, and it seemed like an impossible feat. As any athlete will tell you, consistency is key, and as I got stronger those 5 miles didn’t seem daunting and the ceiling for my own ability kept raising just slightly every time I set out for another run. Now that I am signed up to run 26.2 miles for the first time, I feel that daunting feel again — but this time, I have the retrospective advantage of knowing that even if I can’t do something today, I am capable of doing what it takes for me to do it in the future.
After feeling trapped in my own brain for months, running allowed me to be a bit more free and a bit more comfortable in my own skin, which did wonders for my mental health. It remains one of the first instruments in my tool belt I pull out when things get overwhelming. No matter what’s going on personally or in the world, I can always lace up my shoes, step out my door, and hit the pavement.
The Sandy Hook Promise to Mental Health
This month is also a reminder of the role that mental health plays in gun violence. I’m proud to be part of Team Sandy Hook because of the commitment they have to address that connection. Sandy Hook was co-founded by Bill Sherlach, the husband of the school’s psychologist Mary Sherlach who was tragically killed.
Sandy Hook Promise has many resources for school administrators, teachers, and parents to help create environments where kids feel comfortable and supported to bring up difficult feelings and lift each other up. Read more here.
Gun Violence & Mental Health in the U.S.
It is important to note that people struggling with their mental health are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, and both issues have similar solutions — for teens and adolescents to feel safe and encouraged to seek resources, and for those resources to be readily accessible across all demographics.
In 2021, when the most recent complete research is available, suicides accounted for more than half of U.S. gun deaths. The gun suicide rate has almost reach its historical high in the country, which was in 1977. Though national media makes a through-line from mental health issues to mass shootings, suicide does not usually reach the news.
What is lost in partisan debate — where facts and nuance are all boiled down and people are forced to choose sides — is the complexity of this problem. It’s not only a mental health crisis and it’s not only easy access to military-grade assault weapons — it’s both. And it’s also a lot of other things about our culture and the way we socialize children, particularly boys.
With all that said, I try to take care of my own mental health with running, among a bunch of other tools. But broadly, to meaningfully tackle the crisis of gun violence, particularly among young people, mental health resources need to be prioritized as part of public health in general, and we can all play a part in supporting people in our communities during difficult times.
If you’d like to support the cause for Sandy Hook Promise and their mental health programs, donate here: https://fundraisers.hakuapp.com/kaitontherun