Careers and our mental health

While this isn't a personal story, it resonated with me in a very personal way. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/ben-gordon-mental-health-nba Reminded me of the following: Nobody is immune to the trials and tribulations of life Things aren't always as they seem The mind is overwhelmingly powerful Particularly meaningful if you are a pro sports fan. Hope you enjoy.

What do you do when two of your friends are angry with each other- and you're caught in the middle. I think everyone goes through this repeatedly at various stages in life, so it's good to have some tools for dealing with this. I personally have found the following helpful when dealing with this: - talk to both sides separately, and let both sides know that you are talking to the other - try to get to the core of their issues and abstract the problem - come up with possible solutions/compromises - when they do talk, try to make sure each is on an equal playing field, and call them out on unnecessary jabs and insults - make sure each gets out ALL of the things they are upset about, or it will just build up again

Often times, I start conversations with people by asking a simple question: " how's your mental health? ". A year ago, people thought it was a weird question. Now when I ask, people smile. I don't know what's changed, but it seems like it's becoming more acceptable and that's awesome. Recently, someone asked me how I respond to that question. And my answer is some days I feel like a bird and sometimes I feel like a statue. Sometimes both. When I'm a bird, I have good mental health that day. When I'm a statue, that just means I've been getting shit on and/or I feel like shit. And there are days, where I feel like both. So ya. Yesterday, I was a statue. Today, I'm a bird. That's life I guess. That being said, I wish you all great mental health. May we all work on our mental health and strive to be a bird everyday.