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Movember 2021: Anxiety

November 1st, 2021 by Tom Simmons

One night, some weeks ago, I woke up in a panic. It was around 3 a.m. I was overcome with dread and anxiety and I had no idea why. In those dark morning hours I tried to put some sense to these feelings, but could not find any.

It was so distressing that I had to call in sick and take part of the day off to get to a stable state of mind. Yet, I didn’t say what was going on with me. I lied and said I had a stomach bug. Why?

Despite having the full support and understanding of my coworkers, the stigma that surrounds men’s mental health made me want to conceal what I was going through.

If you’ve seen our YouTube videos, you know I will usually play the role of the clown, to contrast with our experts. As you can see in the pics for this blog, I have no problem looking ridiculous. A big mustache is always good for a laugh, but what I take so much value from, on a personal level, for this event, is the invitation to speak freely about your health. Even when your friends, family, and coworkers are nothing but supportive, and never place obstacles to your having this conversation, you can still run in to the biggest obstacle of all, yourself.

Give yourself permission this Movember to share how you’re doing and what you’re feeling. And let us know in the comments what your journey to better health has been.

You can learn more about this great cause here.

Tom Simmons, Content Creator at HRP Associates, Inc.