Miss me?
I’ve missed you!
Unfortunately time is still not on my side, so no super dooper posts from me.
Still, I am squeezing out a little time to remind you of something.
I’M ALIVE!
And that, as I described to you in gory detail this time last year, is due in a large part to friends and medical practitioners with a good awareness of depression, the effects on an individual, and the wide ranging effects on the individual’s family and broader community.
I’m excited to be alive and once again participating in Movember, and invite you to share in the excitement of knowing you are making a difference by raising awareness of depression and prostate cancer.
I know I wont have time to do this justice this year, so I wont be posting about it again, but please read through last years posts.
Shave and a Haircut: Movember
Just in case you thought I wasn’t serious
Depression in the family: Movember
Youth gone wild: Movember
Married with child and depressed: Movember
Depression in the workplace: Movember
Talking about it saves lives: Movember
Better Off without me
Aware People are Supportive People: Movember
I will briefly mention my ex-wife, who has been through a very difficult year this year dealing with mental illness. Intially battling to stay alive, then months of therapy and courses to help her develop coping mechanisms and redirect the behaviors that have prevented her from living what many people would consider a normal life, one where the thought of suicide never enters their thoughts. It has been a tough year for all around her, but we are hanging in, as is she.
One of the greatest challenges has been educating her mother about what mental illness is, why it isn’t cured overnight, why it isn’t her fault, why the abuse directed at her is a cry for help rather than true abuse. Of course, I am fortunate that I live in a society that can, more and more, talk openly about mental illness, that can make adjustments to enable people to heal and become fully functioning, whereas my mother-in-law comes from a culture where mental illness “doesn’t exist” and certainly never happens to a loved one.
Bringing the conversation about mental illness into public arena is one of the greatest strengths of Movember. Just as a pink ribbon, or pink bottle top is a great way of raising awareness of breast cancer, growing a Mo is a great way of raising awareness and letting all around you know that you are aware and care about issues affecting men’s health – and you don’t even need to say a word.
Everyone can contribute in some way.
- Donate
- Grow a Mo
- Grow a Mo and join the Movember celebration
- Get your workplace, club, class, whatever, to join in and grow Mo’s
- Encourage your partner to grow a Mo
- Discourage your partner from waxing their Mo
- Compliment someone on a Mo today
- Come join my MovemberTeam!
Remember, this isn’t just an Australian event, it is worldwide… Even ForThePie is joining in this year in Movember U.S.A.! Of course there is Movember U.K as well.. go look… get the look… the Movember look!
Mo’mer and Out!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
http://gnomeaggedon.net/2011/11/03/one-mo-time/
