Friendly Manitoba!

Manitobans are really living up to this slogan! So many people have gone out of their way to help us out, people who have helped this project continue to inspire others and encourage Canadians to speak up for mental health care. There is so much that needs to be done within this industry and towards the overall mindset surrounding psyche and how we view our selves. This project is not just about promoting physical exercise or asking people to join together to support those affected or only to shatter the debilitating stigma that gets attached to mental illness. Of course those are the main focuses, yet, there is an underlying message that is emerging, a shift of consciousness that I can sense within myself and others, pulsing and shattering old philosophies that we mistake for our reality. Modern ideas of ego and entitlement, self and society are transforming and providing new spaces for conscious development. There are a lot of worries that hang over us, but as we become aware of these fears, they diminish and we begin to find happiness and health in abundance!

And the gracious Manitobans that I am meeting on a daily basis are helping me discover the real joy of living and being. Good people are attracted to this run. In the last 24 hours I have met some amazing peeps! At the Welcome Inn, a mental health organization, we met a group of enthusiastic women who are passionate and involved in mental health education and advocacy. They all work within the industry and are also affected in various ways. They were very inspiring to me, overcoming huge obstacles and opening their minds to different perspectives in order to lead healthier lives. A mental health care worker told me about her anxiety and the havoc it has wreaked in her life. One of her huge issues has always been blushing, turning scarlet when consumed with anxious thoughts, an embarrassing exhibition of fear displayed in multiple, burning shades of red. She shied away from social situations and spent many days alone and fearful of her cheeks showing her true colours. And then the shift; she realized that red was a beautiful colour and if she told people about her anxiety and physical reaction they didn’t focus on her cheeks and neither did she!

Then one of the administrative girls, Amber, ran back into the room, where we all chatting, just beaming from ear to ear. She announced that she had just called her Mom and she had agreed to have us over as dinner guests. Amber was so excited to have us over and to cook some of her favourite recipes for us later that night. The Collister family was very welcoming and supportive. We had a great dinner and warm-hearted conversation. It feels so good to sit around a table with kind, supportive and open minded locals, getting their perspective on their communities, family life and personal struggles and passions.

Yesterday, I met a guy that used to suffer from severe panic attacks on a daily basis. His doc gave him tons of pills and sent him on his way. He felt doped up and out of control on the meds, without really feeling emotions, just swimming through life without experiencing complete sensations. Scary! He decided to take matters into his own hands and flushed his pills and started power walking for 1 to 2 hours a day in the early mornings before work. He figured out that intense physical exercise could produce similar bodily reactions that the panic attacks were causing him to experience (i.e. shortness of breath, tightening of muscles and organs, racing blood pressure, etc). And he could experience these “symptoms” in a safe environment where he felt control over them. This process, over six months, allowed him regain confidence and control over how his body and mind reacted to different triggers or in certain situations.

It felt like time stood still for a moment, as this large burly man (think stereotypical trucker) poured his heart out telling Wayne his story and recovery through exercise. He no longer experiences these attacks because of this shift in consciousness. I was so glad to meet him and hear his story! I love how this project attracts such positivism and hope!

Just picture it: two grown men discussing the science of exercise with their eyes just shining with compassion and respect for one another in the middle of a cold, blustery Tim Horton's parking lot in friendly Manitoba! A hallmark moment, so to speak. I really got to get Tim Horton's on the line here, what a heart stirring, truly Canadian, commercial. Roll Up the Rim for Mental Health!!! ;)