Todd Smith

The battles you don’t seewhy i’m walking 60km this october for mental health.

Why I’m Walking 60km This October There are some things in life that are easy to talk about. Mental health hasn’t always been one of them for me. This October, I’ve decided to walk 60 kilometres for Black Dog Institute to raise money and awareness for mental health. On the surface, it’s a pretty simple challenge. Put the shoes on, get outside and get the kilometres done. But my reason for doing it goes a lot deeper than that. This one is personal Mental health has touched my life from a few different directions. I’ve watched people incredibly close to me struggle. Family. Friends. People I love and would do anything for. When you care about someone going through something like that, there are times when you desperately want to fix it for them. You want to find the right words, the right answer or the thing that will somehow make everything okay. Sometimes there simply isn’t one. You learn that being there matters. Listening matters. Checking in matters. But there’s another reason this challenge means so much to me. I’ve had my own battles as well. That’s probably harder for me to write publicly. What people see isn’t always the whole story Most people who know me probably wouldn’t immediately think of me as someone who struggles with their mental health. I’m usually getting on with things. Working. Having a laugh. Looking after my family. Worrying about what needs doing tomorrow. Dealing with whatever life throws at me and moving onto the next thing. And for a long time, that’s exactly how I dealt with difficult periods in my own head. Just keep going. You get surprisingly good at it. You can have a conversation with someone, crack a joke, go to work and do everything you’re supposed to do while there’s an entirely different conversation happening inside your own head. That’s something I understand much better now. Someone can look completely okay and still be fighting like hell internally. And that’s one of the biggest reasons I wanted to do this challenge. Why 60km? I’m not pretending walking 60 kilometres is going to solve mental health. It won’t. But every kilometre gives me an opportunity to do something positive for something that has affected my life and the lives of people I care about. So throughout October, I’ll be getting those kilometres in. Some will probably be easy. I’m sure there’ll be days when I can’t be bothered. But that’s part of the commitment I’ve made. Every kilometre is for somebody. For the family member who is struggling. For the mate who tells everyone they’re fine when they’re not. For the husband, wife, partner, mum, dad, brother, sister or friend trying to support somebody they love. For the person who gets up every morning and keeps going when nobody else knows how hard that actually is. And, if I’m being completely open, some of those kilometres are for me too. We need to get better at talking I think we’ve come a long way with mental health, but we still have a habit of asking: “How are you going?” And accepting: “Yeah, good mate.” Sometimes we need to ask twice. Sometimes we need to actually listen to the answer. And sometimes we need to be brave enough to be the person who says: “Actually, I’m not doing that great.” You don’t need to have all the answers for someone. You don’t need to fix them. Sometimes you just need to give a shit. So, I’m asking for your support If you’ve read this far, thank you. Writing something this personal isn’t particularly comfortable for me, but that’s also part of why I wanted to write it. If you’re in a position to donate to my 60km for Black Dog Institute, I’d be incredibly grateful. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount. Every donation contributes to the bigger picture and supports work in mental health research, education and support. And if you can’t donate, that’s completely okay. Share the challenge. Check in on a mate. Call someone you haven’t spoken to for a while. Ask somebody how they’re going — and actually mean it. And if you’re the person struggling at the moment, please don’t convince yourself that you have to deal with everything alone. Talk to somebody. 60km. One month. I’m doing this for my family. For my friends. For myself. And for every person fighting something that the people around them can’t see. Here’s to 60km this October. 🖤 — Todd Share