Time to Talk About Mental Health

“It’s not stress that kills us; it is our reac­tion to it.” – Hans Selye, pio­neer­ing endocrinologist

I’ve just returned from speak­ing , last month, at the sold-out Growth Faculty’s annu­al Nation­al Growth Sum­mit, in Aus­tralia, with Patrick Lencioni and Whit­ney John­son. What a thrill to be there! The audi­ences in Syd­ney and Mel­bourne were awe­some, and the expe­ri­ence remind­ed me of how much I love to speak to big audi­ences, and to share the unique insights I’ve learned from oth­ers, over the years.

When­ev­er I share my expe­ri­ences work­ing with dif­fer­ent lead­ers who give their best to grow their com­pa­nies, and the men­tal health issues I’ve wit­nessed, it’s both a wake-up call and a relief for peo­ple in the room. A wake-up call for those who are expe­ri­enc­ing issues, and a relief to learn it’s a nor­mal part of the high per­form­ers’ game.

Over the last year-and-a-half since I wrote Your Oxy­gen Mask First, I’ve been amazed at how many of the high­est per­form­ers have shared their chal­lenges with me – about peri­ods when it got very weird inside their brains, and what it took to get back on their feet again.

I con­sis­tent­ly get feed­back that nam­ing men­tal health chal­lenges des­tig­ma­tizes them — and then talk­ing about them, even more. It’s impor­tant to keep talking.

The Chal­lenge

• How can you fur­ther des­tig­ma­tize the nor­mal chal­lenges that we all have, when the stress becomes too much?