I’m only here because of depression.
I mean that in a general sense, in that before I was a football writer, I was a practicing attorney. For nearly ten years in the Washington, D.C. area in fact. But near the end of that run, I was miserable. Fighting depression and anxiety on an hourly basis. Nothing worked. Therapy, medicine, self-medication. Nothing.
Approaching 40, I changed careers, and I’m lucky I did.
Had I not, there’s no telling where I would have ended up. Probably nowhere good. Probably as a statistic.
Depression does not discriminate. You can be young and seemingly successful, a lawyer at a law firm living what was a lifelong dream.
Or the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.
2020 has been a rough year for almost everyone. Dak Prescott is no different. His older brother passed away in April, and the quarterback recently opened up about his brother’s passing, and how his brother took his own life.
Prescott then opened up about his own struggles in the wake of that horrific event:
All throughout this quarantine and this offseason, I started experiencing emotions I’ve never felt before. Anxiety for the main one. And then, honestly, a couple of days before my brother passed, I would say I started experiencing depression. And to the point of, I didn’t want to work out anymore. I didn’t know necessarily what I was going through, to say the least, and hadn’t been sleeping at all.
Fox Sports “Undisputed” responded to that interview today.
What was said on the air really does not matter.
Here is what does.
Depression does not discriminate.
Leadership is also about more than working out.
It is about inner strength.
We live in a society that has yes, come far, but still has a long way to go. One of the areas where we can improve as a collective is by understanding that mental health impacts everyone, of every race, creed and gender. The days of saying “men don’t cry” and that “guys have to be tough” should be left behind. As a man who has suffered with anxiety and depression, I know first-hand how tough it can be to open up. To be vulnerable and to admit to suffering. To take that first step and acknowledge that you are struggling takes courage.
Courage that sometimes, people cannot muster. Leaving them sometimes heading down an even darker path that they cannot avoid.
Which is why what Dak did in coming forward and being open matters. Because it is one thing when another washed-up former college athlete turned-lawyer turned-sports writer is open about this.
It’s another when it is the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.
Because what Dak Prescott did probably will save lives. What he did will make it that much easier for others to come forward with their struggles. To be open about their anxiety, or their depression. To be honest and to take that first step towards getting help, and a brighter future.
That is leadership that should be praised and promoted.
Thank you, Dak.