On Tuesday, June 28, 2020, I gave a speech entitled My Mess, My Message. My mess is the story of sinking into the dark pit of depression. As I recovered from depression, I was compelled to tell my story to help other men who were struggling with depression, encourage them to seek help, and share the lessons I learned that helped me recover. This became my message.

What about you? What’s your mess? Anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, or do you suffer from depression like me? Your mess may be unemployment, divorce, a severe life- threatening disease, or a tragic death in your family. What message are you going to write for your wife, your children, your grandchildren, your parents, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, your friends, and your classmates, and others? Will you allow God to take your mess and turn it into a message?

Depression taught me many lessons. These lessons were painful and hard learned. Depression is a devious and unrelenting taskmaster and shook me to my core, upended my life, tested my faith, and altered the course of my life. I still require treatment. Yet, out of this mess, I found my message to help other men who struggle with this dark disease. I speak and write to decrease the stigma of mental illness, encourage men who are struggling with depression to go and get help, and give them practical tips, tactics, and techniques to help them recover.

I tell audiences, “I’m a physician, a twenty-six-year Army veteran, retired Colonel, spent thirty-months in combat zones, and I’m a National Wrestling Champion. I’m a tough guy! Yet, I became a casualty of depression!” Why, do I share this? Because my mess has become my message, “Even tough guys get depressed!” God has compelled me to share my story with you to be a messenger of hope, encouragement, and recovery. Moreover, it’s the calling of God to advocate for you men who struggle with depression.

The most difficult journeys in your life require love, encouragement, and help from others. You cannot do it alone. My wife Sherry was my most faithful supporter and encourager. Help from my clinical psychologist, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Perry, and my family, was crucial. I also received compassionate care and encouragement from my psychiatrist, primary care provider, friends, and my church family. In Chapter 13 of, Wrestling Depression Is Not For Wimps! “I discuss “The Power of Your Team: Family, Faith, and Friends”.

I relied on the help of my faith and many others to help me change my mess into a message to help men who struggle with depression. How about you? What’s your mess and your message? You can wallow in your mess, or you can call out to God, reach out to professionals, your family, friends, and faith community, and begin to transform your mess into your message. Will it be easy? Oh, no, it’s going to cost you! You will need support along the way. So, get started.

My challenge for you this week is to write out:

1. My mess is …
2. I will transform my mess into a meaningful message to help others by doing…
3. The three people I will reach out to, in the next week, for support and encouragement are
   1.  
   2.  
   3.  

Please send me a comment about your mess and how it has become your message to help others.

If I can be of service to you or someone you know who is struggling with depression, please contact me. It will be my privilege to help in any way I can.