The following article contains mentions of suicide, eating disorders, and addiction. Material may not be suitable for all audiences.
There can never be too many mental health conversations. It’s something almost everyone has had some sort of struggle with. Depression, addiction, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders. Sadly, chances are either you or someone you know has gone through one or more of these problems. For a long time, conversations surrounding mental health were rare, especially in the world of professional wrestling. Mental health issues are easily, and commonly, perceived as weaknesses. Recently however, wrestlers and other people within the business have been speaking up and sharing their mental health stories in an effort to normalize the conversations about mental illness.
Through her podcast, The Sessions, Renee Paquette and her star-studded catalog of guests have been putting mental health struggles and conversations in the spotlight. From Dax Harwood to Aj Mendez, Gabbi Tuft to Dustin Rhodes, Jon Moxley to Cash Wheeler, mental health is far from a forbidden, awkward conversation on The Sessions. People like Ryan Loco, who recently made an appearance on the podcast and detailed his struggles with drug addiction, have proven that struggling with your mental health doesn’t make you weak, in fact, it makes you pretty damn strong.
Paquette’s created a space where her guests feel comfortable enough to share their stories and where fans can go if they need to hear said stories. It’s also worth noting she includes hotline numbers and other resources and information in the introductions and descriptions of these sensitive episodes. I’ve mentioned my mental health struggles before, it’s no secret I suffer. For me, a “you’re not alone” doesn’t do much. But hearing real stories from people I watch on television, people I watch when I need a distraction from the war inside my mind… hearing those kinds of stories from those people? It’s literally free therapy. Take the Aj Mendez episode for example- I’ve been stuck on this one from the moment it premiered. Aj and I share- suffer with- the same mental illness. She’s someone I’ve loved watching for as long as I can remember, someone I’ve championed as one of the coolest people in the world. And we have the same struggles? How about the Jon Moxley episode or the W. Morrissey episode or the Ryan Loco and Dustin Rhodes episodes? Those men came on and opened up about their problems with addiction. The amount of people that found inspiration to kick or continue kicking their own addictions spiraled into more conversations following these episodes and suddenly, addiction isn’t the elephant in the room of the wrestling world anymore- it’s real and it exists and it won’t be ignored. Dax Harwood visited the show and heavily detailed his mental health crises and struggles with anxiety, eating disorders, and pretty severe depression. His name trended for days and people came out of the woodworks not only praising him for making it through but making sure he knew how him and FTR got them through their own hard times. Hell, host extraordinaire Renee herself, has shared her own struggles on multiple podcasts before. The person that-in a way- inspired this whole website has had past anxiety struggles (like me) and still manages to do what she loves every day? Hmm maybe I’ll turn out okay after all.
They say, “one ember starts a fire,” and I believe even one conversation about mental health can change a life. Renee and her guests have brought forth multiple. The impact of these conversations will be felt greatly amongst many listeners.
Comments