No way! How have I not posted anything on here since March? Not even some terrible picture taken from tumblr in a attempt to get a few clicks? Or some half assed think piece on Australia’s darling Sonia Kruger? Maybe I was waiting to come back for something important. I guess this is it then.

Yesterday was R U OK? day. I’m sure everyone was aware of it (hopefully). During the week there would of been a social media campaign and I’m sure traditional advertising was happening, but what caught my eye was a pamphlet around the size of a A5 piece of paper stuffed in my Hungry Jacks bag last weekend. What a great idea. I grabbed in for some serviettes but was left doing something more importantly than cleaning my salty fingers.

I started thinking about myself? Was I OK? Today when I’m writing this I’m fine. I’m great actually, but what about last week? I don’t think I was doing quite as well, but we can stop talking about me in the present as I always know in the long run I’ll be fine. Everything will all work out somehow.

I didn’t always feel that way though. I felt that whatever I was doing wasn’t doing good enough, so I myself didn’t feel good enough. I’d put a lot of pressure on myself. I still do, but I try to tone it done. I 100% believe that if you next isn’t your best then what’s the fucking point. You can apply that to anything. I applied it to everything, but nothing was anywhere near my best. As I said I can be way to hard on myself.

So for a period of time I went down on a rollercoaster of emotions. It was more than a period. It was more like 18 months, but I like to think I put up a pretty good facade. The worst thing about it was I had people around me asking me if I was OK. And more often than not I’d pretend I was. How stupid is that!

See while having a campaign like R U OK? is great, we need to do more. We need to let men know that it’s normal to have emotions. Looking back I’ve cried enough times to fill a lake. Maybe not enough for a lake, but a small pond for sure. Especially before I was a teen. Man there were so many tears. Between what people said to me and about me, and how I thought about myself, it was all too much, and that would be when the tears started. And I felt weak. I kind of feel weak writing that all out, but this is happening. I still cry sometimes, but way less often. Thank fuck for that. Only only in the privacy in my house. Unlike when I was younger, it always feels like after I let it out, I feel so much better. Almost like emptying the trash can and starting again.

Why am I telling you this? Osher Gunsberg, is the reason. A month or so ago I listened to his podcast for the first time. I was expecting him to go straight into a long form podcast interview. I format I’ve grown to love so much, that listening to a six minute interview with anyone simply isn’t enough anymore.

But before the interview Osher spoke about his life. He spoke about how he wasn’t so well, and the way his mental health can impact him. I don’t have a mental illness (not that I know of), but this resonated with me. Someone finally talking about their emotions with honestly. No holding back. This can only ever be a good thing.

And then this morning I watched a video of himself posted yesterday reading a letter to his 18 year old self. It was full of the “you’ll make it through the other side eventually” kind of stuff, that we normally hear, but the way he told his story was hard to watch. You could see the emotion in his eyes. Really it was only hard to watch because we never hear someone speak like that. I seriously love what he’s been doing. Just talking about things than many other wouldn’t is simply amazing. Throw every award at the guy. He deserves it.

So that’s that. On top of asking if other are ok, we need to be able to talk about what isn’t ok. We need to be comfortable revealing it all. In addition to that we need to stop kicking people when they’re down. I don’t know if this is a Australian thing, or maybe just a thing in Australian sports, but as “supports” we think we are untitled to certain things. We’re not. How about we just go to a game of footy or whatever it is, support your club, and just enjoy it.

After watching Michael Hurley’s interview on The Footy Show this past week, that was clear more than ever. It was hard watching him. The way he responded to the questions made me want to invent a time machine so he could avoid everything he’s faced. That isn’t possible so he’s stuck with everything.

The Essendon Football Club and everyone involved have probably been through enough by now. So I hope by round 1 next year, we are done with the name calling. This won’t erase what was done in the history books, nor does it mean what they did was right, but people make mistake and sometimes we have to move forward.

As I write about people moving forward, I’m laughing to myself. I highly doubt many will move forward, because it almost feels like as a country we’re going backwards. Not just in sporting arenas, but everywhere across the nation. So many crazy things going on. They wanna reduce laws on the the discrimination act! So what we can have more discrimination? This 2k16, but as I said Australia is a crazy place at the moment.

I guess that’s more than enough from me. I hope one day more people will act and open up like Osher. The world would be a better place.

Hopefully I’ll be back on here over the weekend to write about #BB18. I remember last year when I first started watching Big Brother (US). Sometimes it was the highlight on the day, week,, and month. I’m just glad I’m in a better place where I’m not waiting for the Chenbot to appear on my computer screen.