There’s no doubt that the issue of mental health, especially in the workplace, is not talked about enough. So, where do people turn when their daily grind has become something worse in their life? Adam Nugent and Kate Strong welcome Levi Lindsay to this very important podcast episode. He is an entrepreneur, creative director of Neighbor, and co-founder of We Are Mind. Learn the intimate details about how his burnout led to some incredibly important questions about his life and how the vulnerability to face these tough questions led to an unbelievable breakthrough.
Listen and subscribe now!
In this podcast excerpt, Levi Lindsay describes the moment when he realized that he was suffering from burnout. He also addresses the unique challenges that men face when addressing mental health issues.
AN: You’ve been very open and vulnerable about your own experience with burnout and your mental health journey.
LL: It’s open, non-judgmental conversations. A lot of times, if someone says, “I’m feeling anxiety. I’m having panic attacks,” they are told to exercise more or eat better. And those are things you need to implement. But a lot of times what’s missing is, “Hey, first of all, I’m here for you. No judgment at all.”
I didn’t know what burnout was until I had a conversation with someone through We Are Mind. They reached out and said, “I just want to tell you guys my story.” She started talking about burnout, and my body just started getting chills everywhere. And I was like, “I didn’t know that burnout was a thing. And I have it.”
KS: How cool that she was able to say that out loud so that your body recognized it. Not even your brain, but your body physically recognized it.
AN: Are you finding that men are opening up more? I think there’s definitely a shift that is happening. But society has told us that as men, we have to be strong. We can’t show our emotions.
LL: It’s definitely a movement for everybody, but men are holding on to the stigma more than anybody because there’s that culture on LinkedIn. You hear of so many company founders writing books that are like, “I went through all these hard times, and I just pushed through them. I’m tough, and you’ve just got to be tough if you’re going to own a business.” There’s not a lot of talk about taking care of yourself during those times. And it puts a lot of pressure of comparison on people.
Learn more at wearemind.org.
► You’ll also like: Episode 46: Just Breathe with Holly Semanoff
