Shift Speakers' Bureau volunteer Stuart has written a column for Country Walking magazine in which he talks about how walking is an accessible way to help manage depression.


Article text:
PEACE OF MIND
Mental Health First-Aid instructor Stuart Skinner, who suffers from bipolar disorder, tackles the mental health benefits of walking.

Nothing has caused me to feel so lonely and isolated from those around me than when I was depressed. I was deadest in the belief that what I was experiencing was abnormal. Burdened with shame, I withdrew from everyday life. I was under the ignorant belief that depression was a made-up illness suffered only by the lazy or deeply pessimistic. When I found myself depressed, I projected that stigma upon myself and I grew anxious that others might think of me as I thought of myself.

I wasn’t lazy, I wasn’t weak, I wasn’t “making it up”; I was ill and negative thoughts, and a lack of motivation and self-worth were symptomatic of that illness. What isolated me was the fear of the stigma so rampant in our society. It is only through normalising mental health issues that we can breakdown such harmful barriers.

Walking is what ‘normal’, healthy people do and doesn’t carry the sense of stigma that comes with medical treatments. I’m less likely to think of myself as different and be ostracised if I’m doing what lots of other people are doing. Walking is something I can do myself, for myself, and that provides a sense of empowerment that is so needed to recover from mental illness.

The accessibility of walking promotes inclusivity, allowing people of all backgrounds to easily engage with each other. I’ve often found that people walk for the same reasons that I do and oddly enough, it’s not only me that finds life a little challenging at times! You don’t have to have a mental illness to want to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the outdoors or gain a little self-esteem from a challenging hike.

During my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, I missed over 70 miles to catch up with some friends, having fallen behind as I struggled with Lyme’s Disease. It was a tough decision that I have no regrets about. I didn’t miss the miles that I didn’t walk, but the friends that made it a trail worth walking.

See www.equimind.org for Mental Health First-Aid Courses.