Boost your mental health and hop on your bicycle!

September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the United States. It is also Self-Care Awareness Month. I’m not sure if assigning these two topics to the same month was intentional or not…. Who even assigns these awareness months?? Guess that’s a research topic for another time. But it makes sense to raise awareness about both of these topics simultaneously. Though I could go on and on about how self-care has recently become an industry and the term has been hijacked for monetary gain…. but that’s not what we’re here for and you probably really don’t want me to go on and on about that. (Though it's an interesting topic and I may create a separate post for it!)

Both suicide prevention and self-care, though, are critically important topics and mental health in general continues to be accompanied by stigma. I care about these topics partly because I have struggled my entire life on and off with melancholy, depression, and suicidal thoughts. If I were to write up a personal history, there would be no doubt that some of the difficult experiences I’ve had in life, and the environment I was raised in, are contributing factors to my challenges with mental health. I also deeply care about others who experience their own challenges, and for several years I worked as a therapist in private practice as a secondary part-time gig. Last year, I went through a deeply distressing event that catapulted me into a dark abyss of hopelessness, I wrote a suicide letter and planned to take my life. Fortunately, I met an unassuming altruist while I was in the Netherlands who brought me to a lake that ultimately resulted in the abandonment of my plan. My time there gave me hope. I wish I could say everything changed and I’ve been happy ever since, but the truth is I have continued to oscillate between joy and sadness, hope and hopelessness. But I’m still here, and I know here is where I belong.

It's important to have these conversations openly, and without judgment, because for those who are dealing with these issues it remains incredibly difficult to identify safe spaces to get support. Even though awareness around these topics has increased over the last couple of decades, there is still a lot of stigma around particular mental health issues and people, including myself, are often hesitant to reach out for support or help. We don’t want to share too much or too often with our friends because we don’t want to be ‘Debbie-downers’ (or ‘Danny-downers’) and we worry that our friends’ opinions of us will change when they learn about our mental health struggles. For me, I’m typically a joyful, easygoing, lighthearted person. I like to be an uplifter for my friends and one of the things I’m most known for in my group of friends is my adventurousness. I’ve traveled all over the world, I’m an active person, and I’m not afraid to try new things or to get out there on my own. It’s a big part of who I am. And I love that my friends and people who know me see me as a positive, good-hearted person. But I’ve also been through some really tough stuff in my life, and I’ve had people do some really terrible things to me. Perhaps I am a little too careless with my heart, but why have one if I can't share it? But a combination of distressing experiences, growing up in a negative environment, and genetics makes it difficult for me to cope sometimes.

I am talking about this candidly and openly because I want to be part of the movement that works to de-stigmatize these issues. I know there are many people like me who struggle with this, and for those of you who can relate I want you to know that you are not alone. That there’s nothing wrong with you. And as cliché as it may sound, there is hope. There is joy. There is reason to embrace life. Believe me, I know it isn’t easy. I have to constantly tell myself the same thing until I’m forced to believe it. One of the reasons I travel so much is because it allows me to be in situations that inspire that hope. I see it in the kindness of the people I meet on my journeys, I feel it every time I get to camp in the evening – that feeling of accomplishment after a long day of biking (or trekking). I feel it every time I receive a phone call from a friend back home, or the uplifting text messages a good friend and I exchange religiously, or the ridiculous video shorts and memes that my friends and I send back and forth to each other on IG.

I have tried therapy, I was on medication as a teen, I’ve even tried support groups. These methods can be very helpful for people, especially if they’re accompanied by things in your life that bring you joy and meaning and offer you support when you need. Two things that have had the most impact on my mental health: movement (or activity) and social connection. And both of these things I can get from riding bicycles.

That’s the angle here. I want to have conversations about mental health, and I want to recognize what’s so difficult about it. But more than that I want to talk about how we cope with it. Mental health isn’t just about the hard stuff, it’s about the good stuff too! It can feel discouraging to constantly read about how rates of depression and anxiety have increased or the statistics on how many people have thought of suicide in the last year. We read an article or see a graphic on social media that lists out the symptoms of ADHD and we say, “I relate to that… I have this many of those symptoms. Guess I’m not the only one.” I think the intent behind sharing this type of information is to raise awareness and let people who are dealing with these things know they’re not the only ones. But an unfortunate and negative side effect is that we focus heavily on what’s ‘wrong’ with us, rather than focusing on the big picture of mental health. What does it look like to be ‘healthy’ in our minds?

My running friends and I spending a day at the Grand Canyon

Cycling is something that has impacted me in life-changing ways, by keeping me active (after all, it’s a form of exercise and exercise releases dopamine in our brains), and by connecting me with others who share the same interests. When I talk about cycling, I’m not narrowing it to racing on bikes. In fact, I don’t race on a bicycle (though it could be something I might do in the future!). There are many different ways to enjoy a bicycle. It could be racing, or it could just be cruising through your neighborhood as an after-dinner ritual each night. Some people, including myself, use bicycles as their main mode of transportation. Others bicycle as a social activity. I’ve recently taken up bike touring, where you travel to new places on a bicycle, and bikepacking, a cyclist’s equivalent to backpacking. It doesn’t have to be cycling, though. Any kind of physical activity that promotes doing and connecting has positive impacts on our mental health. Running is another activity that has had a major impact on my life. I’ve been running a lot longer than cycling, actually. I’ve met some of the best people I’ve ever known through running groups, and some of my most meaningful friendships have been formed through that shared interest. So even if cycling isn’t your thing (though I would argue that most people who gave it a fair chance would find a lot of enjoyment from it), I encourage you to follow me on this journey of talking about mental health this September 2024 (and beyond). If there is another activity that brings you joy the way bicycling brings me joy, just replace the word ‘bicycle’ with your preferred activity.

Throughout the month I’ll be posting articles about how cycling benefits mental health. If there’s something specific you’d like me to write about, please feel free to leave a comment below or you’re welcome to send me a message from my home page. I’ll also be posting on my advocacy Instagram page, @ibelieveinbicycles, so please feel free to follow me there as well. My dream is to eventually build up a small nonprofit focused on advocating for bicycling as a mental health strategy.

Also, I don’t want to end this post without highlighting Cycle September. Love to Ride hosts Cycle September every year to promote and encourage cycling. It’s a fun challenge that allows participants to log their rides either in the Love to Ride app or on their website, and you can even sync data from your Strava account. You can register as individuals or, for a fun challenge, you can register as a group. Companies can participate too and promote healthy competition among employees (prizes are involved!).

The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) also hosts Cycle Around the Globe and encourages participants to cycle (or walk or run) from September 9 until October 10 (which is World Mental Health Day) to raise awareness. You’re able to log your rides and distance through their website, and they have a toolkit that includes social media content so you can spread the word.

Image courtesy of the Suicide Crisis Lifeline

Visit their website at: 988lifeline.org