Standing at the starting line of the Vhi A Lust for Life run in Phoenix Park, it is hard to quantity the addictive and outstanding energy that magnifies from the 4000 participants present.
It may be touching zero on the thermometer but the atmosphere warms the joints, muscles and hearts of all those running and cheering on their loved ones.
You can’t help but think that throughout our recent election campaign where the leaders and most political parties of our nation simply ignored, sidestepped or ran a mile from the dialogue surrounding mental health and emotional wellbeing, bolstering the generational stigma, that it’s the likes of people lining the roads of Phoenix Park this morning that are the true leaders in this country when it comes to developing our conversation around mental health and changing attitudes towards wellbeing.
It’s events like this run by people up and down the country that truly illustrate the extent of how hungry our society is for this change. The peer to peer social support evident throughout the run served as an example of where we need to get to as a society. The normalisation of the conversation is key to driving this progression and change in attitude and to see people openly having honest and liberating conversations with complete strangers while running around the park, about things they protected like a dark secret for much of their life, is a powerful motivation for us all to keep driving towards decimating the stigma surrounding mental health issues.
Who knows if our new government, whoever it ends up being, will finally treat the mental health and wellness of the nation with greater priority and respect and develop real and meaningful strategies to help build a more resilient Ireland. I can only hope some individuals within the next government show proper social leadership qualities and stop being tainted, manipulated and controlled by other external influences with agendas that do not have the wellbeing of our country at the core of their beliefs.
Our government is elected and paid to serve the needs of our society. In terms of mental health and wellbeing this has not been the case up until this point.
But as over 4000 people came over the finish line in Phoenix Park last Saturday, I didn’t only see people who were doing a run and perhaps overcoming a personal challenge to do so, I saw leaders.
Hopefully they can show our elected leaders the way.
Huge thanks also to all of our sponsors, volunteers and phenomenal people who came on board to make this happen, Paul Ryan and Yvonne Hogan from the Irish Independent, John O’ Regan, Vhi, Nature Valley, Glenisk, The Fruit People, Nature Valley, 98 FM, Aware and River Rock. We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you!
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