Top 2 Bot tom Cycling Across the Country to Fundraise for Mental Health Written by Sophie Traube WELA Volunteer
During the COVID-19 pandemic, my friend Max Hobhouse and I decided to undergo a massive feat to fundraise for a relevant and vital cause: mental health. This feat would entail cycling across the over 4200-miles of North America. We chose to represent James’ Place in the U.K., a suicide prevention charity for men focusing on getting all men to know they had a place in this world. Our second charity was the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in the US, an organization working to provide advocacy, education, support, and public awareness surrounding mental health. We were both new to cycling, and we had no idea what to expect and so much to learn even about ourselves. What we were sure of, however, is that although the future of COVID-19 was out of our hands, we could do something for the coinciding pandemic: the mental health crisis. With little notice and support, the mental health crisis has persisted for over a decade. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Justice, the overall suicide rate in the U.S. has increased by 35% since 1999 majority are teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 24. Suicide has become the second leading cause of death among this age group. We have been aging in a period of acceleration 40
made possible by the advancement of technology. Everything is moving faster, getting bigger, and growing more complex. With information, news, and social media literally at our fingertips, we are expected to connect and understand at a different level... and we are! But like with everything, this indeed comes indeed with a cost. The expectation to connect through social media makes us feel isolated and prone to comparisons. The constant stream of negative news about the demise of the planet (social and political upheaval, the climate crisis, war, etc.) leaves us feeling hopeless and scared to the point of numbness. We are pushing into our phones and away from each other, moving further and further away from what it truly means to be human: in-person communication, going outside, exercising, and so much more. All of this is exasperating forced isolation in the pandemic, When we saw a problem we felt a call to action. Max and I decided there was no time like the present to create available resources and spread awareness. So on June 12th of this year, we set out from Portland, Oregon to cycle across the country to our final destination in New York City, New York. The journey proved similar to the nature of mental health itself: lots of ups and downs (both physically and mentally). Any moments of reminding ourselves to preach Bear Grylls’ motto, “improvise, adapt, overcome.” With many unforgettable
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