Kevin Love is someone that struggles with his mental health. Since last season, when he had to pull himself from a game due to panic attacks, Love has become far more open about his health. He, along with fellow NBA player DeMar DeRozan, have become public figures on dealing with those issues and encouraging people to talk about it more to help remove the stigma.
Love has said he wants to start a foundation to help young people with mental health. One of the ways he’s trying to help others is by creating a public discourse with mental health. He’s created a show called “Locker Room Talk” where he brings on other professional athletes to discuss their mental health. Essentially it’s a way to show the world that even the strongest people have these problems too and that everybody who is struggling with it isn’t alone.
On Episode 2, Love brought on Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps. It’s not as well known, but Phelps himself is also someone that has struggled with mental health. He’s arguably the greatest American Olympian ever and that is still something he has to deal with, which is the kind of discussion Love and Phelps wanted to have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgIvuXs4YdY&feature=youtu.be
“It probably goes back to that whole thing where we’re supposed to be this.”
“Macho.”
“But no. It doesn’t matter. You can be the strongest man in the world, but you’re gonna go through problems.”
Phelps and Love also discuss the importance of being happy with yourself and finding yourself and how hard that can be. It’s a very important conversation that needs to happen and it’s great that they’re willing to discuss it on a public platform like this.
