The last time I was in Scotland had been 2022. During that trip, Sam, from Skateboard Scotland helped organize an event in partnership with The Loading Bay skatepark in Glasgow.
Early in 2025, I have another trip planned to visit Scotland. Should I pull back the hammer and launch the pinball of a Why So Sad? event? I want to, but hesitate. It’s a lot, to organize and pull off an event.
Is it even worth it?
Why So Sad? That dumb simple question remains dumb and simple but it still feels like a worthy question — a perennial question that no matter how many times we ask it, there’s always some new knot of an answer to untwist.
When we take it as a serious question…
(because we are in such a dire emotional state that we need to, or because we have arrived, even-keeled, at a junction in the labyrinth, and we have the capacity to soberly consider our path)
…when we follow that question’s thread, we find it has an inevitable follow-up:
“And, what are we going to do about it?”
Ok. Sleep. Breath. One step at a time. Start with some minor research. A Whatsapp message to an old friend:
“What are our options for getting a wee event space to put up a set of posters and host a little talk?”
“Jon’s the GM at Peacock Print Studios now. I’m sure he’d be down to help if they have the space available.”
And that was it. Decision made to continue…
So, I put together a talk, with slides as visual aids to guide the points I wanted to make.
The talk went something like this: years ago, in my twenties, I thought I had things figured out, but then I lost my sister and realized that I didn’t know shit.
Since then, I’ve spent time and energy learning. First by reading the work of people who have cut through the jungle ahead to form a path, and then by looking for their lessons in my own experience of this thing called the human condition.
A critical piece of the puzzle I have been fascinated by is the fact that ‘mental health’ as an idea feels elusive, immaterial, hard to grasp hold of, ghost-like, BUT it is entirely physical. Our mental and emotional experience is the interplay of our brain taking its inputs from our nervous, hormonal, vascular, and other physical systems and firing back commands to those same systems.
It happens at lightning speed, and much of it requires practiced skill to notice in the moment, and gain some agency over, but this knowledge provides us solid ground to finally stand on.
When it comes to understanding ourselves, how we function, how emotions work, how they drive us for better and worse—here is an image showing a selection of books I’ve found immense value in:
Honorable mentions to How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett and The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.
As with events I’ve pulled together in Scotland before, my cousin Liam who works in Suicide Prevention with Scottish Action for Mental Health attended.
Along with his colleague Justine, they provided some valuable info for services available in the North East of Scotland.
Below you can find links to that info as well as some of the bits and pieces covered in the talk and the event:
Scottish Action for Mental Health
- Prevent Suicide App: Available Here to download and use
- EMAIL: northeastsuicideprevention@samh.org.uk for info on upcoming pre-scheduled learning sessions or inquire about setting up bespoke options
- Website: Scottish Action for Mental Health
The Original ‘Why So Sad?’ Comic
Your Brain on Sport | A Comic for Coaches
Audio – Flight Response | Me Banging on About Stuff I Find Interesting
Mental Health First Aid
Through a multi-week campaign as well as tickets and sales at the event we got Jon Horner up to Aberdeen, and raised a respectable chunk of change for both The Ben Raemers Foundation and for Push to Heal my friend Joel’s initiative under Hull Services in Calgary Canada; a great model that we’ll hopefully begin to see replicated.
A final thought for now: If life is excruciating right now that is because life can be excruciating. This too shall pass.
You can get through.
🔄 ❤️ 💔 ❤️🩹 ❤️ 🔄
Comments
2 responses to “Why So Sad? Scotland, Summer 2025”
Thanks so much for your efforts, and well done!
Thanks so much for your comment and hope all is well.