Latest / Man In Your Corner with Shaun Tucker / 7 Men Every Day: Breaking the Silence on Male Mental Health and Suicide Prevention | Ep. 117
Transcript
- Shaun: Welcome back to the reset. I am Shaun Tucker, human performance scientist and authority architect. We are here in the Living Lab documenting the science, the struggle, and the bridge. The shift for every high performance dad and founder who's ready to bridge the gap between their ambition and their presence. Today, I'm going to show you. Today we're going to talk about something a little bit more serious. Three thousand three hundred and seven men in Australia took their own life in 2024. Right now, for the next 20-something days in June, from June 3rd to June 26th, there is a push-up challenge. This is to raise awareness and funds towards push for better. A mental health charity specifically dedicated to raising awareness and actually bridging this gap so that men stop taking their lives. Especially in Australia. Cause that statistic is wild. Seven out of nine people in Australia take their lives every day. Nine people in Australia take their lives every day. Seven of those nine are men. And a statistic for you today is seventy-two percent of men don't ask for help when it comes to their mental health. They don't ask for help. Or support. So really this is to help you master the men underneath the performance, especially if you're an Australian man who works in these high performance roles. So you might see me jump down in this podcast and do nine push ups because the target for today, by the way, the push up challenge, three thousand three hundred and seven push ups will be com completed during this challenge. Yesterday there was a hundred on the first day, today seventy two. So for me I'm gonna do eight rounds of nine reps and we'll see how we go. So if you see me jump down on the floor, that's exactly what I'm doing. really documenting the struggle, the science and that space that we call the living lab. Why are people taking their lives? This is a question that was actually raised to me when I was first fifteen. Because I was considering taking my own life. And I know that may sound quite catastrophic, but the truth is it is. It is catastrophic. For someone to consider and really plot out and plan to take their own life. It shows that we need to support and lead better as a society, as individuals, because this is just not good enough. I'm gonna get into my set. a bit red-faced, it's because I just did nine push-ups. ⁓ Anyways. For someone to arrive at the point where they feel like there's no other way out but to take their own life. It saddens me a lot. It upsets me a lot. And I was in conversation with one of my clients and friends, dear friends, on Saturday of last weekend. And we were filming some content for him and I asked him, Why do you think men take their ⁓ lives more than women, he said, I think men they meticulously plan it out. They're more successful at taking their lives than women. It's not to say that men try to take their lives more than women, or women try to take their lives more than men. He stated that men are more successful because they've more meticulously planned out. It got me thinking. How long do you plan out something like this? Because I've heard stories of men taking their lives where they had no previous kind of awareness for their friends and family. They had no awareness around this person was struggling. This person was in despair. And then next moment this person's poof gone. They're dead because they've taken their own life. So what what is going on in someone's head when they arrive at that position? I mean for me, when I reflect back, and it's happened maybe two times in my life, where I've had the thought of maybe it would be better if I just ended. But that's all it was. It was only a thought. And I say that. as openly as I can because when I arrived at that thought I told myself, No, you're gonna get help. And the statistic that comes through today is seventy-two percent of men don't ask for help when it comes to their their mental health. It's a staggering statistic. That means seven out of ten men who may be suffering silently Don't ask for help. Is this because it is weak for men to ask for help? Or is it because we think we're strong and we need to put on that armour and show everyone that we're capable? See, I I think there's a little bit of that. But where I think there is ⁓ a lot of perhaps Opportunity to happen. Is that we need to show that it's okay to ask for help. We need to actually get better at receiving help, feedback, and see it as growth. Because our fathers, grandfathers and forefathers before us, the ones that went to war, the ones that fought for the privilege that we have right now. I'm sure they're turning over in their grave, knowing that men, good men, are taking their own lives, because they feel that there's no other option. And so what what door do we have to knock on to show other men, to show other guys, and not just not just men, but this is for men because Yeah, the statistics sh are obviously quite staggering. Seven men every single day have taken their life. It's crazy. It's wild. Last year, if you go and find it in the news you'll find it, there was three thousand three hundred and seven single boots laid out in front of Parliament House. Each one was to represent one of those men that died the previous year. Each one of those men have stories. Some of them were boys, And I want you to sit with that for a second. Some of them were boys. We need to grow up. We need to really show these boys, these young men, what it means to show up. Because the fact that people are taking their own lives 'cause they feel that there's no other option is just not good enough. It is our duty as other men, as providers, as protectors. To show up and show that we don't have to do that. There can't be something that's happened in their life that is so frightening. that they don't even want to show up to it. That they'd prefer to execute themselves. It saddens me. And I hope it saddens you too. Because we need to work together on this. How we work together is we come together, we just do something. I have my Sunday, six AM workouts. Our team has already raised more than five hundred dollars in the first day for this project. We've hit our goal, we've hit our target. We have to raise the bar. 'Cause five hundred dollars and the awareness around well, I think we've got eight people in the team who are pushing for better, aiming to get that three thousand three hundred and seven push ups throughout the challenge. Yes, there's a bit of friendly banter and fun going on in the chats. But this is it runs so much more deep. Because those men, every Sunday, six AM, it cost them nothing, no money, cost them just the willingness to show up at six AM. They come every Sunday and the feedback that I'm getting is I really love these sessions. They energize me for the whole week. I really missed not being able to come here when I was up in Adelaide or up in Sydney. This is this is what happens when you get people together. It's what happens when you have that third space. The third place. It's the community. No one's obliged to show up, but we show up and we connect and we have great chats. We push each other. We really stretch the limits, we bag each other out, and most importantly, we have fun. Cause that's what it's all about. And so if you want to help us and help our mission, maybe you know someone in Southeast Melbourne who can come along to the 6 a.m. workouts. Another way you can help is you can donate to our fundraising page, the Push for Better Challenge, the Push Up Challenge. 'Cause we're all doing it. There's eight of us in our team that are doing it. And we've already hit our target, but let's stretch that. Let's blow it through the mountains. So that brings us to the end of the reset for today. And if you've found value in this episode, I want you to share it with one person. Because if you are ready or if you know someone who's ready to stop being a passenger in their own life and to start architecting their legacy, make sure you comment the word reset wherever you see this podcast, because then I'll send you the seven day reset guide. It's all about integrity building. Most people wait for their life to change. We architect the legacy. We architect the choice. Change your life. Change your state, choose how you show up. I am Shaun Tucker, I'll see you in the next one.