Movember 2020

[[Confronting post, topics include cancer, suicide and mental health]]

Friends, family, and all those weirdos still lurking my website, I have a favour to ask.

We have all been through just about the hardest period of our lives. We are almost there, but one of my most important times of the year is here.

Tonight I will shave my upper lip for the last time for a month. That’s the easiest thing I’ll do this month though (probably because I’m lazy), but I will be doing a lot more this month to raise money and awareness for mental health.

We don’t talk about mental health enough, but in the last few years I’ve noticed we are getting better.

Better at talking, better at listening, better at noticing “strange” behaviour, all of which means we are on the way towards a better place.

But there’s so much more to be done. This year, I won’t be able to financially contribute as much, but I will be working harder to raise money and awareness.

Any money I am given through my stream (cheers, bits, subscriptions, donations and ads) will be 100% passed on to the Movember foundation. Twitch, Stream Elements, and PayPal all take a cut though, so I urge you to donate directly through my Movember link.

I know it’s a tough time for all of us, many of us have lost jobs, or seen a big reduction in our pays. I understand that, and definitely do not expect anywhere near what I raised in previous years.

Time for the confronting stuff.

Men die on average six years younger than women.

We are dying younger and due to mostly preventable reasons.

At the rate we are going now, prostate cancer deaths will double over the next fifteen years. (That’s just about how long I’ve been raising money for Movember).

Testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer in the world in men aged 15-39.

And here’s the stat that fucking hit me hard.

One man dies by suicide every minute, of every day.

This year I lost a close friend. In years gone by I’ve lost multiple mates to suicide, I’ve lost family members to cancer, and around five years ago, I was in my worst possible mental headspace.

I will be sharing my stories this month both here in blog posts, and on my Twitch live streams, and if it’s anything like me writing this status, I will probably be bawling my eyes out.

And you know what?

That’s okay.

I have come to accept my emotions, and I appreciate that some days are harder than others. Heck, some months are harder than others, especially with what we’ve been through.

But one thing I’ve learned is this: I have the support of my family and friends, and you have the support of me.

We will get through whatever battles we have.

If you have read this far, thank you.

If you want to know more about the month ahead, what I’m doing, about what you can do, or about stats or what the Movember Foundation are doing, please get in contact , I’ll be more than happy to get you answers.