Cavs’ Kevin Love’s recent essay reminds us of his constant commitment to helping others

Cleveland Cavaliers big Kevin Love is fully committed to helping spread the importance of mental health, which is so admirable.

Cleveland Cavaliers 4 man Kevin Love in 2018 opened up about his mental health struggles, and how he actually had an anxiety attack in the trainer’s room during a game against the Atlanta Hawks during that said season.

His essay titled “Everyone Is Going Through Something” for The Players Tribune, related to his mental health struggles, namely anxiety/panic attacks, took incredible courage. And he’s clearly put his words to action it seems since that point.

Love has done his part in terms of spreading mental health awareness, and it’s evident that he’s used his platform to try to help others. And he has always credited current San Antonio Spur and then/former Toronto Raptor, DeMar DeRozan, for his inspiration it seems for doing so, and rightfully so.

DeRozan, via a tweet before the 2018 All-Star Game, revealed how he’d been having struggles with depression, and that had to have struck a chord with Love and countless others, and DeMar deserves so much credit.

Circling back again, though, it’s been amazing how Love has done the best he can to always try to help spread the importance of mental health.

Shortly after being the recipient of ESPN’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award back in June via the ESPY’s for his contributions transcending sports, Love actually donated $500,000 to UCLA’s psychology department to aid in mental health support efforts.

That said, the mental health struggles for Love are again ongoing, and the novel coronavirus pandemic can’t have helped people, either.

Recently, in a follow-up to his prior piece from 2018, Love wrote another titled “To Anybody Going Through It,” again for The Players Tribune. And to me, that highlighted one thing when it comes to Love.

Love’s recent essay reminds us of the Cleveland Cavaliers big man’s constant commitment to helping others.

With how 2020 has been, and my God, all that’s transpired, it was refreshing to read Love’s follow-up piece, and here, I’ll hit on a few quotes that resonated with me from his recent essay that was published on Thursday.

This was the first, just sort of giving the over-arching rationale as to the reason for Love’s follow-up, which I’m sure so many have said already. But it was so telling from him, and was after he stressed how mental health issues/the fight involving them in itself is “so unbelievably exhausting.”

"“That’s been on my mind a lot lately, considering the millions and millions of people around the world who have lost their jobs, or lost their loved ones, or who are just dealing with the unprecedented anxieties of being a human in 2020. I know so many people out there are suffering right now. I’m no different. I’m still going through it. Even after all the work I’ve tried to do on myself over the last two-and-a-half years, some days are just brutal.”"

That’s something we probably all can relate to, and again, especially with how this year has gone.

From there, Love noted how basketball has been his escape from often a feeling of “dread.” And he would then compare that, and how just seemingly putting the work in to deter thoughts of that, reminded him of an HBO special about Robin Williams following his death, would put so much effort into his work/and his bike rides it appeared before that just to deter thoughts/his “demons.”

Here was more on what Love alluded to in that regard, and how everyone dealing with mental health problems has their own different battle/circumstances.

"“Anything to stop the thoughts. Because the thoughts can be disturbing.That resonated with me so much. Ever since I was a kid, I’d often put myself through hell in the hopes of numbing my mind. I used to think of it as going into my ‘pain tank.’ If I wore myself out to the point of exhaustion, then I’d be mentally on empty, too. It was like I had to wring myself out completely so that at the end of the day I was just blank.Everybody who goes through mental health issues has a unique story, but for me (and I think this is probably true for a lot of people), my entire identity was tied to one thing in a really unhealthy way. Way before I was in the NBA or even in college, my self-worth was all about performing. I was what I did, which I think a lot of people can relate to, whether they’re a chef or a lawyer or whatever the profession. I just happened to play basketball.When I wasn’t performing, I didn’t feel like I was succeeding as a person.”"

That sense of labeling, it would seem that Love is kind of referring to, of course has to be something so many can align with.

But the next key excerpt here from Kevin Love’s follow-up essay really jumped out, and showed even more so how when basketball has been taken away from him, it’s at times seemed as though there’s nowhere to turn. And for so many people dealing with depression/mental issues right now, I’d imagine reading this about Love’s hopefully lowest-of-low-point can show that they aren’t and won’t ever be alone.

For further context, Love then went into the “other side,” not just the panic/anxiety attacks, of his mental health problems, which is ” a much more complicated and subtle battle with depression.”

"“Five years before the panic attack that everyone knows about, I was probably in the darkest period of my life. I’d only played 18 games with the Timberwolves that season, breaking my right hand twice, and that was when this whole … I guess you’d call it a facade or a character that I had sort of built up …. it all started crumbling. I was in a cast. My identity was gone. My emotional outlet was gone. All I was left with was me and my mind. I was living alone at the time, and my social anxiety was so bad that I never even left my apartment. Actually, I would rarely even leave my bedroom. I would have the shades down most of the day, no lights on, no TV, nothing. It felt like I was on a deserted island by myself, and it was always midnight.Just … dark. Dark and alone with my thoughts. Every. Single. Day.And I want to make it clear that I know how fortunate I was, compared to most people. I knew then and I know now. I didn’t have to worry about my bills, or kids, or anything like that. But none of that mattered. My whole sense of purpose was tied to my job, and with that gone, every little thing that went wrong, no matter how small, just started compounding and compounding.That’s the thing that people on the outside don’t fully understand. Nothing major has to happen to start a spiral. It can happen over the smallest thing in the world. Because when you have depression you can fall apart at any moment disproportionate to the circumstances.Then it’s just…. Shame.It got to the point that year where I was simply paralyzed with depression. And of course, I’m not about to show my weakness to anybody, right? I was tucked away in my apartment, and nobody could see me suffering. The only time I would leave my apartment was to work out, because that was the only place where I felt like I added value to the world, period. To those around me, I would put on a brave face.”"

Love would then note how if it weren’t for his “closest friends,” he doesn’t know if he’d be letting this out now. He would then emphasize, though, how him doing so, even if it’s tough to hear for those friends/family it seemed, it could be meaningful for people “who might be in a similar situation right now.”

Moreover, while Kevin Love would then express how obviously winning an NBA title for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland was seemingly so rewarding, and was quite the achievement for his basketball career, among other moments, one of his “best days,” has been when he began seeing a therapist.

He felt that then was when he first could be his 100% percent authentic self, and from there, would essentially highlight how for him, what he needed in regards to his mental health issues and amid his public panic attack that’s often been referred to, was to “talk to somebody.” And also, to know he “wasn’t alone.”

So again, overall the overwhelming takeaway from this follow-up essay from Love is that while it’s anything but easy and the battle is ongoing, him voicing/writing about his mental health issues helps others dealing with similar problems.

With all the effort he’s put forth in recent years, it’s been truly amazing to hear about as a Cleveland Cavaliers fan how Love has aided others.

And that’s been in regards to a $100,000 donation to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse workers/event staff earlier this year that were affected by what would eventually be game cancellations due to COVID-19 concerns, too. Along with that, Love gave $100,000 via his fund to both the Obama Foundation and the Chris Paul Family Foundation to aid black youth, in response to doing his part to combat systemic racism.

Swinging back, though, this follow-up piece from Love, given his platform to aid in spreading the importance of mental health, just reminds us of Love’s constant commitment to helping others.

Now, granted, as a Cavs fan, I can’t wait to see Love, who had 17.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game in 2019-20, again in game action alongside Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and others for Cleveland next season.

But overall, the off-floor impact he’s had it would appear is what he’ll be more known for for many, many, many more years to come following whenever his NBA playing career does eventually end.

Once again, Kevin. Thank you so much for sharing.