Joe Williams is someone who struggles on a daily basis with personal mental health issues. “I don’t battle my mental health now, I manage it,” he says.
In October last year, he released a short documentary titled The Enemy Within, took off the poker face and bared his soul to the world.
“I’m somebody who looks like I’m winning,” Joe says, referring to his successful professional sporting careers in both NRL and boxing. Every day, he makes a huge effort to not let mental illness own him.
The keys to battling mental health, he says, are resilience, positive energy and awareness – of himself and everyone else. “Working with kids, I can just look at someone and know they’re having a bad day.”
Joe’s experience of dealing with depression and bipolar involved a lot of alcohol and recreational drug use. “But coming on 10 years in December, I’ve been completely drug and alcohol free.”
“With depression, every day you have to make the choice to be happy,” Joe says.
“We all have this great power: the power of self-belief. What we believe, we become. Always believe in yourself. That is how to become a champion. All actions result from a thought, so it’s the thoughts that matter.”
Joe is a firm believer in the power of positive thinking and positive actions. “The more positivity you give out, the more you get back. You change every person you come into contact with, one by one.”
“I just keep moving forward,” Joe says.
Joe tells us about the 7 keys to managing depression:
- You are not alone – it shall pass. Connect with others, open the conversation.
- The enemy is within, but our greatest weapon is the ability to choose our thoughts.
- Challenge what we think, turn negative into positive.
- Inner power – positive thoughts, don’t let other influence your thought patterns.
- Self belief and spiritual connection.
- Giving back – compassion, thinking of others.
- Keep moving forward with small steps, be humble.
To remain humble, which is a very important aspect of his culture as a proud Aboriginal man, Joe says he must remain grounded in success and do things to help other people. “Everything I’m doing today is to become a better person and help others.”
The sports champion says true courage is never giving up or seeing setback as a failure – it is self-growth.
“Depression may battle me but it won’t beat me. Every single day, 1% at a time, I will improve,” he says.
Joe tells us that every person has the ability to dream. “It’s up to those people how hard they want to chase it.”
Joe Williams is a proud Wiradjuri Aboriginal man, world champion boxer and former NRL player.
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