Eddie Kingston FT (Mental Health)W

Eddie Kingston during a match in 2020. Photo by Photos N Effect from Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

I’ve started and deleted this post numerous times. This is not a usual economics-related post.

Ask for Help

Jon Moxley (professional wrestler, AEW) had been on the greatest run of his career. But, in a sign of changing times, he took time off to spend with his wife and newborn daughter. Several weeks later, on November 3rd, we learned that Jon Moxley had entered rehab for alcohol addiction. I think I understand what happened, because something similar happened to me.

When my daughter was born, we were elated. I took off work for 5 weeks. We were doing fine, and I felt ready to go back and life was settling down into a routine. I lasted 3 days before having an anxiety induced breakdown. I essentially went on leave for 3 weeks and entered “anxiety and depression rehab”, attending daily group sessions and one-on-ones that my healthcare provider ran (Thank you, Kaiser Permanente). The ability to take time off with such a support system allowed me to find my feet, though it took over 2 years to really come back to “myself.” Jon has a long journey ahead of him, and I wish him the best.

Speak up

Jon was brave, as he told his boss to publicly address his absence through social media. Here is a tough guy, known for more bloody wrestling matches than most, airing a sensitive issue. The floodgates opened. His longtime teammate and rival in the ring, and dear friend Eddie Kingston, another prototypical “tough guy” wrestler, has been outspoken on mental health issues that he faced.

(starts at 1:25)

A few days after Jon’s announcement, Eddie Kingston wrote a long, “I swear I am cutting onions” article in the Player’s Tribune. The whole article is worth reading, but one story in particular is highlight worthy.

Be Large Marge

So I gave everything I could, and I’ll never forget there was this one lady in the crowd who was just going nuts. She was standing up, yelling at us, talking shit. And that fired me up, and I was turning to her and calling her all kinds of names. Don’t cancel me, please, but I think I called her Large Marge. She was throwing popcorn. It was incredible.

The match ends, we get backstage, and of course the promoter can’t pay. I remember the guys were sitting around talking about where we were gonna go eat, and I was so broke that I had to lie and say I wasn’t hungry.

Doing that bullshit thing like, “Ah no, I’m good. I’m good. I’m full. I’ll come sit with you guys and have a water or something.”

And my tag-team partner and buddy was such a good guy, he would always pay for me without telling anybody. So, after the show, we’re all out in the parking lot packing up the truck, and I’m feeling pretty depressed about everything, when all of a sudden I hear this voice shout, “Hey!!!! Hey guys!!!!”

It’s Large Marge.

She’s like, “Guys, that was awesome. I had such a blast. You guys rock. Thank you!!!!”

I spent 20 years on the road in the indies, never quite making it, getting bitter, getting self-destructive, getting depressed, having to ask my parents for money so I could make rent. And to be honest with you, sometimes I have no idea why I kept going.

But I think it probably has something to do with that lady.

Sometimes, it just takes one person. You make their night, and it keeps you going.

Take Action

A few days after his article, responses like this one from the Squared Circle community on reddit were not uncommon.

I’m scheduled to enter outpatient rehab for alcoholism tomorrow. Not saying my decision to do this is purely based on Moxley, but his taking care of himself was definitely in the back of my mind when I finally showed up at the hospital looking for help earlier this week. If the baddest ****** I know of can admit when it’s time to get help, so can I. And so can you, if you need it. Take care of yourselves.

Closing thought

I spend afew hours a month on Zoom or Google Chat calls with economics students. Some are worried about how to interview for a job. Others have insecurities about graduate school. Having been in those shoes before, I share what I can because others did for me. I typically don’t get to see how that time impacted those students’ lives. But sometimes the student writes back, and as Kingston said, sometimes it just takes one person…