When Strengths Become Struggles with Basketball All-Star, Kevin Love

Basketball All-Star Kevin Love joins the show to talk about starting therapy after dealing with a very public mental health crisis during the NBA playoffs in 2017. Kevin shares what motivated him to take care of his emotional fitness and sends a shoutout to other athletes who have inspired him. We also explore the stigmas in professional sports and why Kevin believes vulnerability actually creates stronger teams.

Staying emotionally fit takes work and repetition. That's why the Emotionally Fit podcast with psychologist Dr. Emily Anhalt delivers short, actionable Emotional Push-Ups every Monday and Thursday to help you build a better practice of mental health, and surprising, funny, and shocking conversations on Taboo Tuesdays - because the things we’re most hesitant to talk about are also the most normal. Join us to kickstart your emotional fitness. Let's flex those feels and do some reps together!

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The Emotionally Fit podcast is produced by Coa, your gym for mental health. Katie Sunku Wood is the show’s producer from StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by nodalab, and featuring music by Milano. Special thanks to the entire Coa crew!

JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:

(01:28) - Kevin shares his emotional journey after suffering a panic attack in 2017 - “I got very lucky. I bonded with my therapist. He allowed me to feel safe, speak freely, and in a lot of ways changed my relationship with myself, my perspective on problems and my life in general.”

(08:29) - Becoming a globally known mental health advocate as a top athlete - “Withholding compassion, withholding empathy, never helped anybody. It has made me feel not only more involved, maybe that's the wrong terminology for it, but very much more comfortable with who I am.”

(14:50) - Why players who allow themselves to be vulnerable actually create stronger teams - “We're that pay-it-forward team. We're that next-man-up, share-the-wealth, celebrate-each-other, celebrate-the-small-wins type of team. So I think it's made us take a major step forward in developing our culture as a team.”

(19:45) - Kevin on stigmas in the sports world - “I think everybody's going through their own process, and the way that they absorb things or offload things at their own pace, and those are the types of people that I feel for, because in a lot of ways they don't know where to turn.”

(27:07) - Kevin’s secret to stability - “If I'm having a bad day or having a great day or wherever in between, she can feel that. I mean, there's a reason that people that own dogs live longer.”