If you saw a lonely figure hauling a ball and chain down the highway over the past few days you might be surprised to find out you're looking at a picture of good mental health. Mike Loughman left High Level, Alta.
If you saw a lonely figure hauling a ball and chain down the highway over the past few days you might be surprised to find out you're looking at a picture of good mental health.
Mike Loughman left High Level, Alta., more than a month ago and set out on Mike's March for Mental Health, a 1,000-kilometre journey on foot towards his hometown of Airdrie, with a goal of raising money, and awareness, for mental health. Today he passed through Olds, and should complete his trip tomorrow, after 40 days of walking.
Loughman has done the entire hike – 960 km today –hauling a five-pound ball and chain, which represents the weight of his own battle. After 20 years of addiction and mental health struggles, Loughman has been sober for almost three years – a recovery that began at the Action North Recovery Centre, in High Level.
Loughman's march is raising money for three charities, including the Airdrie-based Thumbs Up Foundation, the national Defeat Depression campaign, and his own organization, Surrender 2 Sobriety.
"It's been amazing, a lot of ups and downs," he said. "I had some anxiety and depression on the road, which is part of my mental illness, but I was able to fight through it."
Loughman said he's found plenty of support along the way, from people, food and water – everything from pizza, to grapes, to ice cream – to roadside donations and phones calls from friends and strangers alike.
When he began the journey, he wasn't sure he'd be up for the physical task, but short of a few blisters and shin splints in the beginning days, he's been trucking along. As for the mental challenge, he knew from the get-go that he was up to the task.
"I knew I could do it mentally," he said, "because I was able to quit drugs and alcohol. I'm 33 months sober, after 20 years of severe addiction – I knew if I could pull that off, I could pretty much do anything."
Not that it's been a total breeze. Alberta Transportation prohibited him from listening to music or wearing headphones, given safety concerns, which has meant spending eight hours a day, for more than month, alone with his thoughts.
"Man, you sure get in your own head," he said. "You're just walking on a road and your wheels are turning. You could be really happy one minute and then some kind of negative thing will creep in there."
Loughman said the challenge has been learning to focus on the positive, and to distract himself from the negative.
"I realized I am still going to get to the same place in the same amount of time. I am just going to enjoy one, not the other," he said. "So you've got to learn to focus on the positive things and find a way to (not) dwell on the one negative."
"I feel like I've grown," he said "just with the way I look at things – on the positivity, negativity. I'm not going to be an expert at it, but I am slowly learning ways to distract myself from that, or to not compare myself to other people."
He said he thought about everything, from his fundraising and the journey, to things back home, including his family, friends, cat and the open mike nights he's been missing.
"Just kinda thinking about me and my life in general," he said, "and where I'm going and what I need to do with myself."
So, when he gets to Airdrie, where is he going?
Loughman said he hopes to build on his business, which aims to support others in their sobriety and continue his work as a recovery facilitator. He's thought about going back to school as well.
"When I got out of recovery I focused on keeping myself sober, and then I decided to dedicate a few years of my life just to helping other people with their sobriety," he said.
For today he'll just keep walking, with a little help from his sister, Amanda Jones, who is his support driver for the home stretch.
"I'm excited to go experience it with him and get to finish off the last couple days with him," she said. "I am pretty proud of him for all the stuff that he has accomplished, and the changes that he has made in his life."
Jones said that when someone is living with a mental illness or addiction, it can affect the entire family dynamic. But the same is true when they get help.
"It's changed our whole family and how we interact," she said. "It just makes everything – events and holidays and occasions – that much more meaningful and exciting, instead of worrisome."
"It makes us all more unified," she said.
To date Loughman has raised just short of $10,000, and although his goal was loftier, he's still happy with the result.
"I'm not greedy – it'd be nice to get the $20,000, because then I could go to these charities and go 'Boom!'" he said, "but if I make it to $10,000, I'll be totally happy."
MORE: For more information on Mike's March go to mikesmarch.defeatdepression.ca, where you can follow the rest of his journey, find out more about the charities he is supporting and donate. To read more about Mike's story go to surrender2sobriety.ca.
"It's been amazing, a lot of ups and downs," he said. "I had some anxiety and depression on the road, which is part of my mental illness, but I was able to fight through it."MIKE LOUGHMAN
