Well, it’s finally here, Movember has landed! As some of you know I will be shaving off my entire beard and growing a moustache for charity! While I’m at it I’ll also be doing 3,000 press-ups this month. What the fuck am I thinking!! Anyway, I hope you join me on My Movember Journey.

Why am I doing this?

Again, some of my more regular readers know a bit more about me regarding the reasons why I am doing this. I have been through depression and suffer with anxiety so mental health is a really important issue for me. I also know people who have suffered or do suffer from mental health problems. It has taken the life of people I know and that is mainly down to the stigma surrounding men talking about mental health. The other reason is down to knowing people who have suffered from various forms of cancer. Prostate and testicular cancers have been prevalent with people I know and love. Again, there seems to be a lack of understanding for men who want to talk about it. Not that there isn’t help out there, just men tend to deal with these issues differently to women and struggle to open up. So, I chose Movember as the charity I wanted to support as I believe they are really making a difference for men. The story starts in 2003 when 2 mates from Australia, just having a beer, came up with the idea. Since then Movember has raised over £443 million (updated last in 2015). There’s been nearly 700 million Mo Bro’s and Sisters and they have funded over 1,250 mens health projects. The full story can be read here.

What’s the plan?

I am planning on raising as much money as possible for this amazing cause and I have already generated some lovely donations from Berserker Beards (Thanks guys), Callum from The Bald Viking and a local barber, cheers guys! I really appreciate the support I’ve had so far and I haven’t even started yet. By the time you read this I will have done my first day of press-ups and my face will be bald, as you can see by the feature image! I’m obviously going for 100 press-ups a day but, I have been suffering with a shoulder injury. I won’t push myself too hard in the first week although, I don’t want to be playing catch up either!!

The beard community

I have been involved in the beard communtiy for a few years now and know how wonderful the people are. There are some amazing brands, great people and fantastic beard clubs. I’m not asking for a lot but would dearly appreciate any support you can give to this amazing cause. I know quite a few of you have suffered with mental health issues and I’m sure you will agree with me that it is still difficult to talk about it. There’s still a stigma but thanks to some fantastic groups, men can start to talk about their problems without fear of being ridiculed.

Chats and groups

One of the chats is the UK Mens Chat on discord. This was formerly known as the Portal chat but is now all about men, bearded or non bearded! You can join here. Then there’s a couple of places you can go if you have a beard, after all, most people reading this will probably have a beard! There is the UK Beard and Moustache Group on Facebook where there are loads of men all facing similar problems and all there to help and support. You can check them out here. Then there is Damo4show who runs a beard club but not as you know it!! Its called the DBFC (Damo’s Beardy Fun Club) and there are a few guys in there. Again, it’s a bearded group but Damo does have live chats where you can talk about mental health etc.. It is a paid group but I believe he does a free trial. Have a look on Facebook.

The part where I ask for money!!

Okay, that’s my blog done and dusted for the week. There’s a lot for me to do but I will give you an update every week with pictures (sorry, no nudes!). If you have a spare couple of quid (I know, there’s a cost of living crisis), but I would appreciate any support that you guys can give. The link is below and I will be back soon! While you’re here check out my last blog The loneliness of Depression. Thanks for reading, take care and keep growing

Tony.

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