As you may or may not know, the annual Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) will be taking place on Sunday the 21st of May.
This world-renowned fundraising event aims to bring light and mass awareness to men’s mental health as well as prostate cancer.
As a reigning Mr South Africa Top 3 Finalist, I firmly stand with the DGR’s cause and mission. I commit to not only taking on this conversation but leading it as well. When it comes to men’s mental health and prostate cancer, they can be topics that are sensitive and challenging to tackle.
I will be a part of the team covering this amazing event on behalf of ZA Bikers which is the leading online bike magazine in South Africa. Above and beyond that, the article will have a personal touch to it as I will be revealing my own bout with mental health in particular. As I write this, I have and still am preparing for myself to dive back into really deep emotions and memories to genuinely compose this article in as raw and real form as possible.
Historically, as men and what pertains to us has always been approached with a laissez-faire attitude. We bravely take on various pressures like a flurry of arrows flung towards charging soldiers on the battlefield. Fight on we fight, charge forward we charge, what else is there to do and what else do we know?
Right now, as you read this, I ask… Are you okay? More often than not, in the attempt to answer such a simple well-intent question, you will have a number of current life problems fogging the clarity that forms your answer. If I am correct, you would probably much rather supply a brief and simple answer with a hesitant half-smile attached to it just to avoid the mass offloading to be done should the alternative be followed.
The time has come, a time to usher in a new normal of engaging and speaking out. A new normal that sees male vulnerability as strength.
I couldn’t be more excited as the days count down and I hope you will stay in tune with this unfolding story up until the article is published via the ZA Bikers platform.
Please get behind me and DONATE towards this great cause via the DGR website.
For more information on this year’s DGR (how you can get involved/register/rides near you, etc…) visit: www.gentlemansride.com
