Dave Mirra’s sudden death came as a shock to all of us. It’s never easy to see a hero leave us but when you see that it might have been the result of suicide. Well, that’s tough right?
From our social-media feeds we see determined, cool, indestructible, happy, successful people. When we hear a story like Dave’s it forces us to wonder what could have happened that led our hero to take his own life at 41 years old.
I have no idea what happened but it did get me thinking. And I did some research.
Did you know that men of Dave’s age (the masters and vets category) are the most at risk of suicide? Guys aged 35-44 are the most likely to take their own life. In fact, three times more men than women take their own life. Suicide rates have remained almost constant since 2001 in the UK. I didn’t know that.
I’ve had a look at our readers. 80% or so of you guys are men. 25% of you are around Dave’s age when he died. 25% of you will be Dave’s age within the next 10 years of your life. That means you guys, the old buggers that we go riding with, email, chat to on Facebook and create content for are at a point in your life where you could be struggling with something.
So why are you guys, the masters and vets category, most at risk? You can read all about it here, but research says that men put a lot of pressure on themselves to be tough and unbreakable. We want to be powerful, in control, employed and in relationships. According to the research, men measure themselves against unattainable standards and when we fail, we fail hard. For sporty, competitive guys like us that’s easy to imagine. We’re constantly pushing ourselves and trying to go bigger and better to beat the clock or beat our mates.
I have no idea what pushed Dave to do what he apparently did and nor is helpful to speculate. All I can say is that his amazingly tragic death got us thinking and we found out that a huge chunk of our readers are of an age where they might be struggling with something in their lives.
We can’t fix this with a web post but we can share the information with you, talk about it openly and point you towards the Samaritans who have loads of information and a help line that you can call if you need them. They can also talk to you by text, email, letter and face to face.
If this rings a bell …
Samaritans are available round the clock, every single day of the year. Talk to us any time you like in your own way and off the record, about whatever’s getting to you.
Call us free any time on 116 123
Or email [email protected]
Visit us – find your nearest branch on Samaritans.org
Thanks to foxandthebear.co.uk for the illustration.
