Movember madness is upon us- so what’s all the fuss about?

By Lucy Ziesemer

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It’s that time of year again. Most WAGs wake up on the morning of November 1 with fear in
their bones. They’re adamant they won’t look, won’t pay it any attention in the hope the
novelty will wear off and it will just ‘go away.’ By the same token, those wives and
girlfriends are also equally proud (while they may not admit it) of their partners’ ability to
grow the thickest, most dense and perfectly groomed moustache among their mates. And
while they may complain and declare “this is DEFINITELY the last year it’s happening,”
they’re actually achieving the whole point of Movember, aren’t they? They’re starting a
conversation.

Aussie blokes are typically a rowdy bunch. They’re all about a bevvie at a barby where the
conversation flows as fast as the tins. Enter the words ‘mental health’ and I bet you’d
almost hear a pin drop. Or that’s at least how things used to be, until movements like
Movember became commonplace and in turn normalised mental health, working towards
turning it into a conversation topic as common as the weather.. or close anyway.
If you ask me, there’s been a massive shift in men’s attitudes towards discussing their
mental health. I have been in or around numerous social conversations where men have
openly made statements like “I did it really tough when this happened” or “yeah, it really
took a toll on me.” It took me a second to realise what a massive step this was in terms of
societal progression. For women, a large part of our conversations revolve around how
stressed, tired, overworked and underpaid we are. We say we need a holiday every week!
And we do- we totally deserve one, of course. Jokes aside, I am in no way trying to
downplay women’s mental health, merely pointing out how far men have come in
comparison.

Traditionally, men don’t like admitting defeat. I’ve grown up around some of the most
steadfast, determined, hard-headed men you can imagine. Men who, in years gone by,
would certainly have never contemplated TALKING about how they were FEELING, goodness
no. And to an extent, that generation of men are probably still struggling with opening up-
after all, those are long held traits that were ingrained and passed down from generations
before them. Our generation owes a lot to social media, and yes you could argue avenues
like Instagram and Snapchat are just highlight reels and for the most part- they are. But if it
weren’t for a few brave men who realised there was a dire need to get men talking about
the big stuff, put their money where their mouths were and used social media to promote
their idea, men may not be knocking the top off a cold one while simultaneously discussing
the dark places their minds had taken them all this time later. I think we’ve come to realise we all have mental health, the same as we all have heart health and gut health. I can’t explain scientifically why for so long men have denied themselves the capacity to talk about their mental health as they would chest pain or stomach cramps. When you really think about it, anxiety and depression can have the same fatal outcome as a heart attack, so why on earth is it only recently we’ve started taking this seriously? I reckon it goes back to the old theory of man equals provider and protector. The rise and rise of equality for women has done nothing to abate this and come on, what woman doesn’t want to feel protected by her man? But heck, I’d want to make sure my man

was strong mentally way before he was strong physically. At the end of the day women are
proving they can ‘do it themselves’ sure, but that doesn’t mean men lose their innate desire
be the strong one in all forms. The good news is, men are now realising it’s perfectly normal
to talk about their problems and women get to be the backbone when this happens in their
presence.

From an agricultural perspective, there are a multitude of everyday occurrences capable of
really testing one’s mental endurance. You may be staring down the barrel of another dry
summer, watching another crop wilt and fail or pulling bogged cattle out of dry dams. That
day, the tilly might have blown a tyre as you were on your way to get the rifle to put down
another beast too weak to stand. You start walking, arrive at the shed and realise the pump
has packed it in and the paddocks under its guard will be without water for three days in 40
degree+ heat, as it’s Friday afternoon and nothing will be open to buy parts until Monday.
You run into the office in a last ditch effort to reach the local water services bloke and your
eyes rest on the most recent bank statement- overdrawn, no extension.
A man (and we’re talking about men’s mental health so we’ll keep it specific) with strong
mental health would no doubt find these challenges immensely stressful. Throw an
undiagnosed illness such as depression into the mix and you’ve got enough to potentially
push that same man over the edge. Left untreated, mental illness is deadly and none of us
are immune.

Movements like Movember have helped men, particularly men on the land, turn a corner
when it comes to talking about their mental health. Similar movements throughout the year
such as RUOK day prompt us to keep up our focus on checking in with our loved ones not
just in the month of November. As a woman on the land engaged to a man on the land, I
hope to raise strong, resilient, brave kids on the land. I’m grateful though, for the work
Movember and its counterparts have done to make sure my future husband and children
know it’s not a sign of weakness to speak. In fact, speaking up in my eyes is a sign of inner
strength like no other.

So let’s relish in the moustaches- may they grow in abundance this Movember and every
Movember hereafter.

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