The R4R Rag

I really enjoy interviewing our community on the R4R Podcast. Funnily enough, the more stories I hear… the more obvious it is that all our experiences, while different… rhyme. How people feel, what they did to feel better, where they land after overcoming their hardship… it’s all so similar.

Last night, I was asked to share my story at the local footy club. It’s something I’ve done dozens of times, and when the request was made, I didn’t bat an eyelid. I knew what to say… I know my story… and I’ve done it before… But as I shared my story… finding my way to my Dad’s death… that familiar lump in my throat started to emerge. It had been a while between drinks and I’d forgotten how taxing these talks can be… I’d forgotten how much of a mark my Dad’s death has left on me.

Once upon a time, I was afraid I’d die the same way my Dad did… That somehow I was destined for suicide. But after leaning into this fear… trying to understand why I felt this way… I found that I was more afraid of two things… Losing control and dying.

Writing my story helped me understand what I’d been through, and sharing it helped me validate my conclusions. But it also helped give others a blueprint for their own struggles. And for each new story shared with the R4R Podcast, in one of our guest articles, or in the monologue of Murray’s story below… a new blueprint is offered to our community on how to find a way forward.

In the 1950s, heart attacks were an epidemic in the United States. They were the leading cause of death in men aged 65 and under... but in a little town called Roseto, nestled in the hills of eastern Pennsylvania, there was no heart disease to be found. When a physician named Stewart Wolf heard of Roseto, he investigated further, finding that “people were dying of old age.

Running for Resilience relies so much on its volunteers and its community. The amount of effort that comes from so many people putting their shoulder to the wheel is invaluable. And behind the scenes, there’s even more effort being made… Fortunately, we’ve benefited from the use of Artificial Intelligence, and Benny A has been instrumental in making R4R run as efficiently and as sustainably as possible.

We’re moving the day our newsletter is sent. After more than 250 weeks of our Wednesday morning newsletter, we’re changing it up. From this week, our newsletter will be hitting your inboxes on a Friday morning instead of the usual Wednesday. But, we won’t leave you empty handed this morning (new article below) and we’ve got a cracking new episode of the podcast being sent out in two days time.

Murray has been the guest host on the R4R Podcast two times so far. The first time, Murray interviewed local legends Singh and Tiff to talk all things Bravery Trek, and the second time, we were honoured to have LTGEN Cheryl Pearce walk us through her perspective on Resilience. This time, he’s pulled the rug out from under Fordy… the host of Peak 2 Soon Podcast… by nabbing Ben Wilson. Ben is a Canberra boy living in Brisbane.

In this week's episode of the R4R Podcast, Stephe O’Neill hosts the teachers behind Recess for Resilience. Georgie MacDiarmid (Canberra Grammar), Mark Nicholson (Torrens Primary), and Mark Robson (Forrest Primary) share their perspective on Recess for Resilience and how it’s building good habits early, teaching kids to check in on each other. I’m genuinely excited by Recess for Resilience because of the impact it can have, but also because of the excitement I can see in the teachers involved.

Connor Hogan was diagnosed with schizophrenia, anxiety and depression in 2019. In December 2022, he tragically took his own life. Since then, Connor’s mates have honoured who he was by bringing people together to raise money and awareness for schizophrenia research. What struck me most about this conversation was the amount of love I could see in these blokes’ eyes. It was clear Connor was a special person, and it was obvious he continues to live on in their thoughts.