Weightlifter Opens Up About Mental Health Struggles To Encourage Others To Ask For Help.

To normalize mental health issues, we have to talk about them first. That’s why Katherine Nye of Detroit, Michigan, is using her platform to help others open up!

The 21-year-old is a weightlifting champion with multiple medals and achievements under her belt. But like the rest of us, she’s human, and as such, she has her own struggles.

Kate was a competitive gymnast for 11 years before she left the sport following an injury. A few years later, she decided to start weightlifting and quickly became one of the strongest female weightlifters out there!

Now, she’s part of Team USA and is gearing up to compete in the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo next year.

As amazing as her journey looks from the outside, it hasn’t been easy.

Last year, she won gold at the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships and broke nine records! She was at the height of her career, but what her fans didn’t know was that her mental health had taken a turn for the worst.

Her “breaking point” came when she lost all motivation to lift. She spent a week in bed before accepting that she needed psychiatric help.

Around the same time, she was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. While she said she initially felt crazy, she also saw an opportunity to break the stigma surrounding mental health – and help others in the process.

So in an Instagram post, she bravely shared what she had been keeping private.

“I was too proud to get help for far too long,” she wrote. “I felt weak for thinking I needed help, but honestly it has taken a weight off my shoulders knowing what I have to do to feel like a functioning human being. I’m excited for the future of having a healthy mind and body.”

Now unburdened, Kate can focus on what she loves and encourage people to seek help through her example.

“It didn’t take me long to realize there was nothing to be ashamed of,” she told Great Big Story. “I think I decided early on that I was going to share this journey with others in the hopes that it would help other people get help faster than I did.”

What an amazing role model! Thank you, Kate, for being a champion in more ways than one!

Learn more about her mental health journey in the video below, and share this story to spread awareness.

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