Veteran NBA Player Kevin Love Continues To Be A Trailblazer For Mental Health Awareness

Just over four years ago, NBA veteran Kevin Love stared at his computer screen and hesitated a few moments before he pressed the ‘send’ button on a personal essay he had written for the Players’ Tribune outlet.

The essay — titled, “Everyone Is Going Through Something” — addressed Love’s past struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, and how, for almost three decades, he had bottled up his emotions due to what he felt was a stigma attached to mental health issues.

“My agent said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ I’m like, ‘Listen, I don’t know what’s going to happen on the other side of this, but I feel like it’ll help someone. Somebody needs to hear this,’” Love says now. “The simplest way I can put it is by using a sports reference – we’re all on the same team, and we all want to be on the winning side of history. By sharing (my story), I think it establishes hope that we all can heal, and we can all get better.

“But none of that happens without having these conversations.”

Love did tap ‘send’ that day, and after his essay was published, he says the response in the immediate aftermath was life-changing, and that to this day, he still hears positive feedback and support from fans and members of the public.

In subsequent years after Love’s essay ran, other bold-face names in sports have come forward to discuss publicly their mental health challenges, including tennis player Naomi Osaka and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott.

“If you told me (before 2018) that I’d be sitting here having a conversation surrounding mental health and how it pertains to me and the greater good of people, I’d think you’d be crazy,” says Love. “But this has been something near and dear to me since I shared my story. I launched the Kevin Love Fund, with the idea to provide resources for people, and inspire (others) to live their healthiest lives – both physically and mentally.”

Love, 33, has already won an NBA title with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2016), and has earned millions as a professional athlete — according to Forbes, he signed a four-year, $120 million contract extension with the Cavaliers in 2018 — but he says all too often an individual, in whatever field, can be too focused on their profession, to the point where it can become detrimental to a person’s mental well-being.

“That was a big thing for me. When you’re an athlete, your identity is wrapped up so much within your sport. You have tunnel vision,” says Love. “You put a carrot dangling right outside of what you consider success. And you chase it. And then put it further away. And chase it again. And you never allow yourself to reflect on the things that you’ve done in life to get to where you are today.”

In addition to his Kevin Love Fund, the Cavaliers forward has partnered with Cove and Feelmore Labs as a brand ambassador. Love says he is “always looking for micro-gains,” both physically and mentally, and that the Cove device was exactly the kind of non-invasive technology he sought during his research.

“This is a wearable device,” says Love. “It’s effective touch therapy for in the morning and at night. It’s improved my sleep, improved my mental performance, and taken down the stress. I feel more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have. I feel like I’m a better listener, more empathetic, and that I don’t have to be perfect.”

Love says it’s been important in these current times to continue the national conversation on mental health, especially after the past two years of chaotic events around the globe: an ongoing pandemic, social unrest in the U.S., and the current conflict in Eastern Europe.

“Every time you turn on the TV, it seems there are things that are heavy, and that elicit a stress response,” says Love. “There are conversations about race, the environment, the election — just so many layers. I think it’s about trying to find a balance, and not look too far ahead. Stay present, even when the present isn’t always looking the greatest.

“I think everybody battles with (something) every single day,” adds Love. “But if we have resources, and we can continue to try to eliminate the stigma of (mental illness), we continue moving forward. I get it — pessimism sells better and gets better clicks. But it’s not a choice for me to have a chemical imbalance, to have acute anxiety. I can choose to be optimistic.”