My Journey Getting to LinkedIn’s Top 10 Voices in Mental Health

I remember making my first ever LinkedIn Post in 2017.

I recorded a video on my Laptop’s webcam for the #LetsGetHonest initiative, a challenge encouraging people to be honest about a deep struggle. I spoke about how I faced social anxiety my whole life and tried so hard to hide it from everyone until now.

The months and year prior to recording that video I was in the worst mental health condition of my life but luckily I started to take steps to heal my brain from social anxiety.

Looking back, recording that video and posting it publically completely changed my life.

It didn’t change my life because someone saw it and said something nice or memorable. My recording changed my life because it was truly the first time I ever publically disclosed how I had felt my entire life. And guess what? Nothing bad happened.

The years after I started to post mental health related content to LinkedIn. I was in College at the time and managing my classes, friends, and posting content. I would record a video walking on my way to class about something I had learned the night before from a neuroscientist’s TEDx talk or podcast episode.

I would do this almost every single day for years.

Whether it was through LinkedIn or my podcast, I started to gain a following of professionals, entrepreneurs, and creators who all cared and valued mental health.

LinkedIn completely changed my life. My podcast blew up through LinkedIn, I became a professional speaker and role model for others who wanted to say what I was saying too.

I try not to care about awards & accolades but this one is different.

So many times I would doubt myself and my content.

Is anyone actually paying attention?

Does anyone care?

Am I just speaking to myself?

What’s the point of posting this?

As a creator or leader it’s hard to quantify the impact you’ve made on the world.

I forget all the time, but I try to consiously remember different impactful moments.

• Going for a walk in the mall with my family and someone recognizing me and telling me how much my work helped them climb out of the dark hole they were in…
• People connecting with me years later saying Mark when I discovered your content I was working a job I hated and my mental health was down in the dumps. You inspired me to start my own company and now we are successful an growing by X every year.
• Me going to speak at an event and an elderly women walking up to me and asking me for my autograph for her friend who’s too sick to be here but I helped her change her life.

Me being on LinkedIn’s Top 10 Voices in Mental Health is the symbol of recognition and embodiement of the impact my work has had over the years.

What seems to me like one big blob of time of day after day after day posting content on LinkedIn has led me to live a completely different life and dare I even say made an impact on the world.

Thank you for reading this article I wrote from my heart.

I’ll leave you with the quote/piece of advice I was asked to give: