Speaker 1: Hi, everybody. My name is Lindsay Young and I am
Speaker 1: an assistant editor and staff writer here with the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: I'm super excited to bring you guys a new content
Speaker 1: series called Getting Open Vikings Talk Mental Health. We are
Speaker 1: going to bring you weekly segments that will include a
Speaker 1: written story and feature, and it will also include the
Speaker 1: opportunity to listen to the full audio interview like you're
Speaker 1: doing right now. Throughout the series, you will be able
Speaker 1: to hear personal experiences from players and others within the
Speaker 1: Vikings organization. We will share information about how the Vikings
Speaker 1: are working to put an emphasis on mental health and
Speaker 1: to care for those that are staff, players, coaches, everybody
Speaker 1: in the building. We will also share some of the
Speaker 1: players foundations doing a lot of work in the area
Speaker 1: of mental health. Our first conversation is with Vikings defensive
Speaker 1: lineman Jalen Holmes, who this season will be entering his
Speaker 1: fourth year with Minnesota. He shared with me some of
Speaker 1: his personal experiences from growing up, how he kind of
Speaker 1: came to find out that anxiety was an official diagnosis
Speaker 1: for him, and the tools that he's used over the
Speaker 1: years to treat it, recover and also connect with other
Speaker 1: people who have similar experiences. Here is our conversation with
Speaker 1: Jalen Holmes. Can you just tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about your experience around mental health and what that's looked
Speaker 1: like in your life. I feel like at first, when
Speaker 1: I first started struggling with it, for me, I didn't
Speaker 1: know what it was. You know, you really don't get toted.
Speaker 1: You don't get that's not something to get towle at
Speaker 1: school or you know. I really never had like people
Speaker 1: tell me about like the symptoms or whatever if I'm mental.
Speaker 1: I just was experiencing and then just trying to deal
Speaker 1: with the best way I knew how. But I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, as time grew and I grew as a person,
Speaker 1: and I grew as a father, as I grew as
Speaker 1: a man, I started to acknowledge some of the things
Speaker 1: that was making me feel different, I guess, and I
Speaker 1: just tried to attack it. Really from there, I answer
Speaker 1: you a question, what age was that when you first
Speaker 1: started experiencing feeling different? You know? Was that in college?
Speaker 1: Was that in high school? What did that look like?
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like different things that happened. You
Speaker 1: know where I was from it and it's the community
Speaker 1: I grew up in me different things just seeing you know,
Speaker 1: people getting killed. Now I knew H went to, you know,
Speaker 1: the school I went to. It was a lot of
Speaker 1: different things going in there. So maybe maybe middle school,
Speaker 1: high school you started experience other things. But it never
Speaker 1: really liked hit me. But I feel like it really
Speaker 1: like got brought to my attention and I had to
Speaker 1: I knew I had to act on it. It's when
Speaker 1: I got to the NFL. Okay, you're you're kind of
Speaker 1: speaking generally about mental health. I know you've shared specifically
Speaker 1: things on your social media about depression, and we'll get
Speaker 1: to that here in the second. But it's depression. The
Speaker 1: main piece that you are affected by it that you
Speaker 1: deal with depression, anxiety, both of those two things. I
Speaker 1: feel like it was a time where, you know, I
Speaker 1: was really going through my own depression. I don't even
Speaker 1: know how to like put it, but definitely anxiety. It's
Speaker 1: everyday better with anxiety. It's times where you know, I
Speaker 1: can get overwhelmed and it can go enough, and it's
Speaker 1: times where I'm good and i'm and I can get
Speaker 1: things done. You know, I feel like I got to
Speaker 1: have I'm a perfectionist in a way, So certain things
Speaker 1: has to go a certain way, and you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: anxiety can have another plan for you, you know. So
Speaker 1: I feel like anxiety is the most it's the everyday
Speaker 1: thing I still do. What have you found that's been
Speaker 1: helpful for you? Like the most helpful thing is just
Speaker 1: talking about it, you know, just having a I mean
Speaker 1: you having this conversation about it right now. I feel
Speaker 1: like a lot of people go experience anxiety and they
Speaker 1: don't even know. And I feel like me, once I
Speaker 1: decided to be vulnerable and able to talk about it
Speaker 1: with anyone or share it on a public platform, you know,
Speaker 1: it kind of made me feel good because you could
Speaker 1: relate to it. And once you find people that can
Speaker 1: relate to the same thing you're going through, it kind
Speaker 1: of makes it a little easier, you know, Like you
Speaker 1: don't feel that as crazy, because sometimes you feel like
Speaker 1: you're going through this big anxiety battle or whatever mental
Speaker 1: health you know, battle you got going on. You think
Speaker 1: you're the only one that you're just going through it.
Speaker 1: You feel crazy when you hear somebody else shit the
Speaker 1: same things, and it's like, oh, I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: not crazy, I'm not tripping, And you can share those,
Speaker 1: you know, different stories you have honestly helps has football
Speaker 1: and you know, being an athlete, has that been helpful
Speaker 1: for your mental health? What's crazy is sometimes that's you know,
Speaker 1: like sometimes I can go in, I can walk into
Speaker 1: work and it's like everything that's going on in life.
Speaker 1: I can lead in the car and I can go
Speaker 1: go working in football takes me completely from it. But
Speaker 1: sometimes football is one of the stressors that you know,
Speaker 1: heightens it. So it goes either way. And that's why
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, as you know, trying to
Speaker 1: use my platform as an athlete to share with you know,
Speaker 1: other athletes in the NFL, college or high school, whatever.
Speaker 1: Our job can be our stressers, and it's just talking
Speaker 1: about it and communicating with others and being vulnerable and
Speaker 1: then talking about whatever you're going through. I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know that that actually helps. So you know, what
Speaker 1: we do sometimes can also bring us down. Have things
Speaker 1: kind of gotten easier? Have you found kind of a
Speaker 1: way to balance that anxiety with your career. When I
Speaker 1: first got in to the I didn't know what it was.
Speaker 1: It was so much going on in my own head
Speaker 1: because I'm an overthinker. I overthink everything and uh, and
Speaker 1: that sometimes it is a blessed and other times, you know,
Speaker 1: it can definitely be a curse. So when I first
Speaker 1: got to the NFL, I had no way. And I
Speaker 1: feel like as I you know, pointing out the problem
Speaker 1: that was in my life with anxiety and dealing with
Speaker 1: those things, I learned how to deal with it a
Speaker 1: little bit more. I still know on the way how
Speaker 1: to deal with it, but every day I'm getting better
Speaker 1: at it. So I'm at a point now where you know,
Speaker 1: I could recognize it and try to you know, fix
Speaker 1: it and then go on. So I just feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, as my journey goes on, I'm just getting
Speaker 1: better with it every day, and I'm just trying to
Speaker 1: try new practices and you know, follow those different pages
Speaker 1: or you know, going to therapy and just being open
Speaker 1: about talking going to therapy as it definitely has. Are
Speaker 1: there people in your life, either in the Vikings organization
Speaker 1: or in your family or friends that have been especially
Speaker 1: helpful and supportive for you? And how important is that? Oh? Yeah? So,
Speaker 1: you know, glad of my friends from back home, A
Speaker 1: lot of guys I played you know, football with at
Speaker 1: Ohio State. You know, we still keep a content and
Speaker 1: I have a real good friend. He's also the guyfather
Speaker 1: of my child, Tracy Sprinkle. We we both has been
Speaker 1: balanced this together in a way. And you know some
Speaker 1: days where you know our anxiety, his society can't be
Speaker 1: going a certain way. It tell me like, bro, I'm
Speaker 1: struggling right now, like I need help, and this vice
Speaker 1: versas saying with me like I just tell him a
Speaker 1: birth today, not a good day, like I need you know,
Speaker 1: I need some help. So that's why I said, like
Speaker 1: being vulnerable has helped me a lot, because I'm not
Speaker 1: saying being vulnerable within everybody. You've obviously you gotta you know,
Speaker 1: have that trust with people. But once you have the
Speaker 1: people that you could trust and you could talk to,
Speaker 1: be completely vulnerable with them because you know they can help.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can't do this all by yourself. And
Speaker 1: I had that, you know, that mentality where take care
Speaker 1: of my family, I take care of my son, I
Speaker 1: take care of so many different people out I have
Speaker 1: two businesses, I have people who work in the business.
Speaker 1: You gotta you gotta be the guy. Sometimes you gotta
Speaker 1: lean on someone else. And you know, I'm blessed to
Speaker 1: have no friends and I can do that. Do you
Speaker 1: think that there's a stigma around mental illness, either in
Speaker 1: the general society or within athletics. Yes, uh, well not
Speaker 1: post those you know, reposts that people will are you okay?
Speaker 1: Or like do I and it's like I'm actually having
Speaker 1: a good day, Like I'm just sharing everymas because you
Speaker 1: just never know who made need to see that. I
Speaker 1: just feel like sometimes when you talk about it, people think,
Speaker 1: like will be crazy or sick or you know, you
Speaker 1: could be suicide, and and that's not it. I feel
Speaker 1: like everybody struggles with mental health in some way. It's
Speaker 1: just who willing to talking about it and who's not.
Speaker 1: I feel like, especially within the NFL, within this past
Speaker 1: year or two, teams and organizations have been working on
Speaker 1: breaking that stigma, right And you have guys like Dak Prescott,
Speaker 1: you know, like talked about his experience with depression. What
Speaker 1: impact do you think it has when you're having these
Speaker 1: athletes who are on these big platforms be vulnerable and
Speaker 1: share that they struggle with these things too. It's a
Speaker 1: huge impact. And it's definitely especially being a you know,
Speaker 1: an African American athlete with our community like that's not
Speaker 1: talked about it at all. You know, a lot of
Speaker 1: conversation with my dad about this. He was at dentialized
Speaker 1: night and we were just talking about being vulnerable and
Speaker 1: no general roles and masculinity all those different things where
Speaker 1: you know, those are not conversations that's had. So when
Speaker 1: you got Da Presscott and like myself talking about the
Speaker 1: kids who who's watching every movie? They watched everything? Do
Speaker 1: they try to dress like us? They try to memic
Speaker 1: us on the field everything right now? What they trying
Speaker 1: to memic you? Being vulnerable talking about you know, the
Speaker 1: mental things that should go through that that only helps
Speaker 1: them and it helps them to be more advanced at
Speaker 1: an early age. Just about looking at that pressure. Do
Speaker 1: you think that talking about it, going to therapy, I'm
Speaker 1: learning more information about mental illness and about anxiety. Do
Speaker 1: you think that's helped you become a better family man,
Speaker 1: become a better dad to your son? Yeah? It has.
Speaker 1: It definitely has made me more gentle. I just feel
Speaker 1: like I've never been a real super like I'm with
Speaker 1: my son man, that's like my best friend, you know.
Speaker 1: So it's just now like certain words or certain things
Speaker 1: can be said and you know everybody's not gonna take
Speaker 1: it a week you meant to, you know, say it.
Speaker 1: So it's just I feel like learning these things and
Speaker 1: just seeing him grow. He just got his first haircut
Speaker 1: a cow weeks ago, and it's just like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just saying encouraging words to him all the time,
Speaker 1: just doing different things to build those small building blocks
Speaker 1: to add up to where he can be strong basically,
Speaker 1: not just physically. You and I kind of started talking
Speaker 1: because I saw, like you said that you had posted
Speaker 1: some things on your social media and I could tell
Speaker 1: because you were posting those things that that was something
Speaker 1: that you were comfortable about. Why is it important for
Speaker 1: you to share your story publicly? I just feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, I have a real mixed feelings about social
Speaker 1: media anyway, but I feel like the good about it
Speaker 1: is you can you can get information not doing right.
Speaker 1: So I just feel like, you know, if I could
Speaker 1: just share as much helpful information and I can help
Speaker 1: one person, you know, it just helps people just be
Speaker 1: more comfortable. And that's what I want. I want to
Speaker 1: normalize talking about mental health and not seeming like you're crazy.
Speaker 1: You know, like crazy and mental health get put together
Speaker 1: too much, and that's not it. Because if that's the
Speaker 1: case all of us are crazy because we all deal
Speaker 1: with so I just I just want to normalize the conversation.
Speaker 1: You said everybody probably deals with mental illness to some degree, right,
Speaker 1: some people more than others. But this past year has
Speaker 1: been especially I think hard, probably for everybody at different levels.
Speaker 1: But you have the racial injustice that's going on, you
Speaker 1: have the pandemic and people losing loved ones or people
Speaker 1: just trying, you know, being isolated. How much more important
Speaker 1: do you think, just during this year is it to
Speaker 1: connect with others to talk about mental health and how
Speaker 1: important that is? This is? I mean, we're in the pandemic,
Speaker 1: you know, like it's traumatic for everyone. I mean kids
Speaker 1: is going to school online. I didn't start going to
Speaker 1: school lots. I got to college and a lot of
Speaker 1: people struggle with that. You got kids doing that too.
Speaker 1: So I just feel like, you know, this pandemic has
Speaker 1: shown a lot a lot of a lot of bad
Speaker 1: and also a lot of good. I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: for me, especially doing this pandemic, I tried to focus
Speaker 1: on myself because it's just challenging, especially you know, with
Speaker 1: COVID there's so many new things. It's always have to
Speaker 1: stand your toes. It could be one way this week
Speaker 1: the makes way, it's completely different, and it's for your
Speaker 1: mental health. That's you know, that's taxing. So you gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta pay attention to that. And you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like this pandemic has definitely shown a lot. And
Speaker 1: then you're talking about anxiety. You know there's different types
Speaker 1: of anxiety. Um are there you know, kind of specific
Speaker 1: triggers for you or is it more of a generalized
Speaker 1: anxiety that you kind of can kind of crop up
Speaker 1: at any time. I just I just feel like a
Speaker 1: lot of athletes correlate to this. You know, in a sense,
Speaker 1: you are the person that everybody goes to because you
Speaker 1: know the image that people think the NFL comes with
Speaker 1: the money, all all that different things. Right, Sometimes you
Speaker 1: forget to take care of you. And a lot of
Speaker 1: times when I'm gay, planning and practicing, rehabbing, family, are
Speaker 1: everything coming at you one time? You know, you try
Speaker 1: to attack everything at one time and then you look
Speaker 1: up overwhelmed. And then it's been times where I've been
Speaker 1: so overwhelmed I break down. I don't know what from
Speaker 1: my phone off, I got an attitude with everybody. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm just and then snap back out of it. And
Speaker 1: I never knew what that was, and I thought about it,
Speaker 1: you know, went to therapy, and my difference like that's
Speaker 1: because I do you know, like this job is so
Speaker 1: it could be one way one week and another way
Speaker 1: the next. You know how the NFL seas that can
Speaker 1: be an emotional roller coaster within itself. So just trying
Speaker 1: to stay on everywhere close and keeping itself together it's
Speaker 1: probably the most taxing part of it. I just I
Speaker 1: just feel like, you know, you gotta deal with those
Speaker 1: things because you know, we are a lot of us
Speaker 1: are you know, the heads of our family, and you
Speaker 1: can't get to take care of yourself because you're taking
Speaker 1: care of so many other people. What are maybe some
Speaker 1: other things in your daily life that you can do,
Speaker 1: you know, is it is it getting away from social media,
Speaker 1: as it playing with your son? Is it watching tv?
Speaker 1: What does self care look like for you? Self care
Speaker 1: for me? Was you know the first one of the
Speaker 1: best things I did, and I did this a lot
Speaker 1: about the year, was I would delete Instagram all week
Speaker 1: and now I would get back on Instagram maybe like Friday,
Speaker 1: like on my way traveling while I had nothing to do.
Speaker 1: Definitely getting rid of social media was a big helper
Speaker 1: for me. Um reading, uh, playing with my son, just
Speaker 1: pay it to the things that really matter, and just
Speaker 1: just learning more about you know, anxiety and different things
Speaker 1: like that, just talking about like a conversations, were having
Speaker 1: lunch right here, or you know, building my businesses, just
Speaker 1: keeping myself busy, just keeping myself away from you know things.
Speaker 1: And also I just started meditating too, so that's that's
Speaker 1: actually a good deal as well. So you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like just doing what you love and just finding
Speaker 1: peace with yourself. And it could be whatever it is.
Speaker 1: It can be right, it could be something that's just
Speaker 1: relaxed comment you can just think your way through some
Speaker 1: things and not even think at all, just be still.
Speaker 1: Our thanks to Jayleen Holmes for sitting down and sharing
Speaker 1: those thoughts and experiences with us. We look forward to
Speaker 1: sharing additional stories and features with you as part of
Speaker 1: our Getting Open series. New features will drop weekly on
Speaker 1: Viking's digital platforms.