The mind is an interesting place.
It houses your fears and your desires. It stores your dreams, your conflicts, and your identity — who you think you are. And who you hope someday you’ll be. That goes for NBA Champions, All-Stars, and Defensive Players of the Year. That goes for Metta Sandiford-Artest who falls under all three of those categories, it goes for everybody.
“It’s all mental. Embrace your struggle,” the 17-year NBA veteran spelled out. The “embracing” is a learned skill for those that have struggled with mental health though, a skill the former Lakers small forward knows pretty well.
There are so many complex layers to the mind, but let’s simply break down navigating mental health into two stages: the reaction and the response.
The reaction is the stage where one’s inner conflict is usually provoked. It’s Kevin Love’s panic attack, DeMar DeRozan’s tweet, Naomi Osaka’s choice to forego the press conference, and Simone Biles withdrawing from the team competition. Most times, the media conversation lives in the reaction space because this is the moment where someone who society deems “invincible” asks for help. And so, people want to identify the catalyst, analyze the turmoil, and understand the confusion.
This was Malice in the Palace for Metta. It happened more than 10 years prior to Love, DeRozan, Osaka, and Biles.
After his reaction sparked a brawl among players and fans in November 2004, incessant conversation from the media, a season-ending suspension, and his first dip into the deep waters of depression followed.
For most people struggling with mental health, this reaction stage offers a lens to view our “unlived lives,” what could’ve been. Metta spent a moment in this space. He’s acknowledged his disappointment around playing in the All-Star Game only once, being named Defensive Player of the Year for the only time the season before, not leading Indiana to an NBA Championship, and losing the opportunity of MVP candidacy that 2004 season with the Pacers. “I had the world at my feet,” the kid from Queensbridge, NY wrote in his book No Malice.
But he didn’t stay there; you can’t stay there.
Because it’s here that the mind will make you think you’ve lost everything. You’ll constantly imagine who you were going to become, all you’ll be able to see are your problems. “That’s not what’s important,” Metta wrote, “What’s important are the solutions I found to help me overcome those problems.”
That’s embracing the struggle. That’s where stage two comes in — the response.
The solutions he searched for not only affected Metta personally, but his approach and his honesty also helped cultivate an environment, more than 10 years in the making, for other athletes to feel comfortable coming forward and sharing their struggles. He and those athletes’ openness encouraged the media to reevaluate their approach to the conversation around mental health. “I think they weren’t as sensitive, but now people have put the pressure on media to be more sensitive towards people’s mental health,” Metta claimed.
Personally, Metta's response took shape in many different forms. He won a championship with the Lakers in 2010. He contained the Celtics’ primary scorer Paul Pierce flawlessly. And when approached by the media after they had secured their 16th title, Metta thanked his psychiatrist for teaching him the skills that made him so clear-headed and collected in that Game 7 performance, despite the pressure of what hung in the balance. Metta described that mentally, “it felt like it was very still, present, present-moment type of feeling. I was meditating during the game. I was meditating during that moment.”
After his first stint in Los Angeles, he returned to New York City and fulfilled his childhood dream of playing for the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Then, he returned to the Lakers for two more seasons. He’s a present father and a major advocate for mental health awareness. His biggest piece of advice to players in the league today is, “staying in the moment but understanding after basketball there is a life.”
His highs and lows have taught him where to find balance. It's in patience, meditation, exercise, healthy eating, yoga, and time for self, he pointed out. And Metta understands that “having the passion sometimes can outweigh the positives and everything you work for. That’s what life’s all about, learning, and there’s a learning curve. But the more positive people you have around you and that have your best interest, the better.” In letting go of who he thought he was going to become; he became who he is, someone people really needed.
It’s Metta who offers yet another insight into the fact that just because you’re tough as hell, big and strong, a professional, a millionaire, etc. you can still be hindered by mental health struggles. But that’s not the point. You’re not defined by your reaction to the struggle, you’re defined by your response. And after 42 years, nothing’s going to stop him from searching for those solutions.