Taking Care of Your Mentals | NFL Legend, Marshawn Lynch

Michael Gervais (0:00)

Okay, a few days ago, I connected with former NFL legend, Seattle Seahawk running back, Marshawn Lynch, about mental health. And we connected for a live conversation on Uninterrupted's Instagram page. It was a great conversation. It's just, I mean, the gems that he dropped, the fun that we have together, it's a great conversation. And I wanted to share it with you in case you didn't have a chance to see it. The audio is a bit subpar since it's from Instagram, but the conversation definitely makes up for it. Hope you enjoy. Okay. I'm Michael Gervais, Dr. Gervais, and we got something fun today. We got Marshawn Lynch coming on. What's up on Uninterrupted? We have some fun today. So in honor of mental health week, we're gonna play with here. And so there's a legend. Marshawn Lynch does not need any kind of introduction. I'm a sports psychologist by trade and training and been fortunate enough to work in pro sports for a long time. I'll tell you what, I've never met anybody like Marshawn Lynch. So he's gonna call in in a little bit. We're gonna talk about the inner life. We're gonna talk about how to get right from the inside out. And a big part of it about psychology is that people like Marshawn are making it cool.

He is a goat and there's legends right now that are saying, hey, listen, if you wanna be legit, you gotta train the inside. You gotta train your mind. And so we're gonna talk about mental health.

I see you King Melo cracking jokes already.

Yeah, so we're gonna talk about how sports psychology works. We're gonna talk about the mental part of the game. We're gonna talk about how the next generation can flourish, flat out flourish. And so make sure you get your questions rolling. Look, here goes Beast Mode.

All right, you're coming on.

What's up, Marshawn?

Marshawn Lynch (2:13)

What's up, Pembe?

Michael Gervais (2:16)

You get your hair fixed up for this?

Marshawn Lynch (2:19)

What? Man, get the fuck out of here.

Michael Gervais (2:24)

Where are you calling in from?

Marshawn Lynch (2:26)

Shit, Oakland, California.

Michael Gervais (2:28)

You are, I know. You're too much, man. Hey, I was just riffing that I've been a player for a long time, as a shrink dude, as you like to call it.

I've never met anybody like you, period.

Marshawn Lynch (2:45)

You hear that? I got somebody talking to me through the ring system.

They think I'm breaking their house right now.

Michael Gervais (2:54)

Come on, don't do it to them.

Marshawn Lynch (2:57)

I ain't going to do it to them.

Michael Gervais (3:00)

All right, so listen.

So when I was talking about, like, so we're in mental health month, as you recognize. And when I was thinking of all the people that we could talk to about being authentic, like coming from the real place, there's not many people that in the thin herd of elite performance, of elite athletics, that stray away from the herd to hold it true.

Marshawn Lynch (3:24)

Yeah, I believe that. And that's you. I believe it.

Oh, you talking about me. I thought you were saying like, man, damn.

But yeah, though, I mean, I don't know. This shit is hard enough being myself. So I'm trying to pretend to be somebody else. I know that shit got to be like shit, even probably 10 times harder. But then, I mean, it just depends on like, you know, how can you deal with yourself after that, though?

Michael Gervais (3:51)

Yeah, I hear that. So where did you learn that, though?

Where did that come from? Because that's not easy. That is ridiculously hard to do.

Marshawn Lynch (4:04)

I mean, I think it's more so like, just like with anything that you do, just like repetition. And I would say that just, I mean, shit, growing up in Oakland, it was like, you feel me? You always, you could gonna get caught out.

I mean, no matter what, you was gonna get caught out about no matter what you did. And at the end of the day, it was, it was either, you know, you own up to, you know, take ownership in, and who you was, you know what I mean? Or get caught out for being something that you're not.

And I think just over the, just over the times and over the years of just growing up in these types of environments, you feel me? It just helped me, you know, get even more comfortable in my skin than I already was.

Michael Gervais (4:51)

Well, so, but, so that's the thing is that, you know, as you and I've talked about a bunch is that people are trying to fit in and figure out where they belong and the pressure to fit in and to be something that you're not.