Michael Phelps talks about the importance of mental health during the coronavirus quarantine

Olympic swimmer and longtime mental health advocate Michael Phelps talks about the daily goals that he's setting to keep himself grounded during the coronavirus quarantine. He also opens up about the efforts that his foundation is making to ensure necessary help for frontline workers.

Video Transcript

MICHAEL PHELPS: It breaks my heart every single time I read a story about an athlete or a celebrity, or just somebody fighting COVID, who takes their own life. Suicide rates have to stop climbing. It honestly-- it drives me insane. I want to start crying right now just because it's-- you know, I know how difficult it is in this time.

I personally have felt that I don't want to be alive in my life. I have felt that feeling before, and it's scary. And I have three little boys here, and I never want to miss a single day. And the days that I struggle, I look at them, because those guys are the ones that are helping me get through all this.

This time is probably the most stressful time we've all gone through-- really not knowing what to expect, when it's going to end, when we're going to be able just to go back to normal. I was very fortunate to accomplish almost every goal that I ever wrote down on a piece of paper, and it was incredible. It's a great feeling, especially looking back now and being retired. Did I know that it was going to have all of these other stresses or these outside variables that are going to affect me and how I think or how I live my life? I never would've thought about it that way.

I would know and expect that somehow mentally, I would have a breakdown. I had a lot of them in my career. So it would just be something-- like a funk that I would kind of fall into for a few days, and then I'd come out of it on fire. If I did say something about it, then it would be a weakness. And I'm not supposed to show weakness. As a male athlete, we're not supposed to show that. That's allowing ourselves to become vulnerable. And in a competitive world, it's not the best thing.

So for me to be able to see and hear stories, emotions that other athletes or celebrities, or just random people who have shared the stories that they go through with me-- it's really kind of amazing to see and to feel that I'm just a normal person, because that's all I think I am. I can say this has been the most difficult time for myself to go through. I've gone through some of-- probably the darkest moments, continuous darkest moments that I've gone through. And they've gone on week stretches, and it's scary.

But I think for me, what I've been able to learn through my experiences through mental health has been sticking to the same routine. So for me, it's working out every day, it's making sure I'm getting the right amount of sleep. You know, if I need to go on a walk, go on a walk, taking care of what I need to to make sure I'm the best me.

- Michael Phelps is opening up about his anxiety and depression.

- According to "Business Insider," Phelps struggled with untreated mental health issues for years.

- And now he's using his celebrity status for such a great cause. The Michael Phelps Foundation is teaming up with the federal government's drowning prevention campaign. It's called Pool Safely.

MICHAEL PHELPS: May is a huge month not only for water safety, but for mental health-- not only with the foundation, but with TalkSpace as well, being able to help some of the front line and give them hours to be able to try to help them through their everyday struggles. I think that's the biggest thing. And with the foundation, with the curriculums that we have, helping kids talk about their emotions, understand their emotions and where they're coming from.

Reset your mindset. For me to refocus or reset my mindset, to me, it's just like, what are my goals? What am I trying to achieve? Where-- what can I pick on to-- like, what's one thing that I can grab on, and I can be really good at that thing? I can work on that one thing today, and that's all I'll do.

So for me, I always try to turn a negative into a positive. And it's even more challenging at a time like this. So I think when you reset your focus, you just-- almost taking a step back, taking a deep breath, and then starting on your journey again.

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