Life 3.0: Men.. For 30 days, we Mo’d.

Pretty clean cut and shaved, don’t you think? Well, that’s this morning. But let’s back up 30 minutes before and I looked completely different.

For the last 30 days Men across the world used November as their month to draw attention and awareness to Men’s health issues. Several organizations honor it in some capacity or another. NBC loves their “No Shave November”. But where I first heard of it, and as far as I know where it started, was in the land down under. “Movember” is a spin on the Australian slang for a mustache, a “Mo“, and the month of November.

The rules of Movember are simple.

1: On November 1st, each “Mo Bro” must begin with a clean shaven face.

2: For the entire month of November, each Mo Bro must grow and groom a mustache.

3: Don’t fake it.. No beards, goatees, or fake mustaches.

4: Use the power of the mustache to create conversation about Men’s health issues and to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and Men’s health issues.

5: Each Mo Bro must conduct himself like a true gentleman.

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LOL… I’ll be honest, after 30 days it was pretty funny how many “Ron Jeremy” jokes I was getting (and if you don’t know who he is, you’re better off I’m sure.. 😉 heh). But, it got the job done. I was having conversations with strangers, family, friends, co-workers. All because it just wasn’t natural for Jorge to have a ‘stache. Mission accomplished.

On Facebook, for example, I would post weekly pictures of my ‘stache’s progress (like a real life Chia-Pet 🙂 !). I also would post facts about men’s health that were pretty humbling.

I personally champion Men’s mental health issues. Having been something very close to me, personally, in the last 13 months of my life, it was natural to jump into advocating and educating on it. Here are just some of the sad facts.

Movember: Day 8

Did you know that 15 million American Adults (6.7% of the populous) are diagnosed with depression each year? Of those, more than four times as many Men die by suicide in the United States!

Case in point: in 2010, a total of 38,364 Americans died by suicide, and over 3/4 (79%) of these suicides were Men.

So be nice to us, girls... We hurt just as bad, if not worse (social pressures to be tough) then you do.

Here’s another one..

Movember - Day 15

A few stats about Men's health:

-1 in 7 Men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.

-Nearly half of all testicular cancer cases are among Men between the ages of 20 and 34.

-A Man's risk of dying from testicular cancer is about 1 in 5,000.

-Anxiety disorders affect about 40 million American adults every year.

-About 60 percent of prostate cancer cases are in Men age 65 or older.

-Men are significantly more likely to commit suicide than Women. <-- Still dear to my heart, understanding full well what hitting rock bottom feels like.

The feedback and conversation generated has been priceless. Plus it continues to edify and empower me to see how people talk about sobering facts like the above and how it relates to my own personal story of the last several years.

As always, I'm here to answer any questions anyone may have. I'm getting better at responding to all the emails. Thank you again for all your support.

-Jorge
jorge@projectwrx.com