"Be your authentic self" - Michael Phelps speaks on the importance of mental health and urges kids to embrace their true selves

Swimming legend Michael Phelps has a core piece of advice for budding athletes. The 28-time Olympic medallist has experienced several ups and downs in his career, but he ultimately became the most decorated swimmer of all time. Definitely, Phelps did things differently to stand out at the global forum. Recently, he shared his golden words for the young athletes who look up to him.

23-time Olympic gold medalist, Michael Phelps is a world record holder in the men's 400-meter individual medley. Previously, he also held world records in the 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly, and 200-meter individual medley events.

Moreover, Phelps’s impressive performances earned him prestigious titles like the World Swimmer of the Year Award eight times and the American Swimmer of the Year Award eleven times.

Besides being an exceptional swimmer, Phelps has hugely contributed to mental health wellness for people across the globe. In 2015, the retired swimmer opened up about experiencing depression and anxiety while he was at the peak of his swimming career.

Eventually, to help others and himself, he began introducing effective mental health campaigns and also focused on normalizing the concept of mental wellness.

On May 28, Michael Phelps appeared in a podcast interview with clinical and sports psychologist, Dr. Bhrett McCabe. During that conversation, the Olympics swimmer was asked about the secrets of his dominance in swimming and how he began working for mental health.

In that conversation, the host also asked Phelps to convey his advice to young athletes.

“It’s just be you. That’s it,” Phelps answered in the video.

He further went on to explain why it was important to be one’s true self:

"Because if you’re not being yourself then you’re cheating yourself. Be your authentic self, because that’s the reason why you’re here, right?”

He placed himself with his golden advice as well.

“Like for me, like I’m like this - I’ll label myself. I’m this quirky gangly person that you know, is really good at swimming but also, like I’m opening the doors in so many mental health ways and changing how we’re talking about this,” explained Phelps.

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Michael Phelps’s latest mental health campaign

Michael Phelps at the 2016 Golden Goggle Awards

On March 4, Michael Phelps partnered with Talkspace to start the ‘Celebrate Every Step’ campaign. It was a platform to raise awareness about the benefits of mental health therapy. The campaign will share the stories of Talkspace members talking about how therapy has improved their lives.

In the campaign’s press release, Phelps had expressed:

“Therapy helped save my life.”

He shared that prioritizing his mental health helped the swimmer become a better version of himself. Moreover, it made Michael Phelps improve his communication skills and change his negative emotions. He really hoped that the campaign would break the stigmas around mental health and encourage people to seek help.