Mental Health awareness has been a very important topic in recent years, one that is considered a difficult topic to communicate to others that may or may not fully understand it. ‘No Runners’ takes aim to focus on a motorcyclist named Trevor Stewart who struggles with his own mental health. As a mental health advocate who struggles with mental health as well, it is one compelling story to see another one’s point of view.
Directed by Kyle Cowling, Trevor Stewart does what he loves most, which is to be a motorcyclist. But what makes this very interesting is that even though he does what he loves to do in his life, Trevor still feels empty. Trevor often questions his feelings with so many whys, leading to more whys, causing the feelings of anxiety of not getting the answers to his feelings.
The film shows him having to venture off in a remote area, just to be by himself, as a therapeutic means to get away from everything. Yet, even though he gets is isolation, the thoughts creep in wondering why nobody is there to help him. It is a constant struggle with the mind, where the brain often has this ticking feeling and a different thought creep in every 7 seconds before the previous thought was finished.
Trevor is one who says that he would not live up to his own expectations. A deep thought that is relatable, where one feels like if they do not live up to their expectations it would be a mockery of life. From my point of view, it is a very similar feelings of “What If?” and not having to take the opportunity to go and try out something outside of what you know, even though you may not be conforming to the rest of society of what you should be doing on the path that you chose.
The crazy thing is that as you get older, that path narrows to a perceived one path, leaving the other roads untraveled. I believe that is what Trevor does in one scene, when he chose to ride the valley of death, which looks like the location of Death Valley, as a representation of running through the fear, whether it is with someone who is by your side, or even if it has to be on your own.
One of the lines Trevor said was that he “finds comfort in being uncommon”. That speaks volumes for those to have depression and anxiety, as it may be a form of relief to try and not feel judged by others’ perceptions and their thoughts of what he “should” or “should not” do in life.
Words like “should” and “must” is often used by people who project their own fears and concerns onto you, and some of those people who considers themselves to be honest and take anything they hear at face value, could become the victim of believing certain opinions that would later carry on with their life, without realizing the need to check the facts before believing, or reminding themselves to listen to their own thoughts and opinions of what was heard.
The narrative work of Trevor’s story is rooted with deeper meaning of himself, and there is likely a more detailed backstory that could be shared if there is an opportunity to do so. I’ve been grateful to have gone through many therapy sessions with psychotherapists and social workers to just have the ability to vent out everything that was deeply rooted from my childhood to learning how to cope with depression care, while at the same time slowly learn to realize what I am.
Trevor is a success story of finding his love and passion for what he wants to do in life, and he is also a great representation of how real the struggle of mental health really is. Part of it may be driven by his own ambition. It could also mean that there is a past of toxic environments surrounded by people that may not provide the proper love and support or just simply did not realize their own negativity breeds more negativity, and Trevor just happens to have experienced that.
This story is compelling as Trevor is still at a stage in his life trying to figure out why he struggles with mental health. It is a great film to increase the awareness that the whole idea of mental health is not just a buzzword to shout out on social media, but for those who live through it and to tell them that it is okay to be uncommon. Hopefully people find comfort in that they are not alone in this fight.
by: Trevor Brooks
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