Jony Lee is shifting the stigma around mental health in Aotearoa, one social post at a time. <\/p>\n
\n She\u2019s amassed more than 1.7 million followers on Instagram, shaved her head on her wedding day in support of her terminally ill mother, and gone viral on TikTok more times than we
\n can count.\n <\/p>\n
But now, New Zealand content creator Jony Lee is embarking on something she thought she\u2019d never do – running the New York City marathon. <\/p>\n
Lee will join nearly 60,000 runners this Sunday for the five-borough race, which starts in Staten Island and finishes near Central Park. <\/p>\n
The marathon is expected to draw crowds of more than 2 million. <\/p>\n
Good thing Lee is used to an audience of millions. <\/p>\n
She gained widespread public attention six years ago when she and her husband, Alistair Lee, shaved their heads during their wedding reception in support of her terminally ill mother. <\/p>\n
Lee has since built a significant social media following across TikTok and Instagram for content that fluctuates between beauty product reviews, lighthearted skits, personal vlogs and transparency around her struggles with mental health. <\/p>\n
Her own experience with depression was one of the driving forces that motivated Lee to say yes when Maybelline NY approached her to run the NYC marathon in support of Brave Together, a global mental health initiative launched by the makeup brand in 2020 to destigmatise and support people dealing with anxiety and depression. <\/p>\n
Keen to support a local charity, too, Lee engaged with Youthline, an organisationv that provides mental health support, counselling and development programmes for young people aged 12\u201324 (along with their whanau). <\/p>\n
Below, Lee speaks to Viva ahead of this weekend\u2019s New York City marathon. <\/p>\n
ASHLEIGH COMETTI: What went through your mind when you were first asked to run the New York marathon? <\/p>\n
JONY LEE: Running the NYC marathon in partnership with Maybelline why would I ever say no? After I said yes, I realised I had to actually run the marathon and that\u2019s when the imposter syndrome came in full force. I had only ever run a max of 15km – I started panicking! <\/p>\n
AC: What has training for a marathon taught you about yourself that you didn\u2019t know before? <\/p>\n
JL: I think you hear it a lot but, your body is incredible. I\u2019ve never identified as someone who is incredibly fit or athletic. But, I have to give myself some claps because I am literally doing things I thought I would never ever do. I also think a huge learning is how reminiscent this training is to how you need to live your life. In order to push yourself, you need to be fuelled correctly, you need to have the right support system, you need to rest. The outcome is a culmination of a lot of things and you need to find the ways to make that sustainable. <\/p>\n
AC: Running 42.2km is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. How do you plan on pushing through those tough moments on race day? Is there a mantra you\u2019ll be repeating to yourself, a playlist you\u2019ve got queued up, or a particular person you\u2019ll be thinking of to help you keep going? <\/p>\n
JL: My husband has been training with me from the day I found out I was running. He has been my biggest supporter – cooking all my meals, training with me for most sessions, making sure I get my rehab (and prehab) in. I know he\u2019s waiting at the finish line and I can\u2019t wait. I am also a big believer of how important self-talk is. I know I am incredibly supported by my husband, my friends and my family but I know I won\u2019t get across if I\u2019m not one of my biggest supporters. The energy from the crowd will be electric and you bet I\u2019ll be joining in! <\/p>\n
Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
AC: You\u2019re running in support of two charities – Youthline and Maybelline\u2019s Brave Together – and have shared your own journey with depression online. Do you believe there\u2019s still a lot of stigma surrounding mental health issues in Aotearoa? Why do you believe it\u2019s so important to continue to create space for these conversations? <\/p>\n
JL: I think there\u2019s a lot of space for people to learn more about mental health. I was raised by immigrant parents and they grew up in a very different world to us. Our conversations growing up were hard because it felt like we were on completely different pages. Whether these conversations are occurring with our parents, friends, partners – we need to keep educating and talking about it so that we can bring these worlds that feel so distant closer together and bring more understanding. Mental health issues are normal. Navigating your thoughts and feelings are human. Simple understanding will already take things a long way. <\/p>\n
AC: As a content creator, do you feel you have a responsibility to use your platform to talk about these issues? What do you hope running this marathon will help people understand about mental health? <\/p>\n
JL: I think my responsibility is to be honest when I am part of those conversations. I like to use my platform to show people that things get better and that life can be fun. I want people to know they are not alone but I highly encourage people to seek the help they need. <\/p>\n
AC: What would you say to someone who is fighting a battle with their mental health but is too scared to ask for help? <\/p>\n
JL: You might feel too stuck, too distant from everyone, too far gone. Your mental health can take you for a ride and convince you that there\u2019s no way out. Asking for help feels like something too big to tackle when you are in too deep. It\u2019s incredibly overwhelming because it feels like this thing that gets worse and looms bigger over your head each day. I cannot give advice to help people out of the depths of their own mind but, I know it starts small. Before you can even ask for help you need to be ready to help yourself. The big thing of \u201cgetting through\u201d doesn\u2019t have to sit and be such a grand task. It\u2019s a bunch of tiny steps forward. And small ways can look like two feet on the ground and getting out of bed for a stretch. It might be hopping in the shower. It might be progressing to maybe go outside. It might be asking a friend to come over for company in silence, no questions asked. And when you do feel ready, there are others who are ready to help you, too. Organisations like Youthline and Brave Together, local counsellors or psychologists, your own friends and family. When you\u2019re ready to talk it out, it will help tremendously but do it in your own time. <\/p>\n
Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
AC: When you notice yourself feeling low, what are three things you do to help you process how you\u2019re feeling and move through those big emotions? <\/p>\n
JL: Talk it out – I talk to Alistair, who I am very lucky to have, or I will write. I have to get out of my mind and realise what\u2019s going on. Get ready for the day even if there are no plans – get into an outfit, put on make up, do my hair. Even if the plan is to walk around the block. It allows your body to move and focus on other things that aren\u2019t just spirals in your mind. <\/p>\n
AC: How does expressing yourself through beauty help you feel more confident to handle the challenges that life can often bring? <\/p>\n
JL: I think they\u2019re onto something when they say when you look good, you feel good. Getting ready is a way to move with little pressure, it gets me out of your head for a little while. At the same time, it allows me to feel more like myself and step into my own confidence. It might not solve all my problems but, it feels better tackling them feeling like I\u2019ve got more of myself back. <\/p>\n
Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
AC: What does this experience mean to you on a personal level? <\/p>\n
JL: I can do cool things and believing in yourself is cool. I grew up not the biggest fan of myself. It meant that I didn\u2019t believe I could do much with my life. As I\u2019ve grown up I\u2019ve continued to prove to my younger self that there is so much out there that we can achieve. Even the things we swore we could never do. I swore I could never run a marathon or even sign up to one. But, if you just give yourself the slightest chance, just try being your own hype man for a little – there is so much more waiting for you on the other side.<\/p>\n
More beauty <\/p>\n
Are you getting the most out of your sunscreen? What\u2019s worth buying from Merit now that it\u2019s available from Sephora? What\u2019s next in skincare and appearance medicine? Beauty editor Ashleigh Cometti speaks to the experts for their hot takes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jony Lee is shifting the stigma around mental health in Aotearoa, one social post at a time. She\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[13038,12889,665,1977,156,2082,134,316738,6657,33031,1885,111,139,53713,69,90,3117,64675,1072,2737,52524,1120,613,2044,5143],"class_list":["post-646505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-advocate","tag-aotearoa","tag-around","tag-charity","tag-entertainment","tag-for","tag-health","tag-jony","tag-lee","tag-marathon","tag-mental","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nyc","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-post","tag-shifting","tag-social","tag-star","tag-stigma","tag-takes","tag-tiktok","tag-time","tag-viral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}