{"id":327215,"date":"2019-10-04T07:52:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T14:52:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=327215"},"modified":"2019-10-04T07:52:56","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T14:52:56","slug":"megan-anderson-opens-up-on-mental-health-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/megan-anderson-opens-up-on-mental-health-struggles\/","title":{"rendered":"Megan Anderson opens up on mental health struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As Megan Anderson gears up for a UFC 243 showdown Zarah Fairn Dos Santos, she&#8217;s opening up on the mental health struggles she&#8217;s dealt with over the course of her career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very hard on myself,\u201d Anderson told <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie.usatoday.com\/2019\/10\/ufc-243-megan-anderson-opens-up-mental-health-issues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MMA Junkie<\/a> at UFC 243 media day. \u201cI\u2019ve always been open about that and about mental health issues and that kind of stuff. So I am my own worst critic and have kind of doubted my skills for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anderson continued, explaining that the issues of her past initially provided fuel for her MMA career. At a certain point, however, she needed to move past them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I had a lot of issues from my childhood that I\u2019ve never dealt with, and I\u2019ve always been open about being bullied, and I\u2019ve had some \u2013 a lot with my home life,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cMy dad was an alcoholic. I think it\u2019s been like six years now, so I\u2019m so proud of him he\u2019s been sober, and that\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I\u2019ve had a lot of demons from my childhood growing up that I never have dealt with, and I kind of used that to fuel me throughout my early MMA career,\u201d Anderson continued. \u201cBut I kind of got to a point where I\u2019m kind of at peace with \u2013 I never had dealt those issues, and it kind of made everything go to (expletive) for lack of a better word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today, she says she&#8217;s in a good place mentally \u2014 which is probably bad news for her upcoming opponent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve kind of come at peace with that now and I realize that I can\u2019t control what I can\u2019t control and I just need to do me and be myself and happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How do you think Megan Anderson will perform at UFC 243?<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 10\/4\/2019.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As Megan Anderson gears up for a UFC 243 showdown Zarah Fairn Dos Santos, she&#8217;s opening up on the mental health struggles she&#8217;s dealt with over the course of her career. \u201cI\u2019m very hard on myself,\u201d Anderson told MMA Junkie at UFC 243 media day. \u201cI\u2019ve always been open about that and about mental health [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":278344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[20398,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Megan Anderson opens up on mental health struggles | 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