“In August of 2018, when I broke my collarbone, is what I call my literal and metaphorical breaking point. At that point in my life, I was at a point where I was either going to kill myself or I had to ask for help and obviously the one I chose was asking for help,” says Drew Peterson, an accomplished professional skier, and filmmaker.
Drew’s latest film, Feel it All, is launching online August 17 at 4:00 AM MST when the shotgun goes off to start the 2024 Leadville Trail 100.
“I think one of the truths in filmmaking and certainly for this film is you can only fit so many stories in 34 minutes,” says Drew. “And I think that’s one of the great difficulties of filmmaking. That there are so many more nuances and intricacies that don’t always make it into the film but are still a part of it. It took a lot of stubbornness and belief in my story’s power to help people. Creating this film was a difficult two-and-a-half-year journey with no certainty. But I believed it was worthwhile.”
Feel it All is mental health journey, and realization the race with life was too heavy to complete on his own. The transformative power of physical activities, the importance of addressing mental health openly, and the nuanced realities that shape our experiences in human existence. Drew says, “I just have this really deep inner volition that I know what I have within me and the story that I have to share. And my song to sing can help a lot of people.”
There’s a lot of nuance in his relationship with skiing and running. Skiing brought him joy and was his only escape. Using it to numb. Now, running is part of his mental health toolkit, but not the entire toolkit. It allows him to experience simultaneous realities—joy and coping. The coexistence of joy and pain is present. Knowing the inner voices can be turned from focus and distinguishing his darkness from his light allows him to make his way through.
“I think it’s worth saying that rock bottom can also just be when you decide to stop digging,” He says. “When I broke my collarbone that was was after a year of my physical body began breaking down from the emotional trauma that it was holding.”
And he stopped digging only because of a loss of control. A gain of resilience and vulnerability, marked by a series of physical and emotional challenges coming after breaking his tibial plateau and dislocating both shoulders. Drew underwent bilateral shoulder surgeries. His troubles continued when he broke his collarbone in a fall, unable to use his arms to break his fall due to the shoulder surgeries, which also resulted in a minor concussion. Drew said one often overlooked symptom of concussions is the loss of emotional control. This manifested for Drew in a profound breakdown, leading him to ask his mother and brother for accountability in seeking help. Drew’s experiences highlight that the impetus for change varies for everyone, and for him.
“If you look in nature, the epitome of prey is a rabbit. Rabbit’s are constantly being chased by predators. A rabbit gets chased by a fox, once it escapes, rather than going about its life, it finds a little hiding spot behind a tree or something, and shakes, like, uncontrollably.”
“And experiences it. And lets out all of the fear that it just felt for running for its life. And that opens it up to be able to just live normally the rest of the time. Because they’re not bottling it up.”
With a passion for sharing his story to help others, Drew’s insights provided a compelling look into the resilience and vulnerability that define his life’s work.
Drew says, “It starts with awareness and taking my own advice of feeling it all. Experiencing and processing feelings in the moment prevents them from festering and overwhelming us later.”
The mission of Feel It All is nothing short of powerful, lasting cultural change of breaking down the stigma around mental health and suicide in order to create a culture that honors and prioritizes mental health in order to save lives and help us thrive as individuals, communities, and as a society. Feel It All is supported by UCHealth with additional support by Mountain Gazette and Best Day Brewing
The film will release for free on YouTube on August 17th at 4 AM, coinciding with the start of the Leadville 100. The best way to watch it is to attend an in-person event, film festivals, or the Quality Ski Time Film Tour with 15 locations across North America which can be found at drewpeterson.com/feel-it-all.
- Boulder, CO – August 6 – Group run & screening at The Studio Boulder – Please RSVP for FREE
- Denver, CO – August 14 – Group run & screening at Runners Roost Denver – RSVP link coming soon
- Leadville, CO – August 16 – 12pm at the LT 100 Run Race Expo, FREE
- Basalt, CO – POSTPONED (New date coming soon) – Theater screening
- Breckenridge, CO – Breckenridge Film Festival – September 19-22 – Info & screening date coming soon
- Salt Lake City, UT – Wasatch Mountain Film Festival – September 19-22 – Info & screening date coming soon
- Billings, MT – Montana International Film Festival – September 19-22 – Info & screening date coming soon
- Quality Ski Time Film Tour – October & November – Locations to come all across North America
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