Jeff Sparr: Obsession
The Story Collider
Story Collider, Inc.
4.4 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2016
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jeff Sparr finds an unexpected purpose after his life is torn apart... by a case of jock itch. PeaceLove co-founder Jeff Sparr is a man on an audacious mission -- a mission to make mental illness cool. Not cool to have, but cool to support. A family man, mental health advocate, teacher and self-taught artist, Jeff is above all a survivor, battling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) much of his life. Inspired by a simple, powerful image signifying “peace of mind and love for yourself,” Sparr set out to build the first symbol for mental health and bring expressive arts to millions of people to help them create peace of mind.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A science story, huh? |
| 0:04.0 | Is NYU a scientist? |
| 0:06.0 | I felt right. |
| 0:08.0 | And I just thought, well... |
| 0:10.0 | It was that golden moment. |
| 0:12.0 | Because science was on my side. |
| 0:15.0 | ... Hi everyone, I'm Ben Lilly, and welcome to the Story Collider, where we bring you true personal stories about science. |
| 0:31.4 | This week's story is from Jeff Spar. It was recorded in March 2016 at AS-220 in Providence, Rhode Island as part of Brain Week, Rhode Island. |
| 0:50.0 | Everybody's got a story, and sometimes you can't make up the story that becomes life. |
| 0:56.6 | And I think that's my case for sure. |
| 1:00.3 | I grew up here in Providence, went to school at Moses Brown right around the corner. |
| 1:07.1 | It was a very good athlete, was recruited by Ohio State, and went there on a tennis scholarship |
| 1:13.6 | where I was captain of the tennis team and started for four years and had a really successful career. |
| 1:20.6 | Towards the tail end of my career there, it sounds kind of crazy, but it's silly, but I got a case of jockage. |
| 1:32.6 | That is pretty funny. And for most people, that would be no big deal. I was an athlete, |
| 1:37.7 | you know, you put a little cream on it, it disappears, it's gone. But unfortunately for me, |
| 1:42.4 | that was, you know, the beginning of a terrible downward spiral |
| 1:46.5 | that would get out of control for me. I became totally, you know, consumed with it and having a rash, |
| 1:56.1 | and it got to the point where I was wearing different underwear and I'd be using different powders and different creams. |
| 2:04.0 | And, you know, not only was it affecting probably my athletic career, but it got to the point where it was |
| 2:09.5 | affecting my life in college. I graduated, Ohio State, came back to Rhode Island. My family |
| 2:17.3 | had a large textile company, |
... |
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