CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Tim Perreira has been walking from southern California across the United States for the past 126 days in support of men’s mental health. His journey recently brought him to Clarksville, where he shared with Clarksville Now some of what he learned along the way.
Perreira said mile one began at Newport Beach, California, and his journey led him through the sunshine state and into Arizona. From there, he walked through the Navajo Nation to northern and eastern New Mexico, then to southern Kansas and Springfield, Missouri.
“I then made my way across the Mississippi (River) just last week and of course, I’m currently in Clarksville,” Perreira previously said. “I’m going to make my way toward Nashville, Knoxville, Roanoke, before ultimately ending in Virginia Beach. It’s kind of a rough route.”
‘A valley of my own mental health’
While the walk so far has taken over four months, Perreira said his journey in support of men’s mental health started much earlier.
“The trip really started as a bit of a personal journey and challenge for me,” Perreira said. “I can rewind back to 2020 when I was kind of at the peak, or a better way to frame, a ‘valley’ of my own mental health. I’d been battling with depression and anxiety for the better part of four years. I was in a really high-pressure, high-performance tech sales role; I was in sales leadership; I had worked out of cities like San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, working for some high-growth startups.
“It was kind of the traditional 9-to-5 corporate route. Everything on paper was going really well, making good money. I was climbing the ladder and living in these awesome cities. … But on the inside, things felt like they were on a decline,” he said.
Perreira said he’d never had these feelings before, and he didn’t know how to deal with them. “Like a lot of men, I kept trying to work through it; I kept trying to push through it; I kept acting like nothing was wrong. Didn’t want to speak up, didn’t want to share my challenges. I wanted everybody to think I had everything together. … All of these lies, stories, self-limiting beliefs, they really pushed me further and further into this more troubling state.”
Bouncing back from rock bottom
Later in 2020, after eventually being fired from his job, Perreira hit rock bottom. However, this served as a bounce-back point for him, as he realized that everything that he had been going through wasn’t because of the need for a better job, selling a different product, or making more money. Rather, the process forced Perreira to look inward.
“I was led down the path of learning about regulating my emotions, how to do things like manage stress, while taking care of my physical body with exercise, sunshine, getting great sleep, eating whole foods and eliminating a lot of toxins from my diet.” This path also led Perreira to open his own business that supports men’s mental health, while eventually leading him to walk across the United States for the cause as well.
In 2024, as he continued to battle his depression, Perreira was inspired by a video he saw online that showed another person’s journey of walking across the U.S. “Immediately, I thought I’m doing that,” he said. “Over the next three days, I obsessed with learning about it, planning it, looking at routes. I thought to myself, is this even possible?”
After receiving overwhelming support from his friends and family, he decided he would walk across the nation, while sharing his experiences along the way via social media. While he provided updates online, Perreira chose to not listen to music, podcasts or audiobooks, and putting his phone away for hours on end.
“I wanted to be present, use it as a chance to get to know myself better,” he said. “But I did say if I’m going to do that, I might as well also raise money for men’s mental health. So, I found a charity that works with men’s health, mental health and suicide prevention.”
Destination: Virginia Beach
Perreira began walking across the United States on March 6 of this year and now, he has less than 700 miles before he reaches Virginia Beach.
When asked about his message to those who also struggle with depression and anxiety, he told Clarksville Now it’s important to always remember you are not alone. “You are not the only one going through it, even though it feels like it,” he said.
To learn more about Perreira’s story and mission, visit his Instagram. If interested in donating to his cause, visit his GoFundMe. All of the donations will go to Movember. Currently, more than $53,000 has been raised out of his fundraising goal of $65,000.
| DON’T MISS A STORY: Sign up for the free daily Clarksville Now email newsletter