Photo:Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty
Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty
Carson Dalyis feeling optimistic about turning 50 — and bouncing back after having a major surgery last year.
TheTodayhost celebrated his milestone birthday on June 22 and opened up to PEOPLE about how he’s feeling after undergoing anAnterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion surgery, in which an intervertebral disc is removed and replaced with a bone or metal spacer, according to theUSC Spine Center.
“I feel great, actually. I feel a lot better entering my 50s than I did leaving my 40s, to be honest with you. Physically, anyway,” he tells PEOPLE. “I had back surgery last year and my back is finally… It takes a year. I had back fusion surgery and I was really down and out.”
“I’m really on my bounce back right now as I enter my 50s, so I’m totally optimistic for the future,” he adds.
Daly also shared that he’s been feeling good mentally, reflecting on his own struggles with anxiety and the work he’s done in recent years to raise awareness about mental health care.
“I’ve been on a real mental health journey recently. I did a lot of advocacy work in the mental health space. And in my own exploration of my past, trying to figure out if my anxiety disorder, I have GAD, generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. And I reflect on where it came from,” he explains.
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The television personality says he would probably tell his younger self that “it’s okay to not be okay, to be vulnerable, be brave, talk to somebody about how you’re feeling. Don’t hold things in inside.”
Daly adds that so many people, including himself, suffer in silence for decades before they ask for help with their mental health.
“There are answers out there,” he continues. “You can get better and you’re not alone. So many people are dealing with things that you don’t know that they’re dealing with. There’s invisible pain that a lot of people are going through.”
“See, I have this whole philosophy that it’s not just about accepting mental health, it’s about celebrating it. I think there’s wonderful traits that people have. It’s just about perception. We have to reframe the way we look at it,” Daly tells PEOPLE.
“I could be nervous and have a panic attack and feel like there’s an imminent threat and run out of a room and my fight or flight is crazy and I’m sensitive. But also I could have a glass of wine and listen to classical music and look at a sunset and have a visceral physical reaction of joy to that. Or when I hug and love my kids. The love is so strong," he added.
“That’s the other side of that anxiety: sensitivity. I choose to look, so I’m a superhero and I look at it like that. I don’t look at it like, ‘Oh, I have some mental health issue.’”
source: people.com
