An October 16 event championing mental health awareness began with something special: a performance from actor Aaron Lazar, who was diagnosed with neurological disorder ALS two years ago. In his candid remarks, Lazar shared how he overcame his own self-doubt following his diagnosis and sang "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha. See Lazar sing in the video above.

The event was hosted by mental health advocacy organization Two Bridge, as part of its Changing the World series. Two Bridge founder Harris Schwartzberg gathered a panel, moderated by CBS anchor Maurice DuBois, with speakers that included Rhône CEO Nate Checketts, MadHappy CEO Peiman Raf, and UMG artist Chelsea Cutler.

In his remarks, Lazar explained how, prior to his ALS diagnosis, he had been constantly anxious despite being a Broadway star: "For, like, a decade, I white-knuckled my life, living with this constant just driven by constant doubt and fear that despite all my success, I was a failure." 

Then after his diagnosis, Lazar underwent a journey to heal himself mentally, with the hope that physical healing will follow, explaining: "Prior to ALS, I had no ability to look for answers within because I was way too busy chasing all the answers out there, just trying to land those sexy bullets on the Wikipedia page, because that's where the answers would come from. That's where happiness would come from. And now doing this work to change, to heal, I realize, 'Wow, I've been doing it backwards.' So much of the healing and the happiness that we seek lies within us. In Man of La Mancha, Don Quixote says to his loyal friend, Sancho, 'Embrace the adventure. For it is in the pursuit of dreams that we find meaning.'"

Lazar then added that, despite having to use a wheelchair lately because of ALS, last week, he's been able to wiggle his left big toe for the first time in a year. He then sang "The Impossible Dream," which is also the name of the album that he released this summer to benefit ALS research.

The Two Bridge event concluded with University of Michigan grad students singing a song called "Kindness," which was written by the late Gavin Creel, who passed away September 30 (Creel was a friend of Schwartzberg). See the video of that performance below.