(NEWS CENTER) -- After 25 years as a beloved weatherman, Kevin Mannix has decided to close that chapter of his life and open another, quite literally.
Mannix, who has been with NEWS CENTER since 1989, found a passion for talking about everyday struggles and shame when he worked on a segment for TV aptly named 'Kevin's Story,' a series that highlights the shame associated with mental health issues. In order to focus more time on Kevin's Story, he switched from the morning show to the noon.
After Kevin and Linda saw how well received the segment was and after someone suggested the idea, they knew they wanted to write a book, allowing them to delve in deeper.
The concept for Kevin's book started with his wife Linda Rota who has been a social worker for 30 years and in her line of work she can spot a recurring theme around mental illness and alcohol abuse. Kevin said she has always wanted to write about that, but never really knew how she would be able to get the book out there.
"When I came along, she started talking to me about this idea and she thought because everywhere I went I would get recognized and seemed to be loved," he said. "She was like 'boy people might really listen to you.'"
Kevin's publisher for their new book, titled "Weathering Shame" stemmed from a Facebook post Kevin wrote, informing his viewers of his new career path. Immediately the comments flooded in.
"I didn't see it originally because just hundreds of people made comments," Kevin recalled. "And so I was just reading comments and brushing over them, and when I went home to show my wife she said, 'did you see this one?'"
The comment, posted by Deb and Darren Landry from Bryson Taylor Publishing , read something along the lines of, "oh by the way I'm also a publisher and would love to publish your book."
Kevin said one of the main themes throughout this book is everything happens for a reason and when one door closes, another one opens. Kevin said ultimately the decision to leave television and pursue a career as an author wasn't easy.
"It's been tough at time because I do love this job, and I do love forecasting the weather, but I'm equally excited about this project. It's been growing and I do feel I'm ready to swing over to concentrate on 'Weathering Shame,'" he said.
While his wife had the idea for the book, Kevin found the inspiration and courage to pursue it from the kids he would talk to at schools. As a weatherman, Kevin would visit various schools and talk about weather. He noticed the conversation changing when so many students would ask him, "are you ever nervous or scared on TV." It would prompt the discussion, "do you guys have any fears," and that's when the hands would shoot up.
"We ended up having to stop after 20 minutes because we had to go, but the response was amazing. I would keep doing that when I went to schools and teachers would say, 'thank you that was a wonderful talk, the weather part was good but that other part was really great,'" he said.
As a weatherman, most people don't know too much about Kevin and what's going on in his day-to-day life, let alone what has happened in his past. But, with this book, Kevin promises a more personal tale.
"We are both very honest about our stories. It's about us getting together.. just one of those things where certain things came together to get us together," he said.
Viewers only see one side of Kevin while watching him on TV.
"There's a perception about me that I'm a happy-go-lucky guy and there's some truth to that to a point and then there's this other side of me that's still very unsure of myself," he said.
He said this whole experience since September has showed him he still has some work to do on his own self esteem, which he said is not a bad thing.
The two hope their book will generate conversation about shame, and they will include resources for people who have more questions. He also said there's no 100 percent cure for mental illness and shame. "It's about how you deal with it and do you make forward progress."
"It's a journey," Kevin said. The book and his life.
To stay up to date with Kevin and Linda's journey, follow their book's Facebook page.
And visit their website: