22/03/2025
The ability to say no to things you have no capacity for, knowing your limits and listening to your body are all key factors in preserving your mental health.
This shot taken by Will Lindsay-Perez sums up one of the hardest few weeks of my life last year. Let me explain...
I had recorded 16 podcast episodes in 2 weeks in America, while running my companies. Flight Studio, Flight Fund and thirdweb.
I was severely jet lagged after flying between LA, the Middle East & The UK in 72 hours, I had then stayed up for 2 days over the weekend to complete a critical business project.
I was delirious, it was 8pm and there were 2,000~ people waiting for me on the other side of the wall in Dublin. It’s the first time in 8 years that my assistant Sophie Chapman told me she was about to intervene & cancel everything 😅
I was sat on a windowsill giving myself a little pep talk to get myself in the right frame of mind to not let those people down - while feeling like I had already let them down - I felt awful in every imaginable way.
This is not to be admired. It's unsustainable and your body will eventually find a way to slow you down if you don't listen to it.
I used to believe - especially when I was 16-25 years old that I was invincible in terms of mental health. At that age I thought mental health issues were things that happened to other people. I thought I was too "mentally strong" and "logical" to ever suffer with any mental health challenges.
Eventually, I found out I was wrong! We are all humans with a set of non-negotiable basic needs. If you deprive yourself of these basic needs your body will often send you signals - anxiety, depression etc etc as a last ditch attempt to get you to course correct.
I've never said this before, but I've started to think that somewhere inside me, there’s a young boy who still believes that everything he has could disappear overnight - that he could easily go back to zero - that he's still sprinting away from something. When you start with very little, the 'ghost of losing it all' can haunt you in a way that's both destructive and causes you to be scared of ever letting your foot off the gas.
Finding myself in a situation like the one you see in the photo basically means I f*cked up several months ago when a past version of me said Yes to too many things, which means a future version of me is now paying the price.
This is not the plan. The plan is to protect my first foundations (sleep, exercise, nutrition, relationships) while also being able to be professionally productive.
You never really master "balance" because life, opportunities and priorities are always changing.
You have to just stay tuned to your body and your mind and use what it's trying to tell you as the most important signal and instruction manual you have. When things get a bit too much, you have to be willing to let other people down, cancel plans and speak up, to defend your mental health.
Have you been listening to your mental health?
P.S shoutout to my team for understanding, supporting and carrying me on days like this! I really appreciate it ❤️
