Former athlete, multiple concussions
Mike 44yo, Retired pro athlete, now a coach
Former professional athlete · About three years
“Eventually I realised I wasn't looking for one thing to fix me. I was learning a completely different way to take care of myself.”
Read this first
Former athlete, multiple concussions
227 wordsLife before I started
I played fourteen years of contact sport and retired at 34 with a body that worked and a head that did not. The headaches were manageable. The mood swings were not.
What I was experiencing
Irritability that scared my kids. Anxiety that showed up as anger. Two or three drinks most nights to get to sleep.
What I'd tried before
Neurologists, physical therapy, sleep studies, two rounds of antidepressants, and a lot of denial.
What I explored
Talk therapy first, then breathwork, then a supervised retreat two years later. Microdosing for about four months after that.
What happened
The therapy did the heaviest lifting. Breathwork gave me something to do at 11pm instead of pouring a drink. The retreat was overwhelming and useful in roughly equal measure.
What surprised me most
How much of the change came from telling the truth to my wife rather than from anything I took.
What didn't help
Microdosing, honestly. I could not tell it apart from a good week.
What I'm still working through
Bright lights and loud rooms still cost me. I schedule around it now instead of pretending.
What I learned about myself
That my irritability was mostly untreated anxiety plus alcohol plus no sleep. Removing one at a time did nothing. Working on all three did something.
Where I am now
Sober for two years. Training again, differently. Still in therapy every other week.
What I'd tell someone starting out
Do the boring things first. Sleep, therapy, movement, honesty. If you still want to explore something else after that, you will explore it from a much stronger place.
Explore what Mike tried
These are the tools and practices Mike named in their story. Tap any one to read what it is, why people use it, and what the evidence says.
See the whole toolkit →Around the fire
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