Tyson Fury, the unbeaten world heavyweight champion, tells us in his recent book about his deep battles with mental health.
He says that all was good climbing up the ranks, and when he won the world title and achieved “ultimate success”, when he got to the top of the mountain, it’s then that the problems started.
He felt set decline start, just like in his mind the astronauts who went to the moon experienced deep psychological problems when they returned, they got to the moon and what was the next goal that would top it?
Fury descended on a food, alcohol and even drugs binge. He got up late, didn’t train anymore and went down the pub, and he was still treated like a hero by many (especially in the pub).
He started to lose his mind though, his purpose had gone, life was “too easy” and had constant thoughts of suicide and hated himself.
Before killing himself, he heard a voice he said tell him to STOP. He slammed on the brakes on his Ferrari in the process of going off a bridge and to cut a long story short, started to exercise again, eat right and got back in the ring for the right reasons, setting new targets and didn’t want to let his family down anymore by his very erratic behaviour.
His now daily habits of exercise, eating right and a deep sense of purpose keeps his life on an upward trajectory and simply feeling good every day, and keeps his demons at bay.
The lack of purpose suddenly in anyone’s life can be highly destructive. We think that doing “nothing” is an utopia, a nirvana, when it is a dastardly trap to send us not only into deep physical decline, but a sense of hopelessness in our mind which drops our self-esteem and self-confidence extremely rapidly.
Life promises you “once you get to that level”, “once you retire”, “once you do this and that” that life will continue to be amazing, but it can be the biggest lie society tells you and enters you into life’s most dangerous phase, lots of people suffer ill health, loneliness or even die in the 6 months to 2 years after retirement because their purpose has gone.
Daily routines are vital, keeping active even more so, eating well not only makes you feel better but fights off disease, hanging out with uplifting people is a daily necessity and the goal of continual self-improvement is not only possible at any age, it’s an absolutely imperative fact of life.
