I kept repeating the same sentence in my head:

“I know I need to start therapy.”

For years I always believed I had it all together, I thought I was unbreakable, I walked around as if I had an armour shield covering me.

I thought I can do it all alone.

I was reading heaps of self help books(which helped with a lot of stuff), I started building a lot of resilience & mental fortitude through endurance races, and other physical exertions.

But, I needed to go deeper to truly heal... I soon realised I needed a helping hand.

Fast forward to 2023 - I was up and down mentally.

Aside from spending an incredible summer in Vancouver with my best friend, I was drifting in and out of difficult waves of anxiety. One of my plans in Vancouver was to start therapy. Right before the trip, I broke up with my girlfriend - someone I was supposed to travel with.

That was not an easy decision.

The real breaking point came while I was working on a superyacht that was dry-docked. I had a full blown anxiety attack. I didn’t know what was happening at the time… I just felt this awful tightness in my chest, racing thoughts, and a deep need to get out of there. I left the boat and didn’t go back.

That moment forced me to pause.

Over the previous few years, I had quietly gone through a lot:

Losing my dad, starting and ending a business, navigating relationships, and having surgery on my ankle. All of it had built up. I knew I had to speak to someone. I had so much to offload, and for once, I wasn’t going to keep carrying it alone.

After taking some time off work, Luke and I went on a road trip that ended up being one of the best experiences of my life. We drove our Infiniti Q4 from Vancouver Island to Seattle, Oregon, and down to San Francisco. Somewhere in Oakland, California, I finally found a therapy practice that felt right - not in Vancouver, where the waitlist was huge - but in Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. I figured I’d get something locked in for when I was home… or maybe just start online.

I had done therapy as a child, and again a few years before this. But back then it felt more like a space to talk rather than to go deep. And truthfully, I wasn’t ready to surrender.

This time felt different. Even just the first phone call with the receptionist made me feel like I was in the right place.

I started working with an incredible therapist, someone I still work with today. From the very first session, I was in tears. I knew instantly - this was what I had needed. And I was ready to give myself fully to it.

We built a strong therapeutic relationship over time. That’s one of the most important parts of therapy: feeling safe, contained, and genuinely supported. You have to trust the person sitting across from you. Research even shows that the quality of that relationship is the biggest factor in how successful therapy is - more than the tools or techniques.

As the weeks went on, I started unpacking things I hadn’t even realised were affecting me.

I’d carried this deep rooted belief that I wasn’t good enough. It traced all the way back to childhood. I was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia young, and I spent years being pulled out of class to sit one-on-one with a teacher. I’d hear things like, “Andrew struggles in the classroom, but he excels on the sports field.”

I internalised that message. It became part of how I saw myself. And those beliefs don’t just disappear - they follow you into your teenage years, into your relationships, and into your adult life… unless they get addressed.

I started to see how that lack of self-worth had impacted almost everything - my mental health, my confidence, even my career decisions and identity. But I’m also grateful for it. Because in doing the hard work, I’ve learned and healed more than I ever thought possible.

A lot of the work we did centred around self-love.

• Meeting my inner child.

• Letting go of shame.

• Learning to have compassion for myself and the people around me.

• Unpacking the old belief systems that told me I wasn’t enough.

And over time, things started to shift.

The tightness in my chest began to ease.

The anxiety that once felt so loud became quieter.

I started to understand where my uncertainty and overthinking were really coming from.

Of course, we explored a lot more - my relationship with my dad, parts of the grieving process I hadn’t fully allowed myself to go through, my attachment styles in relationships, my dynamic with my mum, even roadblocks in business, and this still continues... The work has been deep, and it’s ongoing. But it’s been life changing.

I genuinely believe everyone can benefit from therapy - not just people in crisis.

• You don’t need to wait for a breaking point.

• You don’t need a dramatic reason.

• You just need the willingness to look within and the right person to walk alongside you.

Therapy didn’t fix me.

It helped me understand myself.

And that changed everything.

See you next time.

With gratitude,

Andrew.