Gerry Hussey: I don't let my anxiety define me

The sports psychologist and best-selling author follows a strict mind-body regimen that includes cold water immersion and meditation to quiet his critical internal voice

Fri, 14 Jun, 2024 - 11:31

Sharon Ní Chonchúir

CHANGING your thinking can transform your life, unlocking your potential to achieve personal and professional success. That’s the message that sports psychologist and performance coach Gerry Hussey hopes to spread at an event at the Clayton Hotel Silver Springs in Cork on June 23.

It’s a message the Galway native applies in his own life. “As a child, I had constant aches and pains, sweating and a racing heart,” he says. “I was brought to doctors to find out what was physically wrong with me, but nobody stopped to think that it might be anxiety.”

Hussey’s anxiety was driven by an internal voice that undermined his confidence by pointing out all that was wrong with him. “That voice made me shy away from so much that I essentially shied away from life,” he says. “Even at home, during happy moments with my family, I’d feel empty and numb. I thought that’s what I’d be like for the rest of my life.”

That changed when in his late teens he came across new-age books by the likes of Deepak Chopra in his late teens. “Books introduced me to the idea of the mind-body connection, Hussey says. “I began to understand that the mind, brain, body and spirit all functioned as one.”

That realisation and the work he has done to apply what he has learned about the mind-body connection changed Hussey’s life.

“I am, and always will be, an anxious person,” he says. “I still have days when I question whether I’m good enough, but I no longer allow those thoughts to take over. I cannot control what happens to me in life, but I can control how my mind responds to it. So, I don’t let my anxiety define me or hold me back. I work on letting it go.”

The approach involves the mind and body. “Like all emotions, anxiety is held in the body, so I move my body to release it,” says Hussey.

He starts his day with physical movement, such as dancing. He then does some chanting, singing, breathwork, meditation, and visualisation, before swimming in cold water or taking a cold shower.

It’s time-consuming, but Hussey believes it’s vital for his wellbeing. “My routine takes an hour every morning and I have to get up at 5.30am to get it all done before the kids wake up, but it’s worth it,” he says. “I’ve always said: If you win the morning, you win the day.”

Hussey lives in Dublin with his wife, Miriam, a pharmacist turned wellness coach, and their two children. The arrival of Eli, four, and Bethany, one, initially upended Gerry’s daily routines.

“Becoming a parent is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he says. “At first, I kept waiting to get my old life back.” He found the relentlessness of parenthood challenging. “Constantly changing nappies and tidying up, the kids screaming and rarely going to bed on time; it’s stressful and exhausting,” he says. “You can feel as if you’re getting nowhere, and you don’t even know if you’re any good at any of it.”

Again, Hussey found the answer lay in changing how he responded to the situation. “I had to stop wishing for the life I used to have,” he says. “I had to surrender my feelings of control and become more present in the moment, spending time with the kids, playing with them, and making sure they feel loved.”

Gerry Hussey: "We can only ever control how we respond to what happens to us in life and I try to show people how to be conscious choice-makers in their own lives.”

Though parenting young children is highly rewarding, he is not afraid to talk about the hard work involved. “There’s nothing more magnificent than those moments of connection when they throw their arms around you and call you daddy,” he says. “But that’s only 20% of the time, if that. The other 80% is slog. There are days when I’m pulling my hair out, but I just try to be more patient and do my best.”

Hussey has built his career on sharing his realisation that every one of us can choose how we react to life’s challenges. It’s a concept that has resonated with athletes, entrepreneurs, and the many thousands who have attended his talks and read his bestselling books, Awaken Your Power Within and The Freedom Within.

Hussey is modest when asked why he thinks his ideas affect people so deeply. “I think it’s because I speak from the heart, asking big questions and trying to answer them simply,” he says. “I’m honest and vulnerable and I really try to give people the best of myself at any given moment. That’s what people respond to.”

That honesty and vulnerability are central to his Cork show, Unleash and Elevate Your Potential. The day’s ambitious line-up will include talks, meditation, and physical activities designed to provide attendees with the tools “to overcome obstacles, break through limitations and navigate emotions to create a life of fulfilment and purpose”.

“It won’t be about fake positivity as we all know there are challenges and pain in this world,” says Hussey. “My job isn’t to make that disappear, but to empower you to be able to take it on.

“We can only ever control how we respond to what happens to us in life and I try to show people how to be conscious choice-makers in their own lives.”

Hussey has more events lined up for later in the year, including a retreat in Portugal and a show in the National Concert Hall in November. He has also just signed the contract for his third book.

“Its working title is The Voice Within, and it will be about how powerful or debilitating our inner voice can be,” he says. “I want to pass on how I’ve learned to change my inner commentary and how this has changed my perception and experience of the world.

“Life is short. We shouldn’t allow our inner voice to convince us to spend it waiting in the wings. We should all be in the centre of life’s arena, living life to the full.”