Iron man: No shame over mental weakness
Duffy broke all the taboos about strong men at the launch of the www.aisling.ie website on building resilience for positive mental health.
He spoke of sadness and loneliness, and of being mentally challenged before he gave up cigarettes and lost weight.
And, strikingly, he admitted to not being ashamed of those feelings.
He also put paid to the notion that success was achieved alone as he commended the team who helped him win Britain’s first Deca-Enduroman contest, a gruelling 10 days of triathlons.
Brian Howard, chief executive of Mental Health Ireland, said the event, organised by Mullingar Mental Health Association along with Soroptimists Mullingar, was inspiring.
“There is traditionally a reluctance in young males in particular to open up, to talk about their emotions,” he said.
“It’s great to see successful sportsmen like Gerry talking about the way it is from a personal perspective. That’s inspiring for all age groups but particularly young males.”
Duffy doesn’t communicate with the voice of an inspirational speaker, but calls himself “the luckiest man in the world”.
The 42-year-old quietly described overcoming a terror of public speaking. He barely slept for six weeks before addressing a meeting of just four people.
He was so stressed out he had a worrying pain in his arm. His doctor advised him not to continue but he sought help from a hypnotist, who “very respectfully” rationalised that the world would still be the same after the speech.
Duffy said physical fitness brought him better mental health, and he credits his first run with changing his life.
“I felt alive,” he said, and it was the beginning of an active life where, at the end of the year, he began to notch up his achievements rather than count failures and missed opportunities.
“We’re consumed in this country by bad news and we really love to trade bad news, but we can choose to start with ourselves,” he concluded.
