Michael
Andrew Said.
36. Psychotherapist.

My story

The long way round.

By 30, I was working as a brand manager with some of the biggest brands in the world — Tom Ford, MAC, Duracell, P&G, Coca-Cola. From the outside, it looked like exactly the right trajectory. Inside, I was burnt out and deeply unhappy. At my heaviest I was 115kg, unable to walk up a flight of stairs without losing my breath. I was drinking more than I should. Eating in ways I didn't understand. Staying in jobs, cities, and circles that didn't fit — because I didn't understand myself well enough to know what I actually wanted.

Then I started working with a Gestalt psychotherapist. Slowly I began to see what had been holding me back. My world changed as the real me came into view.

Running was part of that recovery. A sport I'd started at 24 and fallen in love with — but as I became more unhappy, my body showed it. I had to stop completely. Then, just as things were shifting, when I thought I finally found my community, I got injured. The recovery took two years: two years that took a lot away from me. An enforced stillness. It was one of the most testing periods of my life. But it taught me more about patience, impatience, and what we reach for when we can't do the thing that keeps us sane than almost anything else.

Today I run 25km a week, injury-free, at a pace I couldn't have imagined when I started. Not because of talent — because of consistency, honesty, and doing the unglamorous work.

Both stories are why I do this. And how.