I Was Falling Apart Doing Everything Right
The burnout, anxiety and exhaustion I couldn't fix with mindset alone
I buried more friends in my 40s than I ever expected to. Not in car crashes. Not in war. But in slow motion — from burnout, addiction, overdoses….silently. And all of them were men who “had it together.”
I was one of them. Or I was on my way.
If you looked at my life on paper, you’d assume I was thriving. Executive role. Great company. Good family. Morning workouts. Supplements. Cold plunges. Books by Goggins, Jocko, all of it followed with gusto.
I checked every box on the modern man’s checklist of “doing it right.”
But I felt like I was dying.
Not in a dramatic way. In a quiet, grinding way. My energy and fire disappeared. Sleep went to hell. I had constant brain fog, irritability, and anxiety. better The things I used to love — even my kids — started to feel like obligations. I didn’t have room in my life for anything but ‘the routine’.
I thought it was just stress. Midlife. Aging. Maybe I needed time management. Maybe I needed to be more grateful.
So I pushed harder. That’s what we do, right?
But what if grit isn’t always the answer?
What if, for some of us, the system is simply breaking down — biologically, chemically, hormonally — and no amount of mindset work can override it?
I didn’t want that to be true. I wanted to fight through it. But the truth didn’t care what I wanted.
I hit bottom on a Friday.
In the next post, I’ll tell you what finally woke me up — and the one number that changed everything.
If this sounds familiar, or if you’re silently burning out, subscribe. I’m building something here for men like us. You’re not alone — and there’s a path forward.