I had a bit of a mini nervous breakdown last weekend. I had a bad Board meeting over my deal a few weeks ago, everyone was blaming me and putting time pressure on me, I had scramble to get back, and they hired someone else to do my job (M&A) starting 1 Dec, so I thought I was losing my job in no time at all.

I developed a stye very suddenly on Tuesday night (likely stress-induced), and had to cope with wearing a single contact lens for 2 days (I couldn’t find my spectacles), until it mostly recovered by Thursday night.

My nerves were frayed, and I was super emotional. So when I visited Paris for the weekend, and got lost between the metro and my hotel on Friday evening, I started crying uncontrollably. I felt super stressed and panicky.

Focussing on Hyrox on Saturday was helpful. And racing got some endorphins, which calmed me down momentarily. But then the tightness in my chest returned again the next day. I met up with my freeholder, who happened to be in Paris, and we had a chat over hot chocolate and wine, near Gard du Nord, which really helped. He said, sometimes it’s good to speak to someone who is not a friend, who is just there to be fully present and fully listen to you.