Hi, it's Andy here and welcome to Radio Headspace and to Tuesday morning.

So I think there's been a few times on Radio Headspace where we've looked at the idea of

sort of identity and how you see yourself and I used to work with a lot of people one

to one and there was one clinic though worked out, it was actually with groups at a time,

but it was for professional athletes.

It was professional athletes who struggled with addiction for all kinds of different

reasons.

It might have been alcohol, it might have been drugs, it was sex addiction.

And anyway, within that world of professional sport, especially athletes of a young age

where they come from a background where they're not necessarily a customer who would be

accustomed to suddenly coming into those kinds of riches and that kind of environment,

it's a really challenging thing.

But every now and again, an older athlete, sometimes even a retired athlete, would come

through the clinic.

And I remember speaking to one and he'd started drinking and he was quite depressed.

And there was a time where he played for one of the best clubs in the country, played

for the national team and he was a really well respected footballer and people would come

up to him on the street and they'd be asking for his autograph and long before the days

of selfies and everything else.

But there was a sense for him constantly being projected toward him that he was sort of

something different, something unusual, something special within the world in which he lived.

And as he'd got older, that had slowly slipped away.

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