Will Young

Happy Place

Fearne Cotton

Society & Culture, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Relationships, Personal Journals

4.6 • 15.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2022

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you’re a high achiever, do you ever wonder if you sometimes use success to mask pain? Performer Will Young recognises this is something he did for many years. Now though, he’s discovered the importance of actively connecting to others and physically moving trauma out of his body when he finds himself in a low place.

In this chat with Fearne he explains how he spent much of his career comparing himself to others in a way that was crippling for his mental health, and they both explore why they struggle to deal with rejection.

Will’s podcast, The Wellbeing Lab, is out now and Will’s new book Be Yourself and Happier: The A-Z of Wellbeing is out on April 21 via Penguin Books.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains conversations about suicidal thoughts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we start, this episode contains some chat that might be triggering for some listeners.
0:05.6	If that sounds like it might apply to you, do check the show notes for more details.
0:11.6	Hello, I'm Fern Cotton and this is Happy Place, the show that demystifies all the many ideas
0:18.4	floating around about mental health. Today, I'm catching up with Will Young.
0:23.8	It allowed me to avoid stuff, so I'd obsess about work, but also I was like,
0:28.6	never felt good enough, looking at other people constantly comparing myself,
0:32.7	constantly looking at other people and thinking, oh, they're better than me.
0:35.6	So I wasn't really enjoying it, but wasn't really aware.
0:38.9	Because I was a high achiever, it was easy. I went to competition, right now I'll stick around,
0:44.0	I'll go and do a movie, easy. I'll go and do a play. You know, I mean, literally it's like high
0:48.5	functioning, high avoiding. We'll obviously burst into our lives in 2002 when he won the first ever
0:56.3	pop idol series. Since then, he's gone on to not only make gorgeous music, but perform on the
1:02.4	West End and in films and now he's written a book. Be yourself and happier that A to Z of
1:08.7	well-being is Will's exploration into navigating our emotions after his experience of depression
1:16.3	and anxiety in his own life. He came round to mind a couple of weeks ago and while we maybe
1:21.9	didn't get through an entire A to Z of mental health, we did bond over our inability to deal with
1:28.5	rejection and our thoughts on how to deal with physically getting older. I loved this chat,
1:34.0	we covered some really difficult ground, but we also had a right hoot, I mean, we laughed so much.
1:43.6	It was wonderfully deep and wonderfully real and very funny. Will is hilarious. I think you're
1:50.0	going to absolutely love this. Enjoy.
2:20.0	This episode of Happy Place is brought to you by Dyson and their special edition of Vincoblue
2:49.2	and Rose Hair Care Technology. Available this gifting season. I style my hair like the changing of the
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