“Didn’t Eat, Didn’t Drink, Didn’t Do Anything”: Michael Phelps Recalls the Scariest 45 Days of His Life

Perhaps the world only knows Michael Phelps as the 23-time Olympic gold medalist. Or a man who conquered the world of swimming with his extraordinary talent and hard work. However, the same man also went through a profound mental health crisis and wanted to end his life once. Though the question is, what made him go from a champion to being so miserable at one point?

You look at Michael Phelps, and all you see is one of the greatest Olympians ever. Though, there comes a moment in life when even the bravest of people shiver with fear. But on the other side of the fear is growth, and to reach there, one needs to course through some tough times as the swimming legend did. As they say, the best way to escape from your problems is to face them.

When Michael Phelps felt scared

In 2014, the ‘Baltimore Bullet’ went through his second DUI arrest. Phelps was going through a mental health crisis as probably for the first time, he didn’t have any goal to accomplish. The guy already had won 18 Olympic golds at the time. What more would have been there to achieve? However, the lack of direction had a heavy toll on his mental health, and things did not go right for him.

Though, when he realized he was probably hurting himself, he decided to seek therapy. As Phelps recalls, “I sat in my room for three days didn’t talk to anybody, didn’t eat, didn’t drink, didn’t do anything. I decided that it was time to check myself into a treatment centre and forgot what was going on. Why am I? Why am I this way? How am I this way to uncover all of these things?”

He added, “For me, that was probably some of the scariest 45 days of my life checking to a place where I knew nobody? I didn’t have a cell phone. I didn’t have a computer. I had no access to the outside world.”

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Therapy changed Phelps for good

Maybe taking the first step to address his mental problems might have been hard for the swimming legend. However, it was a decision that led him to see his life from a whole different perspective. About the experience, Phelps said, “I basically after the first three days was just like scr** it lets go.” But he stuck with the treatment a little longer, and soon he realized, “let’s get something out of this, let’s be vulnerable for the first time right like let’s go to a scary place and try to change and try to grow. And for me, that’s I think truly what changed my life.”

To get rid of the things that were bothering him, Phelps needed to make peace with his past. He had to be vulnerable so that he could come out stronger. It’s worth appreciating seeing someone embracing the problems at hand, and making the required changes to make things better. Perhaps besides swimming, that’ll be his legacy for the world for ages ahead.

What are your thoughts about the same?

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