Body, Mind and Spirit

Eventually I stopped measuring progress against the person I had been before the incident and started measuring it against where I had been yesterday.

First it was getting out of bed. Then leaving the house. Then engaging with people again. Then allowing myself to think about work without immediately feeling overwhelmed.

By December 2025 I weighed 136 kilograms.

That number became another marker for me. I did not want my recovery to be measured only by whether somebody would employ me again. I wanted structure in three parts of my life: body, mind and spirit.

I began taking responsibility for my physical health again while continuing psychology, vocational rehabilitation and professional development. I enrolled in an AFL List Management course because I wanted to keep learning rather than sit around waiting for somebody else to decide whether I still had something to offer sport.

The applications became part of that structure too. Every application required me to imagine a future. Every interview required me to speak about leadership with confidence. Every rejection forced me to decide whether I would go again.

Slowly, the different parts started moving in the same direction.

By 15 August 2026, after I had returned to executive employment in Perth, I weighed 119.8 kilograms. More than sixteen kilograms had gone since December.

The number was not really the story. The important part was that I recognised the person in the photograph again.

Body. Mind. Spirit.

I was not trying to become the person I had been before Bulleen. I was trying to become a better, more structured version of myself.