My journey overcoming Anxiety, ADHD and Depression

And how I realised they're caused by low energy.

Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Ben.

From the outside, Ben appeared healthy, always playing sport and surrounded by loving parents.

But on the inside, his energy levels were all over the place—either he felt completely drained or buzzing with restless energy. And this unpredictability often led to panic attacks, trouble focusing, and eventual burnout.

To cope, he used food as a way to regulate and distract himself from how he felt. He also played lots of different sports to boost his energy and make friends at new schools, as his family moved around for his Dad's work.

Eventually, as he entered high school, he settled on rugby, inspired by the Wallabies and the Brumbies, two of the best teams in the world at the time.

But he never dreamed he'd be good enough to play for them and kept playing because he loved it. And when he moved to Canberra for university, he joined a local rugby club and kept playing.

Then one day, his dedication and passion for rugby paid off when he landed a job as a professional player with the Brumbies, playing in the front row—a position where traditionally, eating uncontrollably was almost a prerequisite.

He was happy. And the good pay meant he didn’t have to deal with real-world stress.

But slowly he started to put lots of pressure on himself to succeed, and became dependent on the structured athlete life to keep fit and avoid the struggles he faced growing up. 

Then, when a former teammate committed suicide, Ben decided to focus on his mental health before retirement, recognising that low and inconsistent energy was the cause of many of his struggles.

And when the time came to retire, he felt ready.

But shortly after, his new business failed, and his pub was forced to close during the pandemic. The stress hit him hard and drained him. This led to Ben feeling more lost and burned out than ever.

Dark thoughts returned, along with the panic attacks. And for the first time, exercise and good food weren’t enough to lift his energy.

He needed help.

But with support from his family and the Brumbies, Ben got professional help. And as he improved, it confirmed what he’d long suspected: his mental health was directly linked to his energy levels.

Sport had taught him the impact that food and sleep have on energy and performance.

But working with a psychologist, he also discovered that his thinking patterns were burning up energy. Thoughts like “I’m not enough” were draining him more than he realised.

Bit by bit, he adjusted his lifestyle and habits to improve his energy—like reducing sugar, getting better sleep, and spending more time having fun with friends. And as he felt better, he begun to have the energy to challenge those negative thoughts and change how he viewed himself.

He also noticed that managing stress was easier when he was organised and had a consistent routine, reinforcing that energy is at the root of mental well-being.

He came to understand that modern lifestyles and environments are actively contributing to low energy and poor mental health, as we live in ways that clash with our genetics and how humans have evolved.

This shift in perspective helped Ben stop blaming himself during low moments, seeing them as a system failure rather than a personal one.

And for a long time, Ben wanted to speak about the importance of energy. But he worried he’d be dismissed as "woo-woo" or would offend people who are struggling by oversimplifying a complex problem.

But then one day, he was asked to give a presentation on energy management to a business.

He was nervous, but agreed, and it went well.

The experience showed him that many others were struggling with low energy. And the more he spoke, the more he found people connected with his story.

Then as doctors began to share the science linking energy levels to mental and physical health, Ben’s confidence grew, and he spent more time learning about the science of energy to better explain what he’d felt.

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I’ve been sitting on this post for a while.

Until recently, I never admitted I struggled with anxiety and ADHD, believing people use these labels as a cop-out to avoid change.

But now I know real change is possible, and you’re not stuck with these struggles forever, and writing about this is giving me energy.

So if you're struggling like I use to, look up how mental health and our energy is linked, and how even small lifestyle shifts can make a big difference.