Wayne Carey reveals what led to dark days
In a frank interview footy great Wayne Carey has opened up on what he believes led to his darkest days and how he managed to turn his life around and become a “better person”.
Fiona Byrne
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Footy great Wayne Carey has opened up about struggling to adapt to life after footy, making mistakes and seeking help to become a “better person.”
A reflective Carey spoke of dealing with issues of anxiety, toxic feelings, embarrassment and shame as he sorted his life out in the years after his stellar playing days ended in an interview with Corey McKernan on McKernan’s YouTube conversation series.
“I think I am a way better person now than I have ever been and part of that unfortunately is because of mistakes ...that I have made. I just wish I had started working through it sooner rather than later,” Carey said.
The lack of structure in his life after footy led to well- documented trouble, he said.
“Unfortunately you are never going to go into something that you loved as much, in terms of playing footy, for a job,” he said.
“When you are at a footy club and you have to be here at a certain time, there at a certain time, you have structure and routine and all of a sudden it is over and that is all gone.
“It was difficult, it was difficult for me, and I did not think it was going to be, but it was.
“It took me a while to work it out. I was in denial about things, I had no structure. The amount of work that I did certainly did not fulfil me mentally and it certainly did not fill up my week, so there were a lot of spare hours to do a lot of things that you should not have been doing.
“I found that transition … difficult and I have done a lot of work on myself . and it took a lot of work.”
The Triple M and Channel 7 footy commentator said he regretted his mistakes.
“I feel much more comfortable in my own skin now than I ever have and that is including footy,” he said.
“I feel way better about who I am now than I have before and I am thankful for those people that helped me get through it.”
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