‘Put your physical health first and your mental health will follow’ – Nathan Farrugia

This year, Nathan Farrugia faced the personal challenge of transitioning from a lifelong athlete to grappling with the effects of missed training on his mental and physical health, and ultimately finding his way back to himself. As a result of this latest experience, he shared sound advice and commented that if one is to put physical health first, mental health will follow.

On Monday (today), the Vistage entrepreneur shared his experience leading up to the completion of the PatagonMan Extreme Triathlon in Chile.

Completing the challenge this month, Mr Farrugia shared a photo after his journey recounting how exhausted he felt after 14 hours of swimming, cycling, and running. “But I’m smiling,” he added.

He shared that at the start of the year he was 10kg heavier, unfit and unhappy.

“I succumbed to negativity, a victim mindset and lost my creative mojo. I stopped exercising regularly and made excuses, blaming travels and overwork. Things weren’t going my way so I retreated into apathy and workload,” he said.

Nonetheless, he stated that halfway throughout the year he managed to snap out of the situation and signed up for the challenge, forcing himself to get back into training.

Following this, he shared that his brain fog cleared, his positivity increased and his resilience and outlook changed drastically. Additionally, his relationships also improved, and creativity reignited.

“I still travelled ridiculous amounts of time, slept half the month at hotels and couldn’t keep a routine, but I kept the physical exercise most days a week, even if it was at night. As a result, my mental health returned,” he said.

He acknowledged that PatagonMan was a huge task and he completed it with hardly enough training. However, his mindset was based on finishing and not racing. “That’s why I’m smiling,” he said.

Now, he added, he has asked his friends, family, and peers to remind him of 2024 if they see him “derail again.”