NRL legend Sam Thaiday knows all too well the highs and lows of football, he also knows the highs and lows of life and in a new podcast reveals his own struggles now football is over and says “I do sometimes feel lost and super confused about what I want to do with my life”
 
In ‘We are Human’, Sam’s new podcast which is released today, he details his battles with his own mental health and opens up about his struggles with not feeling good enough and talking openly about suicidal thoughts as a young kid and how now after his football career is over he has come full circle.
 
He says, “The reason I wanted to do this podcast is because I want to paint a human element to some of the sporting superstars. I hope by telling my story that it might help other people feel ok to share their story and seek help. Mental health is not just a fad that’s cool to talk about, it’s real and it affects everyone differently”.
 
Across the first 4 epsodes Sam shares his story, from growing up in Far North Queensland in a  mutli race family, his struggles with his own identity as a child with thoughts of not being good enough and whether anyone would miss him if he just ended it.
 
The podcast begins with a poem Sam wrote in recent months while working with a mental health professional to help him understand his challenges “The boy on the wall was my way of telling people how I was struggling and what I felt like then and to be honest how I feel now”.
 
In the podcast Sam says -“People saw me as ‘big, lovable Sam, don’t worry he’ll be ok’ but inside I was massively falling apart”.
 
The podcast is produced by Podshape the independent podcast company started by former Nova Head of Podcasting Jay Walkerden, which has quickly established itself as a  major player in the Australian Podcast landscape

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