Ex-West Coast Eagle Brayden Ainsworth has by no means been happier in his function as a psychological well being coach and can quickly jet off abroad on a mission to encourage college students in Africa.
The 24-year-old was delisted from the AFL membership in 2021 and two years on from forging a brand new profession, Ainsworth is effectively on his solution to educate our subsequent technology on hope and resilience.
Through his full-time gig at psychological well being service Happiness Co, Ainsworth travels to colleges throughout WA hoping to encourage as many youngsters as he can by sharing his journey.
“I absolutely loved playing footy, it was my dream ever since I was a kid, but I’ve never been happier on a day-to-day level with what I do now, the purpose and passion for life is much more than I was when I was a footballer,” he instructed TODAY.
“I’m so lucky to share my journey, my story. If it can help impact one person’s life, you don’t know who might resonate with your story.”
Students within the African nation of Zambia will even get to listen to from the Esperance-born chief subsequent month when he touches down for the 2023 Mental Health Conference.
Ainsworth will spend 12 days in Zambia presenting workshops on hope and happiness to colleges and universities in addition to visiting orphanages.
“The experiences, wisdom and eye-opening things I will see and learn, I feel a bit selfish being able to go there but I cannot wait for that trip,” he stated.
Passionate about doing no matter he can to boost consciousness, the younger gun additionally not too long ago accomplished considered one of his greatest challenges but: 3144 push-ups for The Push-Up Challenge, a Perth-born, nation-wide psychological well being initiative.
This 12 months the occasion raised greater than $14.2 million in honour of the 3144 lives misplaced to suicide in Australia in 2021.
After flying the Eagles nest, Ainsworth thought the tip of his life as an AFL participant was the “end of the world”.
And why wouldn’t he after dwelling and respiration the game for 4 years of life—it’s all he got here to know and determine himself as.
“I asked myself the question, ‘who am I?’ and the only thing I could identify as was an AFL footballer, I wrote it down on a piece of paper and had to put a line through it because I wasn’t one anymore,” he stated.
“It hit me pretty hard.”
Eventually Ainsworth obtained again on observe by determining his values and surrounding himself with a like-minded help system, calling his delisting a “blessing in disguise”.
“I thought getting delisted was the end of the world but you go to a school and hear some of the troubles students are facing and what I went through is nothing compared to their stories,” he stated.
Ainsworth stated even inside the footy surroundings he struggled with the thought he wasn’t dwelling as much as his “true self”.
“Within footy I felt I couldn’t properly be myself because of certain things like getting judged on the things I’m doing or qualities I had, I wasn’t being my true self and that caused a lot of angst and stress,” he stated.
Free from the strain and watchful eye of the general public, Ainsworth will proceed his ardour for optimistic psychological wellbeing understanding what he’s doing is making a distinction.
“Don’t compare yourself to others because that’s how we lose track of who we are and what we want to do with our own life,” he stated.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
