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Pro surfer Soldier Smith honestly opens up about his past mental health struggles Instagram post celebrating his 30th birthday.
“Oh Man… 30 years old and what a journey this life is! No one told me that life as an opportunity gets better every year. Slowly the rules of the game reveal day by day,” the athlete posted on Friday, January 3. “The magic gets thicker, the colors clearer, the purpose refined, it the love that surrounds me is increasing. My connection to life only gets deeper. I’m so grateful.”
Smith, 30, went on to explain that “at times” he closes his eyes and goes back “to visit the version of myself that was struggling.”
“Concussed, depressed, suicidal, heartbroken,” she continued in the moving post, which also included several photos of the surfer riding big waves, hanging out with friends and enjoying the beach. “I put my hand on his heart and say it’s worth it! You wait, it’s all worth it!”
He concluded, “Thank you to all of you! Let the Abundance Flow and the light shine bright!”
In an interview in March 2022 with The IndependentsSmith told of a catastrophic injury he suffered while surfing in Indonesia which led to the surfer experiencing mental health issues.
“I heard this crazy, incredibly peaceful violin,” he told the publication at the time, referring to the moment he crashed while trying to ride a wave. “I had one of those moments where I was above the whole bay looking down. I could see my friends in the lineup. I could see the boats in the bay. I could see the mountains. Then suddenly I realized I was actually underwater.”
He continued: “I felt like I might be leaving my body. The strange thing was that it was a very comfortable, loving, joyful state. There was no fear. It was like being home.”
Celebrities such as Matthew Perry, Chrissy Teigen and others have been open about using ketamine infusion therapy to help treat mental health conditions. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), ketamine is “a dissociative anesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects” and “can cause a state of sedation, immobility, pain relief, and amnesia.” It is (…)
The somewhat euphoric feeling was short-lived – when the surfer regained consciousness, he could not remember his own name or address. As a result of the accident, Smith said he suffered a severe concussion and later realized that “something had just snapped” inside him.
“I couldn’t even function anymore,” he explained at the time. “I had to spend 10 hours a day in my bed in the dark and figure out what I wanted to do from there.”
Having struggled with his mental health despite seeing doctors, Smith said The Independents he decided to try psilocybin mushrooms as part of his “healing process.”
“It took me back to my childhood, that fire inside me as a child,” he explained. “It reminded me that I am a good person and that I am here to do good in this world. It reminded me that I should use my head injury as a guide to recovery.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
