Good Read...

[Loobs]

From NRL.com - it goes longer but I thought this was very good and worth re-posting. Letter from Darius Boyd to his younger self:

Dear Darius
My message to a 17-year-old Darius Boyd

"This may sound strange, but the best thing you are going to do in life is book yourself in to a mental health clinic in 2014.

My advice to you is to do it when you are 18, because it will change your life for the better and it will be the making of you.

A decade from now you will be happily married to the love of your life, Kayla, and together you will have a beautiful daughter Willow. You will be captain of the Brisbane Broncos, the club you always wanted to represent.

You will have success early in your football career. You'll win two premierships and represent Queensland and Australia. All the accolades you will achieve in the game are amazing, but you won’t enjoy any of them one bit before you go into the clinic.

Right now, you are a closed-off kid with a chip on your shoulder and not enjoying life. You don't like yourself either.

Those closest to you see the best and the worst of you. It won’t be until Kayla leaves you for a short time in 2014 that you realise that you need to change and become a better person. You will realise it is not her fault or anyone else's. It is you.

You will eventually learn how to be happy but you will find the ins and outs of rugby league, the media scrutiny and all the pressures, will tip you over the edge.

Your stint in the clinic will provide you with the guidance and support to come through the other side with a new outlook on life.

You will learn to be happy and content with the person you are. When you aren’t happy with the person you are, then every little obstacle will bring you down.

Once you are the best version of yourself you can handle any hurdle that comes your way.

You will learn to be grateful for everything in life. For a long time you won’t be and you will feel hard done by. Five years after you enter the clinic you will still have the same family upbringing and the same challenges in life, but you will look at them completely differently. That sounds pretty crazy, but it is cool as well."

 

[SeaEagle007]

I can relate in a way, and im sure there's thousands of others that can too , but some would be too proud to admit it. Good on him

 

[Harvies elbow]

All young players should read that and take bits they see relevant to themselves.
They may not have to follow the same course of action but I'm sure they'll see parts they can relate to especially about the media pressures and public life.
Good on him for making it available...

 

[manlywarringah]

Wow!

Great stuff Darius.

I’ve never been a fan of his but found that quite powerful.

Well done and I hope this gets highlighted in the media.

He’s really opened up and it was a great read.

 

[wombatgc]

Thanks for posting @Loobs . I have forwarded it on to a young family friend that is really struggling.

 

[Shoe1]

He should advise his younger self to cut the Bennett ties earlier

 

[niccipops]

He should advise his younger self to cut the Bennett ties earlier

I think early on when Darius was a troubled kid, Bennett promised a family member that he'd always look after him regarding his footy career. Not a massive Bennett fan but he did the right thing by the kid.
As for Boyd publicly sharing this letter shows he's a lot more courageous than many, including myself, have given him credit for.
And it cements what we know about the media. They're a pack of rrrrrrrrrsholes.

 

[The Who]

Yep. I think the Brisbane Broncos PR bloke/female did a good job with that diatribe.
(Too harsh? Perhaps, but I worked in the media and PR for 45 years and I'm more cynical than most).