In 2014, former professional swimmer and the most-decorated Olympian of all-time Michael Phelps checked himself into an inpatient treatment center, as the depths of his depression left struggling with substance abuse and contemplating suicide.
He was coming off of his first retirement after the 2012 Olympics, when he announced he was stepping down from competitive swimming (he would go on to compete in the 2016 Olympics, win five gold medals and one silver, and then officially retire).
“Prior to my first retirement, I saw myself strictly as an Olympic athlete or a swimmer— somebody wearing a pair of goggles and a swim cap, not somebody that has feelings and emotions,” Phelps tells Fortune.
That left him in a dark place. Phelps was charged with a DUI in September 2014, after a history of using drugs and alcohol. When that happened, he recalled that he was “not wanting to be alive anymore,” he told Sports Illustrated in a 2015 interview. Soon after, he checked into a rehabilitation facility and began therapy.
Once he realized he couldn’t continue suppressing what he was going through, his eyes were opened to the importance of mental wellness—for himself and others.
“I saw what mental health [issues were] doing to my Olympic family members, but I also saw what that was doing to people all over the world,” Phelps says. That’s what spurred him into a newfound career of advocacy, as well as the self-care practices he implements every day to continue showing up as his “best self.”
After his first therapy session, Phelps recalls being a changed person. He walked out of the treatment facility with a renewed drive to take care of his mind—and perform at his best for one final Olympics in 2016. Now retired, Phelps carries what he learned from therapy into his daily efforts to become an even better version of himself, hoping to use his knowledge to help the many others struggling with their mental health.
Here, Michael Phelps shares with Fortune his top tricks for being his best self—or getting back to himself when he’s having an off day.
1. Focusing on physical wellness
Phelps starts every morning with a cold plunge. “For me that’s a way to kind of reset,” he says.
As a former Olympic athlete, exercise is naturally a part of his routine. He aims to workout five to six days a week, a practice that helps him feel like himself again when he wakes up feeling off.
When he gets into the gym, he throws some music on. “If I’m in a shitty mood…that’s a big part of me getting into whatever mode or zone I need to be in,” Phelps says.
Phelps is an avid golfer, too, and says it’s a part of his toolkit for improving his mental headspace.
But one of the biggest parts of his physical wellness, he says, is listening to his body.
If his muscles are sore, tight, or tense, then he looks for outside treatment, such as acupuncture or cupping. “If my body is telling me something, I’m going to try something,” Phelps says.
2. Using this hack to fall asleep fast
Phelps says a big part of feeling good is healthy sleep—and that means getting a solid eight hours every night.
“If I get eight hours a night, then I can run through a wall,” he says.
Phelps, who has struggled with racing thoughts that keep him up at night, has developed a strategy for calming his mind so he can fall asleep more easily.
“You lay in bed and look around your room and try to remember every single detail that you see, and then close your eyes and go around the room three times,” Phelps says. “If your mind starts to wander, go back to square one. I guarantee if you get to your third time, you’re going to be falling asleep, or pretty close.”
3. Journaling
Journaling is essential to his mental wellness, as it allows Phelps to freely express his thoughts. “Good, bad, ugly, I get it on paper,” he says.
It’s been such a successful habit, his wife, model Nicole Johnson Phelps, also incorporates journaling into her self-care practice.
4. Checking in with the group chat
Phelps leans on his group chat of guy friends, which he says has been helpful whenever he or anyone else in the group is having a tough mental moment, or what he likes to call “rollercoasters.” If someone is spiraling, he says, they’ll send a rollercoaster emoji in the chat.
“We just check in with one another. Those texts come in sometimes for me, or maybe sometimes for others, at super important times,” Phelps says.
“It just allows us that comfortability to open up and to talk about the things that we’re going through instead of just spinning on our own.”
5. Seeking professional help
Therapy is probably the most important tool in Phelps’ belt. After his inpatient treatment a decade ago Phelps says he didn’t want to go back to compartmentalizing and internalizing all of his difficult emotions.
“Back in 2014 when I saw my first therapist, I was the most tense being on the planet,” says Phelps.
“But coming out of there, I just felt like a new person,” he continues. “I always make the comparison to that Snickers commercial with Betty White. You bite into the Snickers and you just feel better—that’s how it was. You literally go in and you just talk to somebody and then all of a sudden you feel better.”
For more on mental health:
- The mental health paradox: Amid the loneliness epidemic, most say they need alone time to feel better this holiday season
- Stigma keeps many men from seeking mental health support. These 3 shifts in thinking can help
- Simone Biles’s triumphant Olympics comeback is a testament to something quite ordinary: consistent therapy
- Americans are increasingly concerned about their mental health, survey says. Here’s how social media plays a role
