Eventually, the referee stopped the fight. It was a loss. The first blip on an unblemished and promising record for the Fighter. More importantly, his head was screwed. Nothing to do with taking hits from other men for five years, it was, as Dr Rossi would discover, a mixture of the pressure he was putting himself under to succeed and provide for his daughter, and a debilitating fear of failure.

He set his own bar too high.

The kicker is that Rossi did his job. And he did it well. He got the Fighter’s mind fit again. He made him deal with the breakdown until it became a breakthrough. That clear mind is what drives the body to achieve.

The Fighter still has the anger but he harnesses that emotion to drive him forwards. This morning it pushes him ten kilometres. And he sprints the last hundred metres.

Out of breath, he leans on the door and pants heavily, smiling because he knows he has given it everything that he has. He opens the front door, picks up the letters that were posted while he was out – the brown envelope is from Revenue and Customs, the white is from Dr Rossi.

The brown envelope details a change in the Fighter’s tax code.

The white tells him that he will miss his sparring session this evening.

He places both on the kitchen counter, fixes himself a protein shake then heads to the shower as though nothing has happened.

His life is back on track. It’s his turn to have his daughter on the weekend. His food for the next four days has been portioned out into plastic tubs in the fridge to ensure he has the exact macronutrients to attain the physique and weight required to fight.

The Fighter tears up the brown and the white envelopes after his shower and throws them on the stove flame.

Death and taxes.

115

241 – SHRINK

Just because you teach it or preach it, doesn’t mean you know how to do it.

Sitting and listening, day in and day out, to other people venting their problems, anxieties and deepest secrets can take its toll on a person. Even a highly trained professional primed to deal with such issues.

Try spending eight hours each day with the most negative people you know. Don’t say anything. Nod along to their pessimism and woe. There’s an emotional osmosis that means you can’t help but replicate to a certain degree.

Even a shrink, sometimes, needs a shrink.

A lot of the time, they move in similar circles so they’ll throw each other a free session, which could be reciprocated at a later date. And if you happen to run a practice like ERMA, with four psychiatrists on hand, it’s even easier.