Arul Suppiah, another former professional cricketer, who has become a passionate campaigner for mental health. As director of cricket at Queens College, he’s unflinchingly honest about his fight with depression, OCD and anxiety. So at age 41, Suppiah started a health kick in 2017. This decision soon turned into a tough struggle with his mental health.
At first, Suppiah was just looking to get fit but ended up shedding a massive 15 kilograms. The pressure of upholding this extreme shift took an evident toll on him, leaving him exhausted, cranky and out of touch. He fought back against negative narratives that he referred to as “The Voice.” This brutal taskmaster controlled what he ate, driving him to work out overly hard and consume a dangerously low amount of food. This debilitating cycle made it necessary for him to avoid social events altogether, especially ones that included food.
“I needed to connect with somebody else who was going through the same,” he shared, highlighting the isolation many individuals face when dealing with mental health challenges. Due to the high-stress environment associated with professional sports, Suppiah was under considerable pressure to perform.
The professional sports atmosphere is very cutthroat,” he added. So I guess that played into it in some way where I was trying to be just perfect, perfect at my job. And that then turned into this pursuit of perfection where perfect isn’t even attainable. This search for perfection ultimately affected his game and it deeply contributed to his mental health issues.
With each of these challenges that Suppiah fought against came the very real fact that he couldn’t afford to feed himself and put his health first. He began making healthier choices. By moving away from eight tiny meals per day to closer to three meals per day with appropriately sized portions, he was able to slowly start gaining weight and feeling overall healthier.
“My recovery was very up and down. I would sometimes put on weight, then I’d lose weight and vice-versa,” he explained. “In the first instance I was recovering for the wrong reasons.” Over time, he realized that for him, genuine recovery could only be based on self-care—not seeking approval from the outside world.
On her personal journey, Suppiah learned to trust the healing process. Then I understood that no moron, I’m just cuckoo and what I needed to know was that the recovery was about myself and for my own benefit. I was able to begin to really believe in and trust the process after that point.”
Those experiences shaped him as a person and he became a mental health advocate, spreading awareness about the issue especially within the sporting community. He has 276 matches worth of such experience, over 200 for his county. These experiences had a profound impact on his athletic trajectory and helped him to develop a greater appreciation for mental health in high-stakes settings.
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