Mitchell Johnson is widely regarded as one of the most feared fast bowlers of all time. The former pacer was an integral part of Australia in the last decade in all formats. In August 2018 Johnson decided to hang his boots and retire from the game.
Post-retirement, mentally it hasn’t been smooth sailing for Johnson as he fought with depression. Recently Mitchell Johnson revealed that once he stopped playing cricket depression made a comeback in his life. He pointed out that he lost purpose after quitting the game and has also been low on confidence.
Mitchell Johnson Opens Up About His Depression
“I’ve found it tougher since retiring from cricket. All of a sudden, you’re not doing as much. You sort of losing your purpose a little bit”, Johnson said during the filming of Channel 7’s SAS Australia.
Meanwhile, Johnson had been dealing with depression issues from a very young age but overcame it because of cricket. The former cricket now wants to move and be active with certain things to get his mental peace back. He added that the lifestyle of international cricket can get very stressful especially during long overseas tours away from their families.
“I found out I’ve got depression but I think the depression was something I’ve had even from a younger age. Cricket sort of blocked things out in away. It sort of hid the depression, but there was a lot of times where you would go back to your room, you’re away from family and you start to dwell on things”, am emotional Johnson added.
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“Through my cricket career, I actually just dealt with depression. It’s just about me now actually moving forward and taking it upon myself to be active with certain things, to keep my mind going”.
“You have your moments where you struggle with it really bad and it can be tricky when you’ve got a lot of time to think about things”, said Johnson.
Johnson was the hero of the 2013-2014 Ashes series against England when he single-handedly helped Australia win the famous trophy. He picked a total of 37 wickets at 13.97 in the 5 Test match. Overall Johnson picked 313 Test wickets in 73 matches. In 2015, he was part of the world cup winning Australian side at home.
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