Actor, Idris Elba is opening up about his experiences with therapy.
During a conversation on the Changes with Annie Macmanus podcast, he explained that he’s started therapy because of some habits of his that he is not fond of.
“I’ve been in therapy for about a year now. It’s a lot,” he began. “In my therapy, I’ve been thinking a lot about changing, almost to the point of neuropaths [sic] being changed and shifting.”
He shared that he doesn’t think anything he’s going for is terrible but he has just formed habits through his line of work that weren’t healthy. He explained that he became a workaholic and in this business, that type of energy is rewarded.
“Nothing that’s too extreme is good, everything needs balance, but I’m rewarded massively to be a workaholic [compared] to someone that’s like ‘Eh, I’m not going to see my family for six months’ and I’m in there grinding and making a new family and leave them,” he explained. “Those are pathways that I had to be like, ‘I’ve got to adjust.’”
Elba admitted that although he hopes therapy can help him make time for himself, its been very difficult to do so.
“The thing is, the things that make me relaxed end up being work,” Elba said. “My studio in my house, I just love being in here. I’ll open that laptop and be like ‘I don’t know what to make today’ and it’ll come out like this or that. And I’m exhilarated by that and also so relaxed by it.”