Jason Quigley is hoping to use his life experiences to help others suffering from mental health issues.
The Donegal boxer is eyeing a return to the ring in the future after his defeat to WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade last November.
But he is also thinking about life after boxing.
Quigley, who has suffered from mental health and anxiety issues, told The Irish Mirror:: "When I look back on my life, there's so many parts of my life that I didn't enjoy that I should have enjoyed because of just mental health, because of anxiety, because of pressure.
"I don't really know if I was depressed before. I don't know what depression really is. I know it's bad times and maybe not wanting to get up in the morning.
"Yes, I think everybody feels that at some stage. But of course everybody has a lower medium and higher scale. Some people deal with that kind of stuff. But you know, everybody probably has gone through it at some stage in their life.
"And I'm very lucky, very happy and very grateful that I have got to the other side of that now.
"And what I'm very passionate about now is putting that message across so that other people can realise and just look at me as a figure to say well he was sad, he didn't want to get up some mornings and face the day ahead of him, but now he's at that other stage."
A new documentary on the 30-year-old airs on Virgin Media 2 on Thursday night, in which he opens up on his private life and the breakdown in relationship between himself and his father, which he admits was "awkward" to talk about.
He said: "It is a little bit awkward, especially about my father and about your personal life because I think as Irish people and Donegal, more country people, you don't really tell everybody.
"You're not out there open and telling everybody your problems and stuff that goes on. It was difficult because you think everyone is going to judge you.
"I'm just an honest person and I want other people to know that no family is perfect. Like no relationship is perfect."
Quigley made the decision in 2014 to split from having his father Conor as his coach and although he has not ruled out rebuilding their relationship in the future, he is happy enough with how things are for now.
He explained: "I'm so grateful for him in my boxing career and for what he has done for me. He really helped me become the disciplined athlete that I am today.
"But there was also a lot of stress, anxiety and pressure to please him and he might not have understood this or understood that that's what he was doing to me or that's the kind of effect it had on me.
"But things got a little bit sour and we started butting heads a lot. None of us were really in the right or wrong.
"It kind of came to a stage where we could never agree on anything so my life was just more peaceful and more at ease and I was in a much better headspace, and a much better place mentally and physically with that removed from my life for a while.
"Yes we did try to mend things a few times and talk but I just felt that kind of toxic environment kind of coming back into it again.
"Not toxic in a really bad way but just an uncomfortable, uneasy mindset with me and him back chatting and everything again.
"So I just realised that that wasn't helping me and that wasn't good for me and my own mental health and my happiness."
He added: "Look you'll never probably lose the love for your father, but as of right now I'm kind of happy and content just to keep things the way they are.
"I am happy and content in my life and I think that that's just the way to keep things for another while until the two of us at some stage can agree on things. I don't know but it's something that right now I think is better off the way that it is."
Quigley was last seen in the ring when undefeated American superstar Andrade knocked him out inside two rounds and the Donegal man is still on the road to recovery.
And although the fight "sickened" Quigley, he won't dwell on it and will continue to look forward rather than backwards.
He said: "I'm just sickened that I didn't get the chance to show my work. It was all over really in the blink of an eye. It's frustrating. I'm at peace with it in a way. I'm not running around saying I should have done this or I should have done that.
"What happened, happened. I am sickened to get that close to becoming a world champion, but not getting the chance to kind of show my work, to show everything I had worked on.
"The first round was just a disaster, getting caught right on the jaw and it just never really got better from there."
Quigley has spent the past few months recovering and admits he hasn't been thinking too much about boxing, while considering what life holds for him after he hangs up his gloves.
He said: "I got two plates in my jaw after the fight and I just got the plates removed about three weeks ago.
"So I still have another bit of recovery to do from that. And once I get the green light to kind of get back training fully and get back doing the work, we're going to sit down with the team and we'll decide then.
"To be honest I have been taking my time and not really thinking about things too much and just enjoying time with the family.
"It's great to be able to have that luxury of having that time off and being able to put the feet up and spend it with the family.
"Yeah, so after boxing I really want to, not really life coaching, but I want to get into helping people first and foremost.
"I'm really grateful and happy at the place where I am now in my life mentally and physically and I think that there's so many avenues out there to make people happy and show them that life doesn't have to be a big struggle and a big downer all the time.
"I really want to get out there and show people that there is happiness, that there is light out there. I want to show it through training, eating well, mindfulness, a little bit of yoga, meditation - small simple things.
"And have an appreciation for the simple things in life because I think there's so many people out there now that just want the big house and the big car and going to Dubai every couple of weeks.
"It's materialistic things, physical things that you put into your life and they only last for a while.
"You get some people that their next door neighbor gets a lovely fancy car so they get a lovely fancy car.
"And then two or three weeks down the line, maybe they get a nicer car and you're always chasing.
"I think the core and the key thing is don't be chasing people, just find that inner happiness in yourself."
- Ladbrokes ambassador Jason Quigley's ‘Lift your Heels’ documentary airs on Virgin Media Two on Thursday at 10.30pm
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