Victoria Pendleton has credited ‘doing things that make me happy’ with saving her from severe depression.
The 41-year-old Olympian was diagnosed with the illness in 2018 and a year later revealed she was minutes away from suicide.
If she hadn’t called former British cycling psychiatrist Steve Peters she doesn’t think she would be here now.
Three years on from her lowest point, Victoria says her love of surfing and a life-changing trip to Costa Rica made her see a light at the end of the tunnel.
She told OK! magazine: “Basically, I just started to do things that made me happy. One of the things that really makes me happy is to go surfing because it’s one of my favourite sports.
Get all the biggest showbiz news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror Showbiz newsletter.
“I took myself to Costa Rica and I did that for a month. It was hard. Everyone was like, ‘You’re crazy. You’re going to go halfway around the world by yourself? I told them, ‘I’m going to do it!’”
Victoria revealed it was her friend and surfing coach who made her get out on the water every day.
She continued: “Every day he said, ‘Let’s go surfing’. He dragged me out and it made a massive difference to my life.
“When you’re struggling, you’ve got to do things that bring you joy. I found that you have to actively search them out, because they won’t come to you.”
Prior to her depression diagnosis, Victoria was riding high as one of the best Olympians Great Britain has ever seen.
After being discovered on the track at the age of 16 she quickly rose to prominence in the cycling world.
She went on to represent Great Britain in the 2005 and 2012 Olympics and win nine world titles, as well as being named Sportswoman of the Year.
Then in 2015, Victoria shocked the world when she announced she was quitting cycling to pursue a career as a jockey.
Despite a negative backlash at first as people were “quick to judge her”, she worked hard and went on to prove her critics wrong.
By 2016 she had won her first race, which she describes as “probably the greatest achievement of my life”.
Now she says she “can’t imagine” her life without horses and owns two retired racehorses who ‘bring me so much joy”.
Her mental health began to deteriorate following a failed climb of Mount Everest, which was scuppered by hypoxia – a lack of oxygen getting to the body.
As well as depression, Victoria also developed an eating disorder around the same time.
Knowing she needed to seek professional help as she felt suicidal, she said it was surfing which really turned her life around.
The former cyclist is now a patron of the Wave Project, a charity which uses surfing as therapy.
If you need to speak to someone, Samaritans are available 24/7 by calling 116 123 or by emailing jo@samaritans.org
