Podcast Appearances
I was trying to encourage you and inspire you to be the best that you could be.
But given what you had been through, and you know this better than I do, the lingering effects of traumatic brain injury, it doesn't just clear up after a week and it's gone forever.
We have patients who suffer through depressive episodes and anxiety for the rest of their lives in response to perhaps one injury that happened on one play that they can pinpoint.
So in front of God and everybody, I want to tell you how deeply sorry I am for kicking when I should have hugged, perhaps.
But I hope you know that I love you and I wanted what's best for you.
And this is hard for me to say, but I'm just thankful for this chance to reconcile.
I love it.
I'm so thankful to hear those words, and I sincerely appreciate it.
I hope you know that all of my guidance and pushing and prodding was coming from a place of care, and I wonder what was best for you.
I want to zero in on that end of the competitive sport for you.
That's a common theme in this show, whether it's athletes, entrepreneurs, artists.
When it ends, whether that's one play, whether that's one day, whether that's one season, when it ends, the psychological toll on that is not something we as sports medicine professionals have really given enough credence to, I don't believe.
For you personally as an athlete, can you describe what that moment or that day or that season was like when you knew in your heart that it was over and how maybe that continues to impact your work even today?
Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought, what in the hell just happened to my life?
When the career shifts, when the relationship ends, when the identity you've built your whole life around disappears overnight.
That's not failure.
That's what I call a purpose storm.
And most high achievers aren't prepared for it because no one ever taught us how to train for a comeback.
I'm Dr. Toby Brooks, and I built the science of the comeback for people who refuse to stay broken.
Inside the app, you'll find research-backed resilience training, daily prompts and guided reflection tools, performance psychology frameworks, identity rebuilding exercises, and personalized structured pathways to move from burnout and confusion to clarity and momentum.