Christian O'Connell - Breakfast Radio, panic attacks & starting afresh

06/20/21 • 82 min

1 Listener

At the beginning of 2018, Christian O'Connell was the host of the number one breakfast radio show in England, he averaged over 2 million listeners a day, he'd won basically every award possible in the radio industry, he was seemingly on top of his world.

Unbeknownst to almost everyone in his life though, he could barely make it on the air. At the age of 45, Christian had started suffering debilitating panic attacks. And they were becoming an almost daily occurrence.

In this episode of The Imperfects, we talk with Christian about his anxiety & the panic attacks that nearly ended his career in radio. We chat about the life changing move him and his family have since made; we talk about being a vulnerable father; we talk about the challenges of starting a new in Australia...we talk about alot...it's a really good chat.

If this episode has triggered anything for you around mental health, we recommend lifeline, 13 11 14. The Imperfects is produced by Ryan Shelton, Hugh & Josh van Cuylenburg. A very special thanks to 'No Mono' for generously allowing us to use 'Keep On' as the theme song for this podcast.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

The Vulnerabilitea House - Missy Higgins

Prepare yourself for a very different episode of The Vulnerabilitea House (for a few reasons):

We welcome our first guest... MISSY HIGGINS IS BACK ON THE POD!
We all live in Melbourne and it was COVID lockdown at the time of recording so we were on Zoom.
The whole thing almost didn’t happen at all... and you’ll hear why.

For those new to The Vulnerabilitea House, here’s how it works. We get together, we sip tea, someone picks a card from the deck of vulnerability-invoking questions, and then they answer that question, making themselves vulnerable to the group AND YOU.

In theory, it should be pretty simple. But on this occasion, we kinda messed up and accidentally made it very unsimple for Missy. We felt terrible. But boy oh boy...did she bounce back!

Next Episode

The Vulnerabilitea House - Hugh van Cuylenburg... Round 2

Our very own Hugh van Cuylenburg is back in the hotseat for a second round in the Vulnerabilitea House! And guys... wowee. Potentially inspired by the most recent Vulnerabilitea House episode with Missy Higgins, Hugh opens up about how much he is actually struggling right now. In fact, he’s probably as raw and honest and vulnerable as he’s ever been on The Imperfects. The Vulnerabilitea House (and the whole podcast tbh) is all about encouraging vulnerability by sharing our own struggles and imperfections. Why? Because being vulnerable creates stronger and more authentic connections with others. But like we’ve said a number of times on this podcast, you can’t just be vulnerable with anyone. It’s important to always trust and feel safe with those you open up to.

If this episode has triggered anything for you around mental health, we recommend lifeline, 13 11 14. The Imperfects is produced by Ryan Shelton, Hugh & Josh van Cuylenburg.