The High Achiever
Male, 50, Investment Banker, Overweight, Single
Goal: Wants to be happy and healthy
I have everything people chase: a corner office on the top floor, a seven-figure salary, the car, the apartment with a skyline view. I shook hands with CEOs, moved money that made headlines, and wore the kind of suits most people only see on TV. To the outside world, I looked like success.
But when the office emptied and the adrenaline faded, I was left with silence. I’d unlock my apartment door and be greeted by nothing but darkness. No laughter, no warmth, no one waiting up. Just me, my phone buzzing with emails I couldn’t stop checking, and the fridge stacked with takeout boxes. Some nights I’d crack open a bottle of wine just to feel something - anything - other than the dull ache of loneliness.
I told myself I didn’t have time for relationships, that I was too focused, too ambitious, too dedicated. But the truth? I didn’t think I deserved one. Somewhere along the line, I had absorbed the belief that I was only valuable if I was producing results. That love wasn’t unconditional - it had to be earned. I was so busy proving my worth that I forgot what it meant to simply live.
The mirror reminded me of the cost. My face looked older than my years. My body felt heavy, sluggish. My doctor had started hinting at medications for my blood pressure. I brushed it all off, the way I brushed off everything personal, telling myself, “I’ll deal with it after the next deal, after the next quarter, after the next bonus.” But the “after” never came.
The breaking point came one night at 2 a.m. I was still at my desk at home, papers scattered, a cold pizza box on the table. I realized I wasn’t even hungry, yet I had eaten the entire thing without noticing. I sat there, staring at the empty box, my stomach in knots - not just from food, but from shame. I thought, “What am I even doing? What am I chasing? And what am I running from?” For the first time, I admitted it: I wasn’t happy.
When I found RTT, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Therapy had always felt too slow, too surface-level. But RTT went straight to the heart of it. In a session, I uncovered a memory I hadn’t thought about in decades: me as a boy, bringing home a report card. Straight A’s, except for one B. My father’s face hardened and said “Not good enough, you have to do better.”
Seeing that memory through adult eyes broke something open in me. I realized in many ways I was still that little boy, desperate to prove himself. RTT gave me the chance to reframe it. I saw clearly that my father's words weren’t truth - they were his own limitations, projected onto me. And in letting go of them, I finally saw myself as enough.
The changes started small. I swapped my nightly glass of wine for a walk around the block. I started cooking - not complicated meals, just something simple. I stopped working after 8pm, just to get a full night’s sleep. Each shift felt radical, like I was reclaiming a part of myself I had buried under decades of “success.”
The weight began to come off - not just physically, but emotionally. I laughed more. I noticed things I hadn’t in years: the way morning sunlight hit my blinds, the way food tasted when I ate slowly, the way my body felt after a proper night’s rest.
Today, I still work hard, but I’m no longer enslaved to achievement. My identity isn’t tied to the next deal or paycheck. For the first time in decades, I can say I am happy - not because of what I’ve done, but because of who I am. And that’s a freedom I never thought possible."
Symptom Tags:
#Overeating #Loneliness #Stress #Burnout #LowSelfWorth #Workaholism #AlcoholDependence