Prince William opens up about carrying everyone's emotional baggage

William appeared on Life Hacks (BBC/PA) PA Media

Prince William has called for more male role models to openly discuss mental health, aiming to normalize these conversations as "second nature." The Prince of Wales made the appeal during an hour-long panel discussion on BBC Radio 1's Life Hacks, where he shared personal experiences from his time as an air ambulance pilot and reflected on how the job's emotional toll affected his own mental health.

The prince worked as a pilot for the air ambulance service from March 2015 to July 2017. He revealed he only recognized the deterioration of his mental health after stepping away from the role. «Over time I noticed my mental health really deteriorating and I hadn't really clocked onto it because, in that community, you try and make light of some of the moments just to keep sane and keep going», he said. «It wasn't until I stepped away from it on a sort of longer break that I looked at myself and went, 'My god, I'm carrying everyone's emotional baggage'.»

Prince William described how emergency service workers face an «attritional, mental, emotional» burden from responding to difficult situations without adequate time to process their experiences. «You can't have time to deal with that. It's coming at you so fast and if you're carrying a bit of emotional baggage from each scene, from someone else's experience, it just weighs you down», he explained.

Normalizing mental health conversations

The prince emphasized that understanding emotions is crucial to feeling comfortable discussing mental health. «Part of feeling comfortable talking about mental health is understanding it and if you've got guys who have really gone about trying to really learn about what feelings are, why we feel like we do, what can we do about it, that's part of the conversation, too», he said.

He stressed the importance of self-kindness and seeking support. «Be kind to yourself. It is really important and to learn to love yourself and understand yourself», Prince William advised. «It's OK to ask for support, ask a mate, reach out. That becomes just the normalisation process of what's going on inside your head.»

The prince also highlighted that mental health crises are temporary. «I think that idea that mental health crisis is temporary, like you can have a really strong mental health crisis moment, but it will pass», he said. «If we talk about that more and educate people more, then hopefully the idea of suicide gets keeps being pushed further and further away because you know that tomorrow actually you might wake up and you might feel very different.»

Personal approach to emotions

Prince William shared his personal process for understanding his feelings. «I take a long time trying to understand my emotions and why I feel like I do. And I think that's a really important process to just do every now and again to check in with yourself and work out why you're feeling like you do», he said.

He acknowledged his emotional sensitivity. «I'm quite emotionally available, I like that about who I am, and I find some of the places I go to, people I meet, are having a really tricky time», the prince said. «That helps me put my own life into perspective but also I carry with me their burden sometimes and that's the bit I find very difficult is I feel other people's pain and that overwhelms me sometimes.»

The panel discussion, hosted by radio presenter Greg James, included rapper Professor Green, grime artist Guvna B, Allan Brownrigg from James' Place charity, and young carer Nathan. The Samaritans offer free support via phone at 116 123, email at [email protected], or through local branches found at samaritans.org.

Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).