Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.
And I wonder how many super high-achieving people are ultimately kind of messed up in the head, oriented toward obsessiveness, thrill-seeking, control, etc.
I listened to a podcast this week with a journalist who has produced some recent pieces on RFK, Jr.
It is from the Pod Save America group, so there is a very strong leftward tilt (be forewarned). But what I found most interesting is that while the host kept wanting to make RFK, Jr. into a caricature (brain worm, bear carcass, whale head, crazy anti-vaxer), the journalist who has actually spent lots of time with RFK, Jr. and those who know him painted a much more nuanced picture.
RFK, Jr. has a lot of the qualities (including addictive qualities and thrill seeking) that we have also seen in athletes like MJ and Tiger Woods (and coaches like Rick Pitino, Bobby Petrino, Sherone Moore).
RFK, Jr. is a self-proclaimed drug addict and sex addict (numerous sexual scandals), and he is in a constant battle with those things. He attends 12-step meetings on a daily basis. He has channeled his struggle with those addictions into a maniacal focus on his diet and fitness, as well as passion to improve the health of the populace by removing toxins from their lives. Both of those things are admirable, though to the latter, some combination of hubris, conspiratorial psychosis, and misunderstanding of science and evidence has led him to what I consider a pretty terrible solution set.
Regardless of how you feel about RFK, Jr., I think we need to recognize that many people that are greatly admired for what they achieve in this world are pretty dysfunctional in other ways that just baffle most of us. I don't know how much of that is fame/power corrupting people vs. the extent to which the dysfunction might actually drive a lot of their success.
