Burnout can creep in long before you realise something is wrong.
In this episode, I sit down with John Duffy, an engineer-turned-regenerative farmer, to explore why high achievement, constant pressure, and disconnect from nature silently push people toward physical and emotional collapse.
He shares how years in the oil and gas industry, chronic stress cycles, and a life-altering moment in a woodland ecosystem forced him to rethink success, health, and what it means to feel grounded.
We talk about why modern lifestyles make burnout so common, how the body signals imbalance long before burnout hits, and why reconnecting with nature, community, and purposeful work can reset your entire life.
This is a grounded, honest conversation about clarity, resilience, and the turning points that guide you back to yourself when life becomes unsustainable.
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Chapters:
00:00 – Intro: How burnout led John to regenerative farming
04:38 – The moment that shifted his worldview
07:32 – Leaving oil and gas after years of stress
09:52 – Losing his father and rethinking purpose
12:13 – Learning regenerative agriculture around the world
15:19 – Holistic management explained simply
17:09 – Transforming poor land into healthy soil
20:24 – Water, nutrients, and why soil health matters
23:00 – Why conventional farming often leads to burnout
26:39 – How modern agriculture became fragile
28:22 – The grazing method that actually works
31:35 – Helping farmers transition without losing income
33:16 – Humans as part of nature, not separate from it
36:00 – Food quality, nutrition, and long-term health
41:56 – The comfort crisis and chronic stress
44:17 – Nature, recovery, and mental clarity
50:21 – What farming taught him about resilience
53:54 – Burnout, priorities, and mental bandwidth
59:26 – Rebuilding community and human connection
01:01:56 – Ancestral skills and reconnecting to the land
01:13:00 – Deer pressure and restoring native woodlands
01:17:00 – Why wild Irish venison is misunderstood
01:19:46 – Creating the Wild & Co protein bar
01:23:21 – Kickstarter launch and the future of Wild & Co
01:25:15 – Final thoughts and where to find John