Former NFL wide receiver Percy Harvin is finally opening up about some of the struggles he had to deal with during his NFL career, dealing with mental stresses and migraines that forced him to retire prematurely.
Harvin, 30, says that he had “mental stresses that I can’t even put into words”, in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated.
Harvin then went on the describe the migraines he experienced.
“Take a hammer and beat it on the side of your head nonstop,” Harvin said of how the migraines felt.
“If you’re trying to relax, if someone’s trying to talk to you, that hammer is still going off. You’re trying to eat, still going off.”
Harvin also discussed the anxiety he experienced and how it often had him playing an NFL game on little to no sleep at all.
“My heart would be going, I’d be sweating, I felt like everybody in the room was looking at me. My speech was slurring. I didn’t wanna eat. I was gasping for air. You’re so worked up that it’s hard to spit words out,” Harvin said.
Harvin is now living back in Gainesville, Florida and is now feeling better, so much so that he is finally discussing the issues from the past.
“A lot of the stuff I struggled with, it just don’t affect me no more. That’s why I’m comfortable talking about it,” Harvin said. “I’m cool with you asking whatever you want. Failing a drug test. The fights. ’Cause it’s gonna help somebody.”
As far as an NFL comeback is concerned, Harvin has no interest, stating that he is now “at peace.”