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