Ryan Reynolds has revealed how he tries to mask his anxiety with work.
The 45-year-old actor told WSJ. Magazine that he tries to overwork himself professionally, not allowing his mental health to become a problem.
He said, “I tend to bite off way more than I could or should chew. I think maybe it’s just that Canadian sensibility: ‘Well, I said I was going to, so I have to deliver this.’ I will do that at the cost of my own well-being sometimes.”
“I fixate on things,” Reynolds continued. “That’s sort of the engine of anxiety. I lay awake at night, wrapping and unwrapping every possible scenario. I slept at a perfect right angle for so many years.”
“I tend to pave over anxiety with work and, to a lesser extent, achievement,” he added. “You want to tick boxes sometimes.”
Earlier this month, the Deadpool actor announced that he is taking “a little sabbatical” from moviemaking.
Reynolds told WSJ. Magazine that he is looking to be more “present” within his life, stating, “These days, my goal is to be as present as I can and not just tick a box just to do it. I’m fully embracing and living that right now. It’s been amazing.”
In June, the Free Guy actor told Entertainment Tonight his three daughters – James, Inez, and Betty – inspired him to speak out about mental health.
At the time, he said, “Part of it is that I have three daughters at home and part of my job as a parent is to model behaviors and model what it’s like to be sad and model what it’s like to be anxious, or angry. That there’s space for all these things.”
“The home that I grew in, that wasn’t modeled for me really,” he added. “And that’s not to say that my parents were neglectful, but they come from a different generation.”
