12 July 2022

Harry: We all have greatness within us, and mental fitness helps unlock it

12 July 2022

The Duke of Sussex has told how “we all have greatness within us” and mental fitness helps unlock it.

Harry, in his role as chief impact officer of BetterUp, has carried out a series of interviews with Olympic gold medal-winning snowboarder Chloe Kim, psychologist Adam Grant and BetterUp member Blu Mendoza.

The duke said: “We all have greatness within us. Mental fitness helps us unlock it.

“It’s an ongoing practice. One where you approach your mind as something to flex not fix.

“I want to introduce you to a few people whose stories can inspire us in our own growth through mental fitness.”

Harry and Meghan during the Jubilee service of thanksgiving (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Wire)

Harry, who stepped down as a working royal two years ago, has been open about his own mental health challenges in the past.

“Throughout the years of travelling around the world, what I saw was the similarities of experiences of trauma, of loss, of grief, of being human,” he said in the video posted on BetterUp’s website on Tuesday.

“That building up of resilience is absolutely critical.”

Harry dubbed Kim the “Queen of Snowboarding” and asked her: “Is there a day-to-day thing that you do for your mental fitness? What is your secret?”

Kim replied she used little reminders, such as telling herself she was doing her best.

The duke asked Grant: “What goes into your own proactive practices?”

Grant replied that he did non-negotiable exercise six days a week, with Harry remarking: “Six days a week you work out?” and joked: “I can tell.”

A chuckling Harry told Mendoza they might have the same mental health coach when she spoke of the need to “thrive” through the day, rather than “survive”.

It echoed remarks made by the Duchess of Sussex during the couple’s Africa tour shortly before the Megxit crisis.

Meghan said in 2019: “It’s not enough to just survive something, that’s not the point of life. You have got to thrive.”

Harry and Meghan on their tour to South Africa in 2019 (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Archive)

The duke, who has experienced a troubled relationship with the Prince of Wales and a rift with the Duke of Cambridge, also asked: “How can we create more resilience for people, not just a better version of themselves at work, but also a better version for their partners, for their family and their whole community?”

Harry’s tell-all memoir is due to be released later this year – although a publication date is yet to be confirmed.

Pagesix.com reported on Tuesday that a NY publishing source said the book would be “juicy” with “some content in there that should make his family nervous”.

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