Competition has always been part of my life. From an early age, everything around me revolves around performance, goals and results. This mindset has shaped my career, my challenges and my achievements. But, after so many years competing at the physical and emotional limit, I understood a truth that took time to mature: there is no high performance without mental health.
This perception became even more evident when, in 2024, I chose to take a sabbatical from the world circuit. For many, it just seemed like a break. For me, it was a lifelong investment in my family, in my projects and in my future as an athlete. After my second world championship and an exhausting Olympic cycle, I was physically prepared to continue, but emotionally drained. Before moving on, I needed to breathe, just like I do before entering the sea, but this time to face another type of swell – waves formed in distant storms that travel long distances until reaching the coast.
This decision was not born of fragility, but of maturity. High-performance sport demands much more than the body can show. There is public pressure, collective expectations, internal demands and a pace of travel that dismantles any personal structure. When I entered the circuit at 16, I was driven by adrenaline and dreams. At 30, with my children at home, I realized that I needed to rediscover the pleasure of being there. And this reality is not just mine. Athletes from all over the world have come to understand that, without emotional balance, there is no long, consistent or healthy career. The mind is the fuel of performance. Without it, no talent can sustain itself.
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Interestingly, the further I got away from competitions, the more I realized that the logic is exactly the same in the business world. In recent years, I have been involved in projects that expand my activities far beyond the waves: Let’s Poke, Pasokin, the Ecoboard FT77, my partnership with Beyond The Club, the surf school and shop, the “Kids on Fire” project and the Filipe Toledo Institute, which uses sport as a tool for social transformation. Undertaking, leading teams, making strategic decisions, innovating and opening new paths requires the same clarity from the mind as a championship final. And clarity only exists in a scenario of balance. There is no healthy company with sick leaders. There is no creativity in chaos. There is no innovation without pause.
Over time, I understood that mental health was a fundamental pillar to continue pursuing my goals. Focus, presence, energy and emotional balance have become scarce resources in a fast-paced, hyperconnected and demanding world. In sport or business, anyone who ignores this compromises their own future. Those who prioritize, grow in the long term.
My gap year wasn’t about stopping. It meant evolving. I trained, became even closer to my family, developed projects aligned with my values and reconnected with myself. When I returned to the circuit in 2025, my pace was lighter, more conscious and balanced. The most important thing was to regain the pleasure of competing, of being on the tour and of living the sport in a healthy way, without the weight I carried for so many years.
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If there is one message that I learned and that I want to share, both with athletes and entrepreneurs, it is that taking care of your mind doesn’t hold anyone back. On the contrary: it speeds up. Does not weaken. Strengthens. It doesn’t take you out of the game. Puts you ahead of him.
Winning is important. But winning without getting lost along the way is the true form of success.
