Motivation Quote by Stuart Appleby

For an elite athlete to say, plainly, "I can certainly see how people are overcome by depression" is to puncture the myth that mental health is a problem for other people: the weak, the unmotivated, the ones without access. Stuart Appleby isn’t offering a grand theory. He’s making an admission of proximity, the kind that lands because it’s understated. "Certainly" does quiet work here; it signals he’s not speculating, he’s recognizing a pattern he’s brushed up against. The verb "overcome" matters even more. Depression isn’t framed as a mood you can outwork or a mindset you can hustle away; it’s an external force with weight, something that can overtake a person regardless of discipline.

The subtext is about the hidden arithmetic of professional sport: performance is measurable, but the self is not. Golf in particular amplifies that tension. It’s solitary, repetitive, and unforgiving, with long stretches of travel and silence where your thoughts get the mic. Even success can be destabilizing: your identity narrows to results, your body becomes a workplace, your bad days are public record. When Appleby acknowledges being "overcome", he’s implicitly challenging the locker-room script that strength equals emotional invulnerability.

Culturally, this kind of line sits in the ongoing shift where athletes are no longer just brands of resilience; they’re narrators of the cost. The power is in how un-dramatic it is: empathy delivered without spectacle, a signal flare for anyone who’s been told to "shake it off."