Over the past few years, the world has come to know Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers better than he did at the start of his NFL career.
Love him or hate him, Rodgers has become more of an open book — and we’re not just talking about his endorsements via the “Aaron Rodgers Book Club” during his appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Much of his freedom and newfound mindset, he says, comes down to a question the 39-year-old has been asking himself more recently.
“Who am I apart from the number 12 you see on the pitch? Rodgers said Tuesday on the McAfee show, his go-to weekly outlet during the NFL season for the past three years.
And what helped him get an answer?
“Applied medicine has allowed me to see clearly,” Rodgers said while chatting with McAfee for the final time after the 2022 season, while mostly discussing his NFL future throughout the hour.
Rodgers could participate in the ayahuasca ritual again after deciding whether to play in 2023
Rodgers, of course, is referring to ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic, which he turned to to improve his mental state. Prior to last season, during podcast rounds, he credited ayahuasca for his MVP seasons in 2020 and 2021. He failed to meet those standards in 2022, although he told McAfee on Tuesday that he felt like he could be an MVP player in the right situation. . Hallucinogens have no accepted medical use in the United States
Rodgers, who called himself a “hippie” on Tuesday, has said in the past that he would likely be called upon again to use ayahuasca, which he does in Peru, since the drug is banned in the United States. But Packers fans should have an answer about the 2023 season before partaking in another ayahuasca ritual, he said.
“There won’t be another session or ceremony before the decision, I can tell you that,” Rodgers said with a laugh. “Maybe later.”
Personal and professional experiences led to Aaron Rodgers’ new outlook on life
He said a number of personal and professional experiences “triggered” this response. It started in 2017 after Rodgers broke his collarbone at the start of the season, where for the first time he “felt the separation from the team”.
“There was some deep thinking,” Rodgers said, leading him to ask “who am I without football, who am I without gaming?” Another injury followed during a tumultuous 2018 season. Rodgers said his call to “applied medicine”, as he called it, led him to look at the world differently to find “balance and contentment without football being the identity” of his life.
“I’ve done a lot of work to ease this (after football) transition,” said Rodgers, who just completed his 18th season in the NFL. “Grateful for those lessons, I’m learning more about myself, who I am outside of #12 Green Bay Packers.”
Aaron Rodgers reflects on retirement and his post-NFL interests: ‘a lot of other things’ are taking their time now
Rodgers added that his new approach to life and career has allowed him to “do things my way” and show “different aspects of my personality, emphasizing that I’m not just a robot, repeating a track, a determined and balanced athlete. .”
Rodgers said he still finds “a lot of joy and contentment” in football, but he thinks he’s prepared for his post-NFL life.
“I’m also interested in a lot of other things,” Rodgers said. “A lot of other things take up my time. Although you may never completely fill that big competition hole. Like I said, at some point the carousel stops and it’s time to get off .. you have to be ready for that.”
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Aaron Rodgers says ‘it pays to be immune’ as he discusses COVID again with Pat McAfee
A week after his pre-playoff season ended, Rodgers said he’s mostly avoided any major issues in 2022, despite struggling with a broken finger he suffered against the New York Giants. in London.
Then Rodgers sarcastically returned to one of his favorite topics in recent years: COVID-19.
“I avoided some of the major issues like the COVID toe and stuff,” Rodgers said with a smile. “After going through the winter of death and surviving, everything has been easy since then. I’m really grateful. I have dealt with a COVID toe and am a COVID survivor. I guess it pays to be immune.
Rodgers has made waves for implying he was vaccinated against COVID-19 during the 2021 season saying he was “immune”. Rodgers, of course, was not vaccinated against COVID, then contracted the virus in early November and had to miss a game, losing a sponsor along the way.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Aaron Rodgers on Pat McAfee Show: Applied Medicine Led to a New Mindset
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