Champion Australian swimmer Leisel Jones opens up on moment she wanted to 'end it all' before important phrase saved her life
Last week, Leisel Jones posted on Instagram about the importance of the saying "stay until tomorrow" and how it helped pull her out of a dark hole.
The 39-year-old said those three words had become one of her favourite sayings and that when she promised herself she would "stay until tomorrow" in the dark moments, she was able to get to the next day where perspective changed.
"Yesterday was one of my worst days and I wanted to end it all. I think I have been battling high functioning depression for a little while now and have just gone back to work with a psych," she said in the social media post.
"In the dark moments I promise myself to just stay until tomorrow and it's amazing what the next day can bring. Today was spectacular. I had some free time after work and went on an hour long walk along the beach. No goals. No plans. Just enjoy the sunshine and the view. I was really missing my walking buddy @iammeagennay but walking by myself was enough.
"It changed my whole perspective on things.•So if life has felt like a kick in the c*nt lately, promise me you'll stay until tomorrow."
Jones, who had a decorated career as a breaststroke swimmer, winning three gold medals for Australia at the Olympics, told The Courier Mail about the depths of her thoughts on that night where she sobbed on the stairs of her Gold Coast home.
'I just wanted to die in my sleep, I thought that would be the greatest thing I could ever hope for in that moment,' she told the Queensland masthead.
'(I thought) I just want to end it all, I really do not want to be here tomorrow, I was like, please do not let me wake up.
'They're the thoughts that go round and round and around, they don't stop and it was just like 'please die, please die, please die', that's how serious it is, the thoughts get stuck.
'You're like, please just whatever you do, just take me tonight because I don't want to see tomorrow. Then you wake up and you're like, shit, my wish didn't come true.'
But she said she realised that the following day could end up being the "greatest day of your life".
She said nothing in particular sparked those emotions, but that it was a compounding of a lot of things.
In November 2024, her afternoon radio show was axed on Triple M Brisbane, before she joined a breakfast radio show on Triple M Gold Coast, bringing a major change in her lifestyle, while she is also going through a divorce from husband of five years, Damon Martin, after the pair split in 2023.
Jones also confirmed she is in a far better place than that moment a fortnight ago, and that she received a high volume of messages and calls from people offering love and support after seeing her Instagram post.

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