A Necessary Obsession

Mathilde Delorme
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On obsession, freedom, and the cost of chasing your dreams. Hosted by Mathilde Delorme, A Necessary Obsession explores the psychological and existential forces behind performance, creation and ambition. The conversations examine the tension in the need to achieve, the identities built around pursuit, the rituals that sustain it, and the point at which devotion can become a cage. From athletes and bootstrapped founders to artists, coaches and cultural operators, each guest offers a different perspective on what drives us and why some obsessions feel impossible to let go.

Episodes

  1. Oct 20

    Finding faith, The Cost of Greatness, and Letting Go - Jereem Richards - #007

    What happens when the thing you’ve devoted your entire life to becomes the thing that defines your worth?Jereem Richards is one of the world’s fastest 400m runners, a three-time Olympian and Trinidad and Tobago’s national record holder.But behind the medals, records and extraordinary performances lies a much more complicated relationship with success.After reaching the heights of international athletics, Jereem experienced one of the lowest moments of his career. His performances declined, his sense of worth collapsed, and he began to question who he was beyond the track.In this conversation, we explore the psychological cost of elite performance, the dangerous relationship between success and identity, and what it means to dedicate yourself completely to something you know will eventually end.We also dive into Jereem’s relationship with God, the difference between control and faith, the ability to perform under extraordinary pressure, and the paradox of loving something that can also destroy you.In this episode: 0:00 – Why identifying yourself with your career can leave you lost03:00 – When your performance determines your self-worth05:00 – The psychological cost of success and failure07:00 – Jereem’s journey from Trinidad to the Olympic stage11:20 – Getting faster with age and reinventing yourself14:30 – Faith, control and learning to surrender18:00 – Trusting God when everything is on the line22:00 – What does an Olympian actually pray for?24:00 – Why winning never feels like enough27:00 – Knowing when to walk away from your obsession29:30 – Why trying harder isn’t always the answer31:30 – The brutal reality of training for the 400m37:00 – What’s next for Jereem and the road to LA 202839:40 – What makes Noah Lyles so mentally strong?43:00 – Dealing with criticism and external expectations45:30 – Confidence, resilience and the world’s best sprinters48:00 – What remains when the running stops?50:00 – Finding joy through adversity Jereem on IG: https://www.instagram.com/reemy_rich19/Jereem on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reemy_rich19?_r=1&_t=ZN-9Ag8VmymB3m A Necessary Obsession, hosted by Mathilde Delorme.Some obsessions save you. Some destroy you. Both are necessary.

    Finding faith, The Cost of Greatness, and Letting Go - Jereem Richards - #007

  2. Oct 12

    #006: Stop Overthinking Your Life. Start Living It | Pablo Madrid

    What if the secret to a fulfilling life isn’t achieving more, but simply doing more of what makes you feel alive? Pablo Madrid is a creative director, entrepreneur and the creator behind the food platform Comblog. He’s also the co-founder of creative agency Mistake, a father, and someone who seems fundamentally incapable of sitting still. But unlike most high achievers, Pablo isn’t driven by competition, status or the desire to be the best. He’s driven by curiosity. By play. By the simple pleasure of making things. In this episode of A Necessary Obsession, we explore the psychology of creativity, how to develop good taste, why perfectionism kills great ideas, and what happens when you stop overthinking and start doing. The conversation also takes a deeply personal turn as Pablo opens up about losing his mother to cancer, the lessons she left him with, and how grief has shaped his relationship with life. We talk about ambition, identity, death, creativity and the strange freedom of accepting what you cannot control. In this episode: 00:00 — The Obsession With Doing Things 04:54 — Who Are You Without Your Achievements? 09:24 — Inside the Mind of a Creative Director 16:01 — The Art of Developing Good Taste 21:00 — Food, Culture & Human Connection 27:00 — From Cooking at Home to Building Comblog 35:00 — The Problem With Defining Yourself by Success 39:00 — What Happens When You Reach Your Dreams? 49:00 — Building a Creative Life 53:00 — The Power of Asking for Help 01:00:00 — Why Great Ideas Need Freedom 01:05:00 — Losing His Mother to Cancer 01:12:00 — A Mother’s Final Lessons 01:15:00 — Living With Grief, Not Fighting It 01:22:00 — If There’s No Solution, There’s No Problem 01:28:00 — Stop Thinking. Start Doing. 01:39:00 — Finding Beauty in Imperfection Pablo on IG: https://www.instagram.com/pablo___madrid/?hl=enCome Blog: https://www.instagram.com/come__blog/?hl=enMistake Agency: https://www.instagram.com/mistake.agency/?hl=enPablo referenced 'The Gap' by Ira Glass: https://vimeo.com/85040589

    #006: Stop Overthinking Your Life. Start Living It | Pablo Madrid

  3. Sep 26

    #005: What 41 Trips to Japan Taught Him About Excellence | David de la Torre

    David de la Torre has been to Japan more than 40 times, drawn back by its craftsmanship, hospitality, rituals and uncompromising attention to detail. We talk about how obsession shapes a life: the sacrifices of entrepreneurship, loneliness, resilience, the pursuit of excellence, Japanese whisky, a surreal Yakuza encounter, and what it means to realise that perhaps you’re already living the dream you’ve been chasing. A conversation about ambition, devotion and the cost, and beauty, of caring deeply about something. In this episode: 00:00 — Why Japan 04:30 — 42 Trips to Japan 08:16 — Japanese Hospitality and Excellence 13:00 — Building a Life Around an Obsession 19:05 — Inside a Yakuza Bar 26:28 — Excellence vs Perfection 30:41 — Are You Already Living the Dream? 38:14 — Self-Sabotage 42:10 — Entrepreneurship and Sacrifice 44:03 — Failure 46:38 — Just Try It 48:01 — AI vs Lived Experience 55:08 — When Friends Stop Calling 58:01 — The Cost of Obsession 1:00:31 — Solitude David's Restaurants in Madrid, Spain:— Don Panko (Chamberi & Malasaña locations): https://www.instagram.com/donpankokatsu/?hl=en—Okonomi San: https://www.instagram.com/okonomi.san/?hl=enDavid's IG: https://www.instagram.com/david_dlt84/?hl=en

    #005: What 41 Trips to Japan Taught Him About Excellence | David de la Torre

  4. Sep 16

    #004: The first-ever Olympic decathlete for Slovakia | Slaven Dizdarevic

    He fled a war at 10. At 27, he calculated his way to the Olympics with an excel spreadsheet and ten centimeters to spare. Slaven grew up in the shadow of the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, fled his home country as a child due to war, and years later became the first-ever Olympic decathlete to compete for Slovakia, qualifying for Beijing 2008 on the very last event of the very last competition. But the harder story is what came after: competing for years while closeted, coming out to a family who struggled to accept it, and watching his career decline under that weight. We talk about holding devotion and emotional destruction in the same body, and what it actually takes to rebuild after. In this episode: 00:00 — Introduction 3:12 — "Sport saved my life and almost destroyed it" 6:35 — Fleeing war at ten 14:37 — The spreadsheet moment that got him to Beijing 30:48 — The voice at the start line 34:18 — Coming out to his parents 44:38 — Falling in love with the process, not the outcome 55:38 — "They kicked me out of the nest — but told me I could fly" A Necessary Obsession is a show about devotion, what it demands, what it costs, and what's left of it when you finally have to face what it cost you. Slaven Web: https://slavendizdarevic.com/ Slaven IG: https://www.instagram.com/slavendiz/

  5. Sep 8

    #003: Why Winning Is Never Enough | Ian Gunther

    What happens when the thing you’ve spent your whole life trying to become is no longer the thing you’re best known for?Ian Gunther trained for the Olympics from the age of four and a half. 18 years, four NCAA titles, one knee surgery later, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games came and went without him. What he built instead was a following of millions as a creator. 0:38 — What happens when devotion outlives the goal 2:06 — Why "never being satisfied" felt so good 10:47 — Learning to live with fear 14:04 — Simone Biles and the twisties, explained 19:40 — The knee surgery and the fear of "what if" 29:19 — How the content career actually started 36:57 — Final advice: enjoy the journey ABOUT A NECESSARY OBSESSION:Conversations on devotion, identity, and what it costs to chase something all the way.Through conversations with athletes, creators, founders and people who have built their lives around a pursuit, the show explores the complicated line between being driven by something and being consumed by it. Ian on IG: https://www.instagram.com/iandgunther/?hl=enIan on YT: https://www.youtube.com/@iangunther Ian on TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@ian.gunther?lang=en

    #003: Why Winning Is Never Enough | Ian Gunther

  6. Sep 8

    #002: Jason Brooks on Crewing William Goodge Record Run Across Australia

    Ultra runner William Goodge ran across Australia in 35 days, breaking the previous record. Jason Brooks was the one who made sure he survived it. A former Marine, Jason Brooks spent 35 days without a day off, crewing William Goodge through a 3,800km crossing of the entire length of Australia. Limited sleep, no room for weakness, and a front-row seat to what a body does when the mind refuses to quit. In this episode, we talk about what it actually costs to devote yourself to another person's pursuit. We get into the actual mechanics of holding someone together at the edge of what a body can do, the fight that happens in the mind long before it happens in the body. Jason's book recommendations: Iron John — Robert BlyChop Wood Carry Water — Joshua MedcalfThe War of Art — Steven Pressfield Chapters: 0:00 – Intro: Crewing William Goodge's 3,800km Run Across Australia 0:56 – How Jason Became Lead Crew: Friendship, Psilocybin, and Trust 4:22 – Marine Corps Conditioning and 35 Days of Relentless Work 9:21 – Mind vs. Body: Where the Real Battle Happens 12:10 – From Marine to "Run Philosopher": Burnout, Buddhism, and Stoicism 20:47 – Obsessive Personality and the Audacious Vision 24:25 – Devotion vs. Captivity: The Line Into Self-Destruction 30:22 – Iron John and the Breaking Point on the Australia Crossing 39:24 – Running for My Mother: Generational Motivation and Purpose 47:33 – Book Recommendations: Chop Wood Carry Water & The War of Art Jason on IG: https://www.instagram.com/jason.everette.brooks/

    #002: Jason Brooks on Crewing William Goodge Record Run Across Australia

  7. Sep 8

    #001: Sport is the best and the worst thing to happen to someone

    "I believe the pursuit of elite sport is the best and the worst thing to happen to someone." In this first solo episode of A Necessary Obsession, it's a solo episode with host Mathilde Delorme to lay out the premise of the show through her own story. A childhood sprinter who found belonging through winning, she chased a level she never quite reached, and came out the other side confused, empty, and addicted to a feeling she couldn't name. She talks through the sacrifice of the body, the addictive high of transcendence on the track, the emptiness that can sit underneath a medal, and the sacred rage of walking away from a sport that gave her everything and took just as much. 0:00 –"Sport is The Best and Worst Thing" 1:25 – The Sprinter Who Almost Made It 3:00 – The Body as Sacrifice 6:49 – Transcendence and the Addictive Loop 9:20 – "Everyone Claps for the Wrong Reasons" 12:12 – What Nobody Sees on the Podium 15:26 – Chewed Up and Spat Out 17:57 – Ego, Competition, and the Nike Controversy 20:25 – Reading the Poems 24:16 – What This Podcast Is

    #001: Sport is the best and the worst thing to happen to someone
  • 7 Episodes

About

On obsession, freedom, and the cost of chasing your dreams. Hosted by Mathilde Delorme, A Necessary Obsession explores the psychological and existential forces behind performance, creation and ambition. The conversations examine the tension in the need to achieve, the identities built around pursuit, the rituals that sustain it, and the point at which devotion can become a cage. From athletes and bootstrapped founders to artists, coaches and cultural operators, each guest offers a different perspective on what drives us and why some obsessions feel impossible to let go.

Information

  • Creator
    Mathilde Delorme
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    7
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Mathilde Delorme
  • Show Website
    A Necessary Obsession