For this episode, I’m joined by Sean Smith from The Blackout and Sappenin’ Podcast for an honest conversation about identity, purpose, starting again, and what happens when something that has defined you for years suddenly disappears.

The idea behind Fact & Feelings is simple. We start with a mental health fact, then use it to ask one honest question. No scripts, no perfect answers, just a conversation about the feelings and experiences that statistics can never fully capture.

Sean speaks openly about what happened when The Blackout originally split in 2015, and how losing the band also meant losing a huge part of how he understood himself. After more than a decade of touring and building his life around music, he suddenly found himself questioning what he could do next, what skills he had, and whether he would always just be known as “Sean from The Blackout.”

We talk about feeling abandoned by an industry you gave everything to, falling out of love with music, and the people and opportunities that helped Sean gradually find his feet again. From starting Sappenin’ Podcast to returning to music and eventually reuniting with The Blackout, Sean reflects on discovering that his identity could be bigger than any one band, job or chapter of his life.

The conversation also goes somewhere I wasn't expecting. Sean talks about the impact that the actions of the "Ian Watkins Saga" and the end of Lostprophets had on him and the wider Welsh music scene, and the difficulty of carrying feelings connected to something you had no control over.

Sean also speaks openly about starting therapy after reaching a difficult point in his own life, what finally made him ask for help, and how having those conversations has helped him better understand himself.

And we finish by looking back at some of the moments that made everything worthwhile, from touring the world and playing huge stages to performing with one of his heroes, Limp Bizkit.

This conversation keeps coming back to one idea. Losing something that helped define you can leave you wondering who you are without it, but the end of one part of your identity doesn't have to be the end of you.

Fact & Feelings is part of For Younger You, a mental health project built around having the conversations we wish we'd had sooner.

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Thank you for watching, listening and supporting the project.

For Younger You

The Conversations We Needed.