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.
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 lost
03:00 – When your performance determines your self-worth
05:00 – The psychological cost of success and failure
07:00 – Jereem’s journey from Trinidad to the Olympic stage
11:20 – Getting faster with age and reinventing yourself
14:30 – Faith, control and learning to surrender
18:00 – Trusting God when everything is on the line
22:00 – What does an Olympian actually pray for?
24:00 – Why winning never feels like enough
27:00 – Knowing when to walk away from your obsession
29:30 – Why trying harder isn’t always the answer
31:30 – The brutal reality of training for the 400m
37:00 – What’s next for Jereem and the road to LA 2028
39:40 – What makes Noah Lyles so mentally strong?
43:00 – Dealing with criticism and external expectations
45:30 – Confidence, resilience and the world’s best sprinters
48:00 – 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.
12 Oct 2026
#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=en
Come Blog: https://www.instagram.com/come__blog/?hl=en
Mistake Agency: https://www.instagram.com/mistake.agency/?hl=en
Pablo referenced 'The Gap' by Ira Glass: https://vimeo.com/85040589
26 Sept 2026
#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
16 Sept 2026
#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/
8 Sept 2026
#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
8 Sept 2026
#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 Bly
Chop Wood Carry Water — Joshua Medcalf
The 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/
8 Sept 2026
#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
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