A Decade Of Addiction, A Silent Retreat And Starting Over | With Hector Hughes

He spent two years going to allergy clinics and drinking twig tea from a Chinese doctor who didn't speak a word of English.Turns out it wasn't allergies. It was mold poisoning, and it only showed up once he'd stopped numbing himself with a decade of drinking he never told anyone the full truth about.Hector built Unplugged, the off-grid cabin company that locks your phone in a box for three days, after a 10-day silent retreat in the Himalayas ended with him quitting his job a week later. In this episode:- Why Hector spent two years and thousands of pounds chasing an illness that turned out to be mold poisoning, and what suppressed trauma had to do with it- The decade-long relationship with alcohol he hid from everyone around him, and how addiction recovery reframed what he thought was "bravery"- The 10-day silent retreat in the Himalayas that led him to quit his job a week after landing back in the UK- Why guests regularly leave Unplugged cabins having decided to end their relationships, and the "day one blow-up" pattern Hector sees again and again- How Unplugged went from four company values to one, and why Hector thinks most startups over-complicate everythingChapters: 00:00 Growing Up, Chaos Behind The Optimism 03:01 The Decade Of Numbing Himself 05:03 The Himalayan Silent Retreat That Changed Everything 08:10 Sober, Healthy, And Then He Got Sick 09:51 The Real Diagnosis11:14 How He Actually Recovered 14:51 His Advice For Anyone Watching Someone Spiral 19:16 Inside The Startup That Nearly Broke Him 24:01 What Actually Caused The Burnout 29:40 The Fear Of Sitting Still 38:33 Did He Think About Quitting The Retreat? 41:27 Coming Home A Changed Person 43:05 Building Unplugged With Zero Experience 51:22 What Unplugged Actually Is 53:00 Marketing An Experience No One Can Explain 1:09:42 Why Couples Break Up At The Cabins 1:14:12 Becoming A Different Kind Of Leader 1:20:38 The Real Signs Of An Addictive PersonalityFollow Hector:https://www.linkedin.com/in/hector-hughes-10082195/https://unplugged.rest/Follow Olly: https://www.instagram.com/olly.303/https://www.tiktok.com/@ollyfawcett303?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pchttps://www.linkedin.com/in/olly-fawcett-668566177/Get frequent behind the scenes updates from Olly: https://whatittakes.kit.com/51cd36dc35