Jonah Hill speaks on stage during SiriusXM’s ‘SmartLess LIVE’ at Avalon Hollywood on April 25, 2026. (PHOTO BY RODIN ECKENROTH/GETTY IMAGES FOR SIRIUSXM)
I read something about Jonah Hill talking about how he stepped away because he wasn’t happy — and now he wants to come back and just be funny again.
It made me think.
Because his version of it is clean.
He stepped back. Built a life. Got happy. Found his way back.
Mine wasn’t like that.
I didn’t step away from things that weren’t working.
I sabotaged things that were.
Relationships. Opportunities. Stability. The stuff people spend their whole lives trying to build.
So what’s the relevance?
Actually… it’s the same story. Just a different expression of it.
Because at the core of both is the same thing: being disconnected from yourself.
For some people, that shows up as anxiety. For others, it shows up as shutting down. And for some of us… it shows up as blowing up anything good before it has a chance to last.
I’ve seen it with clients for 30 years. I just don’t think I fully recognized it in myself until later.
What Hill is talking about — getting back to what made him love it in the first place — isn’t just about comedy. It’s about returning to something honest.
And the truth is, however you get there — whether you quietly step away or crash your way out — the work is the same.
You have to find your way back to yourself.
Not the version that’s trying to win.
Not the version that’s trying to prove something.
The version that actually enjoys it.
That’s where everything starts working again.
Not perfectly.
But honestly.
And honestly is the only thing that ever really sustains.
