Psychology Beyond the felt: Balancing Poker and Life URL has been copied successfully! Let’s just get this out of the way: Trying to Be a Human and a Poker Player at the Same Time Is F*cking Impossible. I wake up most days feeling like I’m behind. Behind on poker. Behind on sleep. Behind on life. Dog needs to piss, heart needs electrolytes, brain needs a reason to not spiral. But we move. We always move. And the thing is—poker’s the easy part. Cards don’t lie. People do. Life does. Life gaslights the shit outta you. One day you’re feeling like you’re locked in, focused, building something. The next day you’re in the shower wondering why you said “nice hand” to that donkey who 3-outed you after you triple barreled your soul into the pot. Balance? Hilarious concept. Have you ever tried balancing poker, fitness, mental health, trauma, vlogging, and a dog who just got his ass surgically repaired and now shits sideways? I have. And I still find a way to beat people who think “study” means watching ACR clips at 1.5x speed. I’m not here to tell you how to live. I’m still figuring out how I’m supposed to live. But I do know this: Poker will eat you up if you let it. It doesn’t care how tired you are. It doesn’t care if your ex texted “hope you’re well” and you spiraled into a 2-hour Instagram deep dive like a psycho. Poker doesn’t care, the turn’s still coming. So you gotta care. For yourself. In between hands. In between sessions. You gotta find something else—something pure. For me? Sometimes it’s fasted cardio at 7am, sometimes it’s cold steak outta the pan, sometimes it’s Harley just looking at me like, “yo, you good?” No one tells you how hard this shit is. Chasing a dream that doesn’t come with a blueprint. Trying to stay sober when chaos feels like home. Playing cards for money while trying not to gamble your soul. But that’s the game. The real game. The one no one streams. And I’m still in it. Let’s just get this out of the way: Trying to Be a Human and a Poker Player at the Same Time Is F*cking Impossible. I wake up most days feeling like I’m behind. Behind on poker. Behind on sleep. Behind on life. Dog needs to piss, heart needs electrolytes, brain needs a reason to not spiral. But we move. We always move. And the thing is—poker’s the easy part. Cards don’t lie. People do. Life does. Life gaslights the shit outta you. One day you’re feeling like you’re locked in, focused, building something. The next day you’re in the shower wondering why you said “nice hand” to that donkey who 3-outed you after you triple barreled your soul into the pot. Balance? Hilarious concept. Have you ever tried balancing poker, fitness, mental health, trauma, vlogging, and a dog who just got his ass surgically repaired and now shits sideways? I have. And I still find a way to beat people who think “study” means watching ACR clips at 1.5x speed. I’m not here to tell you how to live. I’m still figuring out how I’m supposed to live. But I do know this: Poker will eat you up if you let it. It doesn’t care how tired you are. It doesn’t care if your ex texted “hope you’re well” and you spiraled into a 2-hour Instagram deep dive like a psycho. Poker doesn’t care, the turn’s still coming. So you gotta care. For yourself. In between hands. In between sessions. You gotta find something else—something pure. For me? Sometimes it’s fasted cardio at 7am, sometimes it’s cold steak outta the pan, sometimes it’s Harley just looking at me like, “yo, you good?” No one tells you how hard this shit is. Chasing a dream that doesn’t come with a blueprint. Trying to stay sober when chaos feels like home. Playing cards for money while trying not to gamble your soul. But that’s the game. The real game. The one no one streams. And I’m still in it. Jon Pardy Best known for winning Big Brother Canada Season 2, the Canadian pro credits a fellow reality TV contestant for getting him into the game of poker and world of streaming.