The Witcher's Paul Bullion is taking on a triathlon for CALM

You might know him as a grizzly red-haired monster hunter in The Witcher, but actor and triathlete Paul Bullion is much less scary in real life. This year Paul is taking on a bunch of triathlons for CALM, so we chatted to him about why he’s taking on such a tough challenge.

If you’ve not seen The Witcher yet (you definitely should), Paul Bullion plays Lambert in the Netflix dark fantasy series. Every year, Paul raises money for a different charity and this year CALM’s lucky enough to be one of them. His incredible support for CALM has also earned Paul a place on our team of ambassadors.

“I’m only 34 and most people my age know someone who’s taken their own life. I’ve had two friends who I’ve lost to suicide and it’s sadly not uncommon. Dealing with your problems and your difficulties is important, but sometimes you need help dealing with things and to talk about how you feel.

“Life runs at 100 miles an hour and nobody stops, so if I sense something is a bit off with a friend, I’ve got into the habit of double checking they’re okay. I’m lucky that I’ve got friends and we have a WhatsApp group where we talk about how we feel, but I know that’s not always the case.”

Losing two friends to suicide has left a lasting hole in Paul’s life, but it’s given him a different focus. When he’s not on set, he’s donning his swimming goggles and cycling shorts, covering bonkers distances to help others.

“The work CALM does literally saves lives. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary situation and you can’t underestimate the hole you’ll leave in people’s lives, no matter how insignificant you feel or how bad things are.

“When I lost my friend to suicide, all I could think was, however awful it made me feel, my friend must have felt a million times worse to take that step. It fills me with pain to think that they had to deal with that. I can’t imagine the kind of hole they’ve left and the effect that it’s had on so many people. If just one phone call saves a life, it’s worth it.”

When it comes to getting into a character’s headspace, Paul channels this same empathy into how he plays his character Lambert in The Witcher:

“Lambert’s been through horrible experiences as a child and when an outsider comes in he's very distrusting because he’s been hurt before. I might not have been through what that character’s been through, but maybe I’ve been through some stuff that brought up the same emotion. In Lambert’s case, I dug into my insecurities a bit more.”

Triathlons take a different kind of strength - a sport that’s just as challenging mentally as it is physically, so the fact Paul has taken on more than one of them is bloody impressive. He turned to triathlons after a bad breakup and has been hooked on endurance sports ever since.

As well as raising money by taking on these events, training helps Paul with his own mental wellbeing too. It gives him something to focus on outside of his work and has helped him out of some difficult places:

“I got into endurance sports because of poor mental health a few years ago. I needed to make a healthy choice because I found myself ruminating in my own thoughts, nothing really dark, but I wasn’t happy.

“I saw an advert for Ironman back in 2016 but I’d never done a triathlon at that point. I trained in 12 weeks and managed to do it in 12 and a half hours. I shocked myself really and that’s when I got a bug for it. In the industry I’m in, things are so inconsistent, so if I have a goal away from work then I don’t take my value from the industry.”

But it’s about more than goals for Paul, who actually finds the training relaxing. Not really the yoga and meditation type, Paul admits he’s not good at sitting still, but training in three different sports also helps him feel like he’s not stuck in a rut.

“Changing things up helps keep things interesting and stops you getting into a stagnant routine. I think when someone feels they’re in a rut, they struggle because they feel like they’re not going anywhere.

“I know things like yoga and meditation have a lot of benefits, but I find it easier to get that feeling from swimming. There’s zero impact on your body and you have to tune into your breath in the water. After swimming I always feel relaxed, not just because I’d been moving my body, but because I’ve spent hours focusing on breathing in rhythm.”

“Relaxing” probably isn’t the word Paul would use when taking on an Ironman triathlon though. He has to battle his way through a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles on his bicycle and a 26.2 mile run (that’s the length of a marathon).

The average Ironman takes a gruelling 13 hours, so we wanted to know how Paul gets through them mentally:

“So many things can go wrong in a triathlon and you’re always in the pursuit of the perfect race which never happens. It’s about dealing with things that go wrong. It’s like a metaphor for problems that come up in life because sometimes you need to ask for help. It’s very humbling and when you do cross the line it’s the most emotional experience. ”

Paul’s continuing to support CALM this year, taking on a half marathon this December to raise even more cash for our life-saving services.

If you need support, our website is full of useful stuff for your head, or our helpline and webchat is open every day from 5pm until midnight.