Bristol Uni grad Humz turns from first year fail to TikTok influencer
Humz - from Manchester - reaches millions of people as a wellbeing influencer after changing his life away from a "downward spiral of anxiety and drugs"
Last updated 27th Nov 2023
We've been hearing the story of a 24-year-old who once spent years hiding his mental health behind the mask of drink and drugs who's now a TikToker reaching millions of people around the world.
Humz - from Manchester - failed his first year of uni, but after being given a second chance by the University of Bristol, chanced upon a self-help book before rethinking how he lived his life.
Made worse by undiagnosed ADHD, Humz was said to be on a “downward spiral of anxiety and drugs", something which started during the gap year between finishing his A-Levels and starting uni back in 2018.
During his first year at the University of Bristol, not only did he submit no work, but he also had a 0% attendance rate.
Despite these issues and seeking help through the services on offer for mental health at the University, he finally graduated in 2022 with a first class honours.
Now he shares self-care advice - which focuses on meditation, visualisation and cold water immersion - with his “community” on TikTok.
Humz had been a promising young footballer who earned a scholarship to one of the best grammar schools in Manchester, however, during his A-Levels and gap year, he fell into a cycle of long nights partying, followed by days of anxiety and depression.
“My brain started to deteriorate,” he said. “I was quite a confident guy but I developed the maddest social anxiety out of nowhere. It got to the point where I couldn’t even speak to my own family without feeling anxious.
“I had never really thought about mental health before. I couldn't handle the anxiety, so I just took more drugs and drank more alcohol."
Then, he moved to the University of Bristol - where his behaviour didn't stop, and his grades started to slip.
“I only left my halls to go out,” he said. “I’d finally go to sleep at 8 or 9am and wake up at 6pm. In my first year I had 0% attendance and didn’t even attempt any work, my brain was too fried.
“My anxiety was going crazy and I felt so heartbroken. I barely spoke to my parents and I know my mum was really worried. I messed up her life for a few years.
“I failed my first year but couldn’t bring myself to tell my parents.
“I started talking to the uni’s wellbeing team. It was the first time I had ever spoken about my mental health: they were so helpful, they kept me going.”
Thanks to a second chance from the university, followed by an ADHD diagnosis, he chanced upon a self-help book by Dr Joe Dispenza, which he says he has a lot to thank for in inspiring him to start looking at himself in a different way.
Sometimes, he'd even meditate for 90 minutes at a time - all in aid of visualising a different future for himself.
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A month later, things started to change for Humz.
He said: “But it was a year or two before I felt healed and it’s still a process now – you’ve got to keep on top of things.”
“I found my purpose in recovery and that’s helping others. We never learnt this stuff in school but everyone should – and I want to help do that. In the same way that Marcus Rashford is for school dinners, I want to be for mental health.
“Getting that first from Bristol was the moment that topped everything. I knew how important it was to my mum after all I’d put her through. I had to work really hard; I just kept visualising getting my results and hugging my mum again and again.
“Our relationship is the best thing ever now. We are super close.”
Humz now reaches millions through his TikTok channel, which focuses on mental health and particularly cold water immersion - with many videos, like the one above, focusing on ice baths.
Indeed, two of his videos have been ranked number one in the world of all ice bath content on TikTok.
He added: "TikTok is one of those things - at first, when I started doing it, I did feel a little embarrassed. I ghosted completely from everyone. When I was making content too, I didn't really go out - I was very focussed on my work, because it takes a lot of effort to make one video.
"I quickly got over the thoughts that these videos were 'cringe' though because I knew I had the resilience to not give up, and I knew my heart was in the right place. I know then content I'm making is genuinely trying to help people - and once the viewing numbers were up there, I had nothing to be embarrassed about."
Humz has a cold shower each day, meditates morning and evening, takes regular ice baths and works out frequently. He no longer relies on substances as a coping mechanism and is instead “obsessed” with natural highs.
After graduating he landed a well-paid grad scheme with Pepsi, but turned it down to focus full-time on helping people improve their mental health.
Humz is looking to not only inspire his community, but develop a wider influence to help make real change in the world of mental health.
He said: "If we were taught these things about mental health from an early age, some people may never have the problems they have to deal with in the first place, because it would get recognised. There are tough questions that really need answering, so my number one goal is to be in a position of influence - big enough whereby I can force these changes in the same way that Marcus Rashford is big enough to bring the Government to the table about food policy.
"Mental health policy is not good enough. Whoever the Prime Minister is, you need to do the things that so many people are talking about. The topics I bring up in my videos are ones common with so many - and my end goal is for those people in power to come to the table, speak with me, and work to make changes to help the mental health of people across the country."
Humz is also looking forward to using his platform for good through his music. He's a keen musician, and has already composed a number of songs, which could be released very soon into the new year.
Talking about his hopes for 2023, he said: "It's not something I've shared yet, but I'm a musician and another reason why I built this platform is because of the strong community I could bring with me on my music journey.
"For me, by the end of 2023, I want to be reaching more people and more hearts through my music as well as my content. Music is the most life changing thing for all of us, and that's what I want to do for people as well.
"I'm so excited for the new year, and as you can tell, I'm just ready to go!"
You can check-out Humz's TikTok page here.