When Nick Perry’s daughter was born prematurely at just 30 weeks, fatherhood began in a way he could never have imagined — watching his tiny newborn spend six weeks in neonatal intensive care while he wrestled with fear, helplessness and a desperate instinct to protect her.
In this episode, Rhythm Health founder Nick Perry opens up about the emotional impact of that experience and how becoming a father fundamentally changed his relationship with vulnerability, love and what it meant to be a man.
Nick shares the fear and protective rage he carried during his daughter’s time in NICU, and how men’s work eventually gave him a space to access emotions and grief he hadn’t fully processed — including unresolved grief following the death of his own father.
Together, Geoff and Nick explore fatherhood, modern masculinity, identity and emotional suppression. They unpack the King, Warrior, Magician and Lover archetypes, why strength doesn’t mean shutting down emotion, and what can happen when we continually suppress the parts of ourselves we don’t know how to express.
The conversation also explores Nick’s own identity reckoning. After years of helping others create meaningful change, he entered what he calls an “inner winter” — questioning his career, beliefs and the expectations he had inherited through family, religion and society.
From people pleasing and self-abandonment to becoming a stepfather, navigating a blended family and learning to trust himself, Nick shares what it has taken to stop living according to who he thought he should be and start coming home to himself.
What You’ll Learn:
🏥 Nick’s experience of his daughter being born at just 30 weeks
❤️ How six weeks in NICU changed him as a father
💭 The fear, helplessness and protective rage he struggled to process
💔 How men’s work helped Nick access suppressed emotion and unresolved grief
🧠 How fatherhood can challenge our identity and sense of self
👑 The King, Warrior, Magician and Lover archetypes of masculinity
⚡ Why people pleasing can become a form of self-abandonment
👨👩👧 The realities of step-parenting and raising a blended family
✨ Why “nobody gets you before you get you”
Follow the show:
@intodeep_pod
Follow Nick:
@rhythmhealth
Follow Geoff:
@geoff_intodeep
