38-year-old speaker of the NYC Council Corey Johnson said on Monday he’s felt much better and stress-free since reporting he’s not running for mayor and started to talk transparently about his ongoing gloom. He said many New Yorkers have disclosed to him it’s significant to have somebody who carries on with a public life talk straightforwardly about what they’re experiencing.

Johnson received $859,394 for a potential mayoral run however said a week ago he wouldn’t run for the office. The choice came after a wounding fight over the current year’s budget wherein the progressives and conservatives attacked Johnson for his treatment of $1 billion in changes to the NYPD’s budget. He said a week ago that he wasn’t stopping public life and is viewed as prone to pursue another position not far off.

He clarified that he quit going to therapy in March, when he started working seven days a week, and by the 2nd week of May felt less satisfaction, restlessness, an absence of hunger, disengagement. Continuing therapy meetings by means of Zoom helped him understand and make sense of what he was experiencing. Johnson said he’s still in therapy, taking medicine and not embarrassed about those two things.