Despite winning five tournaments this season - including the UK Championship and Masters crown - O'Sullivan has cut an unhappy figure throughout.
The 48-year-old admitted recently that he's gone back to sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters, who has helped the snooker icon several times throughout his career.
His demeanour this season has led to questions once again on whether O'Sullivan still enjoys playing the sport he has dominated for several decades.
But even though O'Sullivan admits he's had a troubling two years on tour personally, that's seemingly made him more determined to turn things around before he decides to walk away.
"I just love it when it’s good and want to sort it out when it’s not good," he told the Daily Mail.
"I am never going to leave snooker on a bad note, so there is no way I am caving in now.
"I’m quite an obsessional character, quite a complex person. I want to leave after a really good spell.
"I want a sustained period where I enjoy the season and I go, 'You know what, a lot of happy faces, good year, I am 51, 52, come on, grab hold of yourself here, it is not going on for ever, f****** hell, just jack it in'."
The World Snooker Championships will get underway next week with O'Sullivan bidding for a record eighth title as well as becoming just the fourth player to win all three Triple Crown events in the same season.
He's previously downplayed creating history as he's mainly focused on trying to enjoy his snooker again.
But O'Sullivan has issued a warning to his rivals that he won't be beaten easily at the Crucible.
"It would be nice, I’m not going to lie," he added.
"If you asked me a week ago, I would have said, 'Nah, I don’t really care, just going to go there, play my snooker, fall back on a bit of Eurosport work, enjoy running with my mates, get out to the Peaks'.
"That would have been the attitude, but not now.
"If someone is going to beat me, they will have to do what Williams did the other night.
"I am not going to give up. Now I have committed with Steve, I want to go there and smother myself in the mustard and just go for it."
O'Sullivan already boasts numerous records and stands alone at the top of the table for most Triple Crown titles won with 23 titles.
But he stilll doesn't consider himself the best snooker player ever compared to someone like Stephen Hendry.
"I suppose statistically it sort of says I am," he said.
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"But certain people come into the sport and they have such an impact on it, like Tiger Woods did in golf, Stephen Hendry did in snooker, Phil Taylor did in darts.
"I’m not sure I actually did that. I just think I never changed the sport like Hendry did, I never changed people’s perceptions of what is possible.
"I wouldn’t say I was the greatest. I’ve just had a much longer go at it than Hendry."
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