May 10, 2023 • 30 mins
Welcome to Unbreakable! A mental health podcast hosted by Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer. On today’s episode, no better way to kick off Mental Health Awareness Month on this podcast than with American ‘speed queen’ Lindsey Vonn. She opens up about her struggles with depression, overcoming challenges and shares her unbreakable moment.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast
helping you out of the gray and into the blue.
Now here's Jay Glacier, chapin the gang.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazier.
I'm Jay Glazier, and before we get to today's guest too,
you're all going to know today's guest. But if you're
like many people.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
You may be surprised to learn that one in five
adults in this country experience mental illness. Last year.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You have far too many fail to receive the support
they need. Tarylan behavioral health is doing something about it.
They understand that behavioral health is a key part of
whole health, delivering compassionate care that treats physical, mental, emotional,
and social needs in tandem.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Tarlm behavioral health.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Raising the quality of life through empathy and action. This
podcast allows me to bring on a lot of friends,
but a lot of the greatest of the greats. And
this person hears certainly in that category of one of
the greatest athletes of all times, one of the greatest
Olympians of all times. But I like to have people
on who are also one of the greatest people I've
ever met of all time.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
With that, I'm going to bring in a good friend.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Of mine who we respectfully call each other each one's besties,
the one and only, Lindsay Vaughn.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
How are you, bestie, ay J?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I'm doing great? I love the product placement there. I
don't are you a spokesman for somebody?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I can't tell?
Speaker 5 (01:24):
I could tell, but I mainly I just got done skiing,
so I've got helmet hair, and you know, I wanted
to be presentable, so this was my solution.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That's still a thing for you, helmet air after all
these years, you still worry about helmet air?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, yeah, it doesn't go away like when you ski.
It just happens. It's a natural side effect.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, you're like, I'm fucking Lindsay Vaughn. I could have
whatever kind of air I want. You shit me.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
By the way, as you could tell, it's my normal
voice on this podcast, so you can ye.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I know, well, there isn't any other voice other than.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Your authentic Jay and boys, I appreciate that. Now listen
all right, Son and I I want to go back here.
We were together with my baby sister Michael Strahan when
I was first starting to write this book, and you
knew it was about depression, anxiety, and mental health. But
you never said anything about yourself during that period.
Speaker 6 (02:15):
You are so laser focused on writing an amazing.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Book what you did, and I didn't want to.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Distract you from, you know, your timeline because you were
you're hammering that book out. But I you know, you
have your own story and I wanted it to be
your story, and I didn't want to, you know, distract
you with my own issues.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
It's not distracting me at all. That's the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Like we have to have teammates in this and and
walk this walk together. So you know, I do want
to dive into that. I want to dive in a
lot of stuff with you. But first before we get
into that, I see you have your metals up behind
you and your trophies up behind you. And have you
always hung them up or has that been a recent thing,
Because I know a lot of people kind of struggles
kind of celebrating themselves.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
I wouldn't say, yeah, I definitely don't celebrate myself. I've
actually always had them in storage. I've never I had
some of them up when I lived in Colorado, but
I still didn't have enough room. And I always have
had my Olympic medals in my SoC door for some reason.
And then my friend actually made this really nice shadow
(03:18):
box for my World Championship medals, and then he did
just my golden medal from the Olympics, and I have
that in another location. But yeah, I just I think
after I retired, it was nice to reflect and I
actually look back at you know, I've got like my
nineteen ninety four you know Most Improved from buck Hill, Minnesota,
like right next to my Lrius Award, and I think,
(03:39):
you know, it's just nice to reflect and look back
on what I've you know, achieved. I never really did
that when I was racing, because you're always looking for
the next goal, you know, the next achievement that you
want to get to, and so you're never really present
and thinking about, you know, wow, I actually I did
a good job. So yeah, it's nice to it's nice
to see them all. I haven't see them in a
(04:00):
long time, so.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
It's great that you could celebrate yourself now.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And it is like I think, it's you know, like
I try and tell our friends and people I talk
to now now that I'm so vocal about this that
you got you got to be your own hero.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
You got to view yourself as your own hero. Too
many of us beat ourselves down.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And you know think that, oh man, if you're giving
yourself credit, that's too cocky, or you know, it's.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Oh yeah, shakes ourselves right.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Well.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
And also that's that's kind of like a social stigma
as well. You know, I feel like a lot of people.
I did one video when I when I put them
all up, I did one video and every everyone said, oh, well,
you know, way to toot your own horn and way
to gloat. And I'm like, why can't I be proud
of what I achieved? And it's not cocky to just
(04:43):
say I'm proud of myself. You know, I've been through
a lot of I've had so many surgeries, and my
career has been you know, full of ups and downs,
and yeah, I'm proud of myself for what I achieved.
And I do think it's frustrating when people think that,
you know, I'm arrogant or you know, too confident, and
(05:05):
I don't know, it's not who I am. I'm actually
a pretty shy person. But I don't think it's a
bad thing to, you know, finally recognize what I've achieved
in my life.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
But's thus far.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It ain't bragging if it's true. That's why I tell
people it's true, right, just say it. And that's you know,
And that is unfortunate that people look hurt. People hurt people.
So everybody's hurt nowadays because of social media. So they're
looking to attack anything any of.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Us put up. It sucks, you know that that lends
into more of our mental health issues.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Tell me when in your life you realize you were
different and as far as different as an athlete, different
than the rest of.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Us, what you are.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
I was different all the way when I was a kid.
You know, when I was seven years old, I was
going to ski camps, you know, the first couple with
my dad, and then I was just on my own
and everyone looked at me funny, and you know, I
didn't really have a lot of friends. I went to
Europe by myself when I was nine, and I just
(06:05):
I didn't fit in. I you know, I never did anything.
I never went to any parties. I never you know,
I just always was on my own path. And again
I just didn't have any friends because of it, and
I knew I always was different because I was always
driven and I always chose the path to success for
my skiing career, and no one understood that. And even
(06:28):
people that you know, I grew up with and ended
up being racers, you know, they didn't make the same
choices that I did.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
And you know, I think it.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Showed definitely in the end. But I've always kind of
walked my own path in that way.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Did you do that because you knew I have to
do this to be different? Stand out? Or is it
more i'be because I am different, I could walk a
different path and everybody.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
I chose my path because I really wanted to be
a ski racer. You know, I met my idol when
I was nine years old and a graph signing in
Minnesota Pekaboo Street, and all I wanted to.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Do from then on was be her.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
And you know, whenever there was a decision to be made,
do I go to sleep at eight o'clock or do
I go hang with these kids and do god knows what,
I always said, No, I'm going to go to bed,
And oftentimes I would be in bed, and you know,
my friends would come home at you know, eleven twelve
one am and there's a race the next day, and
guess who won the race, you know. And so I
(07:27):
always saw that whenever I made a sacrifice, it always
paid off. And so that was the reason why I
walked my own path, because I was just committed to
what I was focused on doing, and even if I
wasn't cool, I didn't really care, you know. I just
this is what I wanted to do when I wanted
to be and I didn't listen to anyone else.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
When were you happiest in your career?
Speaker 5 (07:51):
I mean I think I was happy every day I
was on the mountain. I think when I was, you know,
later in my career, after my injuries, I think every
injury gave me a different perspective, and I think I
appreciated it more and more as time went on.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
I never took it for granted because.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
I've been injured so many times, and.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Even if I wasn't injured, you know, I crash and
I would know, you know, okay, that could have been
my last run of my life, you know what I mean.
And so I think ski racing makes you really aware
of how quickly your career could be over. And so
I just always I've always had fun, and I think again,
maybe later in my career I appreciated a little bit
(08:28):
more and I was able to kind of reflect and
you know, enjoy also not just the racing, but the
experience of racing, you know, being in amazing parts of
the world, and you know, trying to experience a little
bit more culture. You know, those things also brought me joy.
But you know, I wouldn't let myself kind of see
those things until I was a little bit older and
(08:50):
achieved enough of what I had set out to do
to be able to, you know, open my blinders a
little bit more.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Because I come from a different world in the football world,
in the flight world.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
The fight world may not look like it, but our
whole crew total fear walking down to that cage. It's different.
If you don't have fear, you're an absolute psychopath. Do
you have fear up there in your sport when you're
flying down that mountain?
Speaker 4 (09:13):
No, it's kind of the opposite.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
I think if you if you have fear, you're not
able to push yourself as far as you need to
to win. You know, downhill is the unique sport. You know,
you're you're risking a lot. You know, obviously when you're fighting,
you're risking a lot as well, but you have to
be able to, you know, be so on the limit
and not push yourself over. But you always have to
(09:36):
be at that limit. And I think there's a lot
of especially women, that don't agree with me on that topic.
But I've never had fear, and that's one thing that
I think differentiates me is that I love to go fast,
you know, I love the thrill, and and that's one
thing I really miss now in my life is that
I don't have that. There's nothing that's pushing me to
(09:56):
the edge of my limit, you know, with that risk
and adrenaline and a excitement. There's just nothing nothing like
it in the world.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
What victory are you most proud of?
Speaker 5 (10:06):
A lot of them, I mean, especially after you know, injuries,
But I think what stands out to me is the
Olympic gold medal because more because of how much that.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Meant to my family, you know, my family.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
I'm the oldest of five kids, and my family sacrificed
a lot to get there, and I felt like that
was kind of the culmination of all of our hard
work that equaled, you know, something that I set out
to do when I was nine years old, you know,
and that's why it was so meaningful to me and
my family.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Now I'm gonna shift gears here with you because obviously
this is a mental health podcast, and I've been open
that I have, you know, my mental health issues, the
clinical depression, anxiety, a d D, might as well throwing
a little bipolar.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I mean shit, you could probably diagnost me as that
by now.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Right, I say, you're probably like, he's tripolar, he's not bipolar.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What are your mental health issues? How do they feel
for you?
Speaker 5 (11:01):
I have depression and I've had it since I was
a teenager, I think, you know, being on the road
and away from any type of support system was really
hard on me and.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Not having an outlet or anyone to talk to.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
You know, I got really good at managing it in
a way that you know, I always didn't tell anyone
about it. And as an athlete, depression I think is
viewed as weakness, and that's not the case at all.
It's you know, something that everyone deals a lot of
people deal with, and it's kind of like I always
feel like it's like an injury, you know, or a
muscle strain, you know, it's something that you have to work.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
On and it's not like it goes away.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
You know, it's you know, a lot of people when
I when I start talking about my depression in twenty twelve,
you know, the response was really interesting because no one
was really talking about it at that time, and you know,
everyone's like, oh, how are you feeling today?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Do you want do you want to tile?
Speaker 6 (11:55):
And all like like like are you taking your medication today?
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Is I can? You know, I'm like, it's not like
I take it to and all every time I feel sad.
You know, that's not That's not how it works. And
you know, I think there's a lot more understanding around
you know, depression and just mental health in general, which
is amazing. But you know I definitely found ways to
cope with it and you know, to manage it and
you know, to keep it my problem and not you know,
(12:19):
share it with anyone else.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
That's really brave for you to come out then, because
again I was able to hear people like you and
Terry Bradshaw talked about it before I really came out.
I'm just trying to give it words so more of
us could have the conversation.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
You know, you can lean into somebody.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
And and I had to talk to my son or daughter,
or husband or wife or mid grandmother reached out saying,
for the first time in eighty years, now have the
words to tell my husband and kids and grandkids what
I've been going through. So that's really brave that you
did it all the way back then. What propelled you
to do?
Speaker 4 (12:50):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
What what got you to say? You know what, I'm
gonna come, I'm gonna come out with us.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
I mean, it was a time in my in my
life when I was kind of unpacking a lot of
things and cuble tumultuous, you know, with my relationship that ended,
and I felt like it was something that I needed
to get off my shoulders. You know, I felt like
I was carrying this weight around and I was sick
of it. You know, I was sick of feeling like
(13:14):
I didn't have anyone, and you know, I knew a
lot of people that were struggling.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
With it as well.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
I mean, a really good friend of mine is the
reason why I even went to a doctor, because you know,
he was like, I think.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
This would really help you.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
And so for me, it was what I needed personally,
and I think that I the hope was that it
would help others, but the main reason was myself and
just my own journey and how do I become a
better person and in turn, hopefully that will help other
people in their journey as well.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It's amazing again, you keep it inside.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I kept it inside for all these You were like,
physically right, we break our arm, you get a cast, Hey,
everybody signs it. I know.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
That's the funny thing is that, like, I think you
are a really shining example of you know, how physically
strong you can be, and you know, nothing phases you.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
You can get kicked in the face and you're like,
all right, do it again, you know.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
But you know, mental health is something totally different and
it needs just as much care as you know, again
like physical therapy or you know, rehab from an injury.
You know, it's very, very similar, but no one approaches
it that way. And I think again, like, just because
you're physically strong, or just because you know you're smiling,
you know, on the outside or to your friends, I
(14:31):
mean on the inside, you're not dealing with something.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, listen, I thought, man, once I got to where
I was in my career, at Rainbows and Unicorns and
and you find out, you know, you're almost not antidepressant.
A lot of the other things are not antidepressant. You
got to learn how to love yourself up from the
inside out. I now, because I've done this journey, now
I have a lot of tools I could use when
that beast is coming out of the box. And it
probably comes out of the box more now than I
(14:56):
have because I talk about it so much. It's so
prevalent in my life, which is my choice, so I
can be of service to people. But now I have
things I do every morning when these kids out of
the box later before I go to bed. What are
some of the practicing tools you use to kind of
you know, keep your keep the roommates in your head,
talking nice with each other.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
I have to physically exert myself almost every day. You know,
I need that outlet. I need to like recenter and refocus,
just you know, feel confident in myself and you know,
keep those thoughts away. Whenever I'm inactive, things creep in
and you know, it's just a really slippery slope. So
(15:36):
that's one of the reasons why you know, the gym
is so important to me still after retirement. And one
thing that always helped me keep it at bay.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
When I was.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Racing, was that I was racing, you know, I had
I felt like honesty. Ski Racing was always my therapist,
right and you know when I was when I was
in the starting, it was always the most peaceful and
clear headed and happy that I was me?
Speaker 4 (15:59):
And day is that the same? You know? And you
fight or like what do you what do you do
to help?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No, I so I need a team. So that's why
I'm like, look, I'm going for another back clean up.
What I gotta get cleaned up? Why?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
How are you shaming me for that? You are you
kidding me?
Speaker 6 (16:20):
Just now I know where to send my Ben and
Jerry's thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I'm just getting little clean out again.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And then but Friday, I went and wrestled this football player.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Eric Wilson trained him and the other guys named gym
are like, what the fuck are you doing?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
But my main head coach over there, Jason Boorby, He's like,
now you're you're doing what you have to do. Like
I when I'm not around those guys and I'm not
able to you know, have that fight team if you will.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
The roomans my head, do not talk nice to each other.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
But what I've had to do as a result too
is figure out other ways of having teams, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Not just that.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So now I when I'm having bad days, I call
four people to tell him I'm struggling. Our friend the
Rock is one of them who literally stops everything when.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I'm like, oh, it's one of those days.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Strayands one now, which I never did until came out
with this book. So even though I wrote about it,
we never talked vulnerable like this until one night I
was like, fuck, I can't go out tonight, and he
was like wow, And I just told him for the
first time, and he's like, why have you never told me?
Like I could have been there a for you as
your best friend for thirty years. I'm like, I don't
make at the rules of this shit.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
You know, with you, I feel change what it is.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
But you also have seen our dynamic. We constantly get
on each other. So it was like right like there
was like shame with him, But then his reaction was like,
but I could have been there for thirty years. So
now I know, call like four people and tell him,
and then I'll call four other people just to check
up on them. And not tell them what's happening with me.
And that's my way of being of service. And that's
(17:50):
my way is still having you know, a team around
me without having to go in a cage and have
Brandon Coturet, you know, tear my head off.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Yeah, that's solid.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
And I'm still really bad at a sharing and communicating
and like I'll just kind of go silent and coop
myself up and and then you know, people are like,
what is going on? I know it's so bad. You know,
It's like, I try to stay around people. I have
a really great tendency of hibernating, and you know, it's
(18:21):
it's nice in the mountains to do that, but then
that again, that's a bad place for me to be.
So I do have people that notice it. And then
I also have my therapist, doctor Mondo, that I always
call if I need I need him. But I still
have a hard time sharing because I feel like, you know,
I like telling my story because I think that I
hope that it helps other people share their story. But
(18:42):
I still have a hard time communicating when I'm having
a hard time.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Well, since I understand you, why don't we change.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
All, right?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Reach out to me? And be like, that's see, IM
fucking have one of those dark days.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
All right, I'll do it.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
That's me because that lists me up.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Also, that helps me, you know, I'm able to be
there for you and that's what we have to do.
And that's what like, I think we're in the majority, Lenz,
I don't think we're.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
In the minority.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Oh, We're for sure in the majority.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
And that's the funny part is that you know, it's
like there's this huge stigma and you know, everyone thinks
that this bad thing is like everyone is dealing with it,
whether you want to admit it to yourself or not,
especially after COVID.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Right, And I think COVID was kind of.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
An eye opener for a lot of people because I
think they were able to hide things maybe to themselves
and to others, you know that what they were struggling with,
but it, you know, became very clear for pretty much everyone,
you know, when COVID hit that, you know, there's things
that need to be addressed. And I think that it
made everyone more empathetic because we all have issues, you know,
(19:42):
we all have struggles, and it's a matter of supporting
each other. That's the only way that we get through it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And I think the more we show people we're in
the majority, the more people will be comfortable coming out
talking about it and leaning into each other. And you know,
I go and speak to these sports teams, I'm like, look,
there's just not the therapist out there for us yet.
You have to do each other's therapists and lead into
each other. And that's where somebody like you and someone
like myself could really help, I think, lead this next generation.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I'm hoping.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
I also when I'm you know, like I said, I'm
bad at communicating, I do journal a lot, and that's
kind of my way of like working through things if
I if I don't have someone that I can talk to.
Before I had doctor Mondo, I was always journaling. I've
been journaling since I was like ten, but I didn't
really realize, you know, how helpful it was until you
(20:29):
know later. But that's my process of like what am
I dealing with? You know, what can I do to
make myself feel better? And even just the press of
writing it down and acknowledging what I'm going through is helpful.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
I just started it. I learned it.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Really, yeah, and I learned it well.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
The book is.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Honestly, it's a way of journaling as well, so to
be honest.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So the book comes out and this year again I
have an anxiety attack, and I talk about in the book.
Every time I've been on TVs from two thousand and
five to now, we even like scriptive stuff. So it
became like it just became habitual. And this year, first
show I didn't have one a Fox and Uvil Sunday,
and then the second show, I didn't have a third show,
(21:12):
and I was like what. I was talking to Lane
Johnson from the Eagles, who had he had his own
issue and left the team, and he started talking about
how journaling was helping him, and I was like, oh, wait,
hold on a second, I haven't had anxiet attack these
first three weeks. Wait, maybe yes, journaling for me, maybe
this has helped me. So I started as a result
exactly what you're said. I started as a result of that.
It was huge and now thank you, Bud. And now
(21:34):
every day also I journal a wake up in the
morning and write down ten things I'm grateful for that happened.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
The previous day.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yeah, I had this.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
There's actually a journal that says like it's kind of
the three things I'm grateful for, you know, my three
goals for the day.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
And I used to do that at night.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
But then then it really got my brain going, and
then I had a heart I have a really hard
time sleeping, and so that did not help. So I
instead of like, if I do the grateful nice exercise,
I'll do it in the morning and then at night,
I'll do my regular journaling, which is helpful.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Okay, I love that. Oh that's yeah, that's actually good
because I kind of lump them together. I'm going to
try that. I'm gonna start doing that. Hey, a couple
more things before I let you go, A I want
you talk about your foundation.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
So I have a foundation I started in twenty fifteen,
and we try to empower underserved girls through scholarships and programs.
It's been one of the most rewarding things that I've
done in my life. We've helped girls who you know,
struggled a lot with self confidence that they do self harm,
and you know, we've brought them through these camps and
(22:36):
they've all seen a huge change, especially their parents and
their self confidence levels. And then we also obviously do scholarships,
which you know, since COVID has been kind of the
majority of what we've been doing, with fifty percent sports
based scholarships and fifty percent educational based scholarships. So I'm
just trying to, you know, empower the next generation. And
it has nothing to do with skiing. It just has
(22:57):
to do with, you know, telling girls that they can
be whatever they dream of becoming.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
This is not just for athletes, right, We're.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
All, no, No, It's for anyone.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
I mean, I have an aeronautical engineer who got a scholarship,
you know so, and she is a boss. You know,
She's like this fourteen year old boss who wants to,
you know, work for NASA, and I'm like, yes, I
will help you.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
I love that. Now here's the thing. I just moved
here to Malibu.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So my old house I had the bookshell Shop and
Rise was right there behind my shoulder. But now I
just got a Jakie set up over here because I
haven't put a books shell Shot.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Tell everybody about your book.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
Thanks.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
It's just really about you know, sharing my experiences in life.
It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with skiing, but
I mean there is a lot of skiing in there.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
But mainly it does.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
But the more of, but the more of all my
stories are inspirational stories and how I've overcome things, and
you know what I've experienced, and more on the emotional
side than you know. It's not about you know, what
I've wanted or how I got there. It's you know,
really about what I've overcome and how I got through it,
and you know what I've experienced in my twenty year
(24:08):
of professional skiing life.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
By the way, do you remember our first dinner. I
said to you, Ahi, let's let's go over a surgery.
How many surgers you have? And because I was like, hey,
you gotta be friut of your cars? How many surgeries
you have? And you said, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
I only count the big ones.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Oh no, no, I think you said like fourteen or something.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Well, yeah, but if I count all the times I've
been cut open, yeah, yeah, but I don't.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
I don't generally.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Count in that, but you should because those are things
you still overcame. I can't be there's no major in
mind where somebody does cuts into your body. Your body
changes forever.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
It's never gonna be yeah right, yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Let's not discount so Lindsay says fourteen, and I just
was like, fuck, I wasn't expecting that, So I said seventeen.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
She said what, and then straight ahead immediately said you
open that fucking seventeen surgeries just.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Pull got a first.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yeah, exactly, exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
But you got to be proud of your scars. And
that's I think a huge thing for everybody. Do you
look at your scars now as a badge of honor?
Do you look at them? Are you able to if
things may have overcome this to have my dreams come true?
Speaker 5 (25:23):
I mean, I honestly don't notice them anymore because they're
just a part of me. You know, that's my story,
that's you know, how I got me where I am. Yeah,
I mean I think I always made very sure when
I went to surgery, I said, listen, guys, I are
not f uppy scars because they're big and I don't
I don't want to look crazy, and uh and they did.
(25:44):
They always did a really good job. They're like, you know,
I spent nextra thirty minutes making this scar look good.
I'm like, thank you very much. I very much appreciate it.
But yeah, they just that's a part of me. It's
a part of my life. And you know, there's no
not enough mederma in the world to make my scar
looks better.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
But you know that's I'm proud of it.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
I you know again, I'm stronger because of what I've
been through.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
So it makes your beautiful gangster.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
And it's also I now try and tell teams and
athletic trainers and when you have a player comes in,
let's say it's an.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
ACL, don't just ask them, hey, how you doing? Like
they're not doing good? No, so don't just throw it away.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Hey, really find out how they're doing that you can
help them as they're coming off this you know, year
long thing with when you're not able to.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Do the thing that you love.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
I think especially in team sports, but generally whenever your
professional athlete and you get injured, the phone stops ringing.
People don't care anymore how you're doing because you're not
winning at something. And I think that's the hardest thing
to kind of overcome, is that you're surrounded by this
great team and then the second you get injured, you're
by yourself. You know, it's is it your family?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
You know, do you have a pet? There might be
you know a friend or two, but.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
You know, the the numbers aren't big, and so I
think making sure and checking in on athletes that are
injured is it's such a means so much. You know,
it's such a big deal. But everyone overlooks it because
they're like, eh, you know, they're taking care of the injury,
like they'll be fine, they'll be back here in a year.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
But your is a really long time.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
When you're learning how to walk again and you're own crutches,
like is no joke. So check in on your friends
that are injured. It makes a big difference.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
A week is a big deal because again you're you're right,
you get like the NFL, you get hey, you put
to the side over here, or fighting.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
You're not there right now.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
You're put over here.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
If you go rehab and the rest of us go practice.
And that's lonely.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
And I don't think anyone's ever taken care of or
even started to think about, hey, maybe we got to
take care of these athletes mental health while we're rehaving
them physically as well. Last question here for you is
when I ask all my guests your final question, give
me your own breakable moment, the thing that should have
broken you and didn't, and as a result, you came
(27:58):
to the other side of that tunnel longer.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
For the rest of your life.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
I mean, Jay, that list is really long. There's been
many unbreakable moments. I think probably my second when I
blew out my knee in twenty thirteen acl MCL to
be a plateau fracture, and then ten months later I
did it again, just no MCL, and basically the entire
(28:23):
world wrote me off and it almost broke me. It
was close, probably one of the hardest times of my life,
but I crawled my way out. I learned how to
walk again, I learned how to didn't run. Running was
out of the question. But I won my second race
back and that was basically two years of being out
(28:45):
of competition, and that was probably one of my proudest moments.
I cried like a little baby, and I guarantee you
that no one else would have been able to do.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
What I did.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I love that You're about to make me cry, but
that's okay. I'm secure with my manhood.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Yeah, you are as you should be.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Well, that is incredible. Just take me real quick before
I do. Let you go. When you did win that
take me behind your eyes, like behind your ribcage. How
how did that feel like? For those of us will
never experienced that.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
I mean, it's like I took when I crossed the
finish line and saw number one, I let out similar
to what I did at the Olympics in twenty ten,
just this like scream from my gut, you know, from
so deep within me, and it just was like let
it all out.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
You know.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
It was so much hard work, so much sweat, so
many tears, and I just kind of like emotionally imploded.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
And it felt so good.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
You know, it felt so good to let it out,
and you know, to just acknowledge what I've been through
and know that I'd come out on top despite it all.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
And you know, my.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Team was crying, everyone was crying.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
And it was one of the most amazing experiences, second
only to the Olympics, but a lot harder.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
To do than the Olympics, to be honest, amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Listen, Lindsa, I appreciate your time. You're amazing in so
many ways. But I'm most proud that you're my bestie.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Thanks bestie. I'm proud that you're my bestie too.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
And now you're gonna start calling me right when you're
going through those dark days. Good and welcome to lends
you Bob, Thank you for joining us
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Here on the Unbreakable Mental Health podcast.
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast
helping you out of the gray and into the blue.
Now here's Jay Glacier, chapin the gang.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazier.
I'm Jay Glazier, and before we get to today's guest too,
you're all going to know today's guest. But if you're
like many people.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
You may be surprised to learn that one in five
adults in this country experience mental illness. Last year.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
You have far too many fail to receive the support
they need. Tarylan behavioral health is doing something about it.
They understand that behavioral health is a key part of
whole health, delivering compassionate care that treats physical, mental, emotional,
and social needs in tandem.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Tarlm behavioral health.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Raising the quality of life through empathy and action. This
podcast allows me to bring on a lot of friends,
but a lot of the greatest of the greats. And
this person hears certainly in that category of one of
the greatest athletes of all times, one of the greatest
Olympians of all times. But I like to have people
on who are also one of the greatest people I've
ever met of all time.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
With that, I'm going to bring in a good friend.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Of mine who we respectfully call each other each one's besties,
the one and only, Lindsay Vaughn.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
How are you, bestie, ay J?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I'm doing great? I love the product placement there. I
don't are you a spokesman for somebody?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
I can't tell?
Speaker 5 (01:24):
I could tell, but I mainly I just got done skiing,
so I've got helmet hair, and you know, I wanted
to be presentable, so this was my solution.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
That's still a thing for you, helmet air after all
these years, you still worry about helmet air?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, yeah, it doesn't go away like when you ski.
It just happens. It's a natural side effect.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, you're like, I'm fucking Lindsay Vaughn. I could have
whatever kind of air I want. You shit me.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
By the way, as you could tell, it's my normal
voice on this podcast, so you can ye.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
I know, well, there isn't any other voice other than.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Your authentic Jay and boys, I appreciate that. Now listen
all right, Son and I I want to go back here.
We were together with my baby sister Michael Strahan when
I was first starting to write this book, and you
knew it was about depression, anxiety, and mental health. But
you never said anything about yourself during that period.
Speaker 6 (02:15):
You are so laser focused on writing an amazing.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Book what you did, and I didn't want to.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Distract you from, you know, your timeline because you were
you're hammering that book out. But I you know, you
have your own story and I wanted it to be
your story, and I didn't want to, you know, distract
you with my own issues.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
It's not distracting me at all. That's the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Like we have to have teammates in this and and
walk this walk together. So you know, I do want
to dive into that. I want to dive in a
lot of stuff with you. But first before we get
into that, I see you have your metals up behind
you and your trophies up behind you. And have you
always hung them up or has that been a recent thing,
Because I know a lot of people kind of struggles
kind of celebrating themselves.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
I wouldn't say, yeah, I definitely don't celebrate myself. I've
actually always had them in storage. I've never I had
some of them up when I lived in Colorado, but
I still didn't have enough room. And I always have
had my Olympic medals in my SoC door for some reason.
And then my friend actually made this really nice shadow
(03:18):
box for my World Championship medals, and then he did
just my golden medal from the Olympics, and I have
that in another location. But yeah, I just I think
after I retired, it was nice to reflect and I
actually look back at you know, I've got like my
nineteen ninety four you know Most Improved from buck Hill, Minnesota,
like right next to my Lrius Award, and I think,
(03:39):
you know, it's just nice to reflect and look back
on what I've you know, achieved. I never really did
that when I was racing, because you're always looking for
the next goal, you know, the next achievement that you
want to get to, and so you're never really present
and thinking about, you know, wow, I actually I did
a good job. So yeah, it's nice to it's nice
to see them all. I haven't see them in a
(04:00):
long time, so.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
It's great that you could celebrate yourself now.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
And it is like I think, it's you know, like
I try and tell our friends and people I talk
to now now that I'm so vocal about this that
you got you got to be your own hero.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
You got to view yourself as your own hero. Too
many of us beat ourselves down.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And you know think that, oh man, if you're giving
yourself credit, that's too cocky, or you know, it's.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Oh yeah, shakes ourselves right.
Speaker 6 (04:23):
Well.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
And also that's that's kind of like a social stigma
as well. You know, I feel like a lot of people.
I did one video when I when I put them
all up, I did one video and every everyone said, oh, well,
you know, way to toot your own horn and way
to gloat. And I'm like, why can't I be proud
of what I achieved? And it's not cocky to just
(04:43):
say I'm proud of myself. You know, I've been through
a lot of I've had so many surgeries, and my
career has been you know, full of ups and downs,
and yeah, I'm proud of myself for what I achieved.
And I do think it's frustrating when people think that,
you know, I'm arrogant or you know, too confident, and
(05:05):
I don't know, it's not who I am. I'm actually
a pretty shy person. But I don't think it's a
bad thing to, you know, finally recognize what I've achieved
in my life.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
But's thus far.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It ain't bragging if it's true. That's why I tell
people it's true, right, just say it. And that's you know,
And that is unfortunate that people look hurt. People hurt people.
So everybody's hurt nowadays because of social media. So they're
looking to attack anything any of.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Us put up. It sucks, you know that that lends
into more of our mental health issues.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Tell me when in your life you realize you were
different and as far as different as an athlete, different
than the rest of.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Us, what you are.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
I was different all the way when I was a kid.
You know, when I was seven years old, I was
going to ski camps, you know, the first couple with
my dad, and then I was just on my own
and everyone looked at me funny, and you know, I
didn't really have a lot of friends. I went to
Europe by myself when I was nine, and I just
(06:05):
I didn't fit in. I you know, I never did anything.
I never went to any parties. I never you know,
I just always was on my own path. And again
I just didn't have any friends because of it, and
I knew I always was different because I was always
driven and I always chose the path to success for
my skiing career, and no one understood that. And even
(06:28):
people that you know, I grew up with and ended
up being racers, you know, they didn't make the same
choices that I did.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
And you know, I think it.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Showed definitely in the end. But I've always kind of
walked my own path in that way.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Did you do that because you knew I have to
do this to be different? Stand out? Or is it
more i'be because I am different, I could walk a
different path and everybody.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
I chose my path because I really wanted to be
a ski racer. You know, I met my idol when
I was nine years old and a graph signing in
Minnesota Pekaboo Street, and all I wanted to.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Do from then on was be her.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
And you know, whenever there was a decision to be made,
do I go to sleep at eight o'clock or do
I go hang with these kids and do god knows what,
I always said, No, I'm going to go to bed,
And oftentimes I would be in bed, and you know,
my friends would come home at you know, eleven twelve
one am and there's a race the next day, and
guess who won the race, you know. And so I
(07:27):
always saw that whenever I made a sacrifice, it always
paid off. And so that was the reason why I
walked my own path, because I was just committed to
what I was focused on doing, and even if I
wasn't cool, I didn't really care, you know. I just
this is what I wanted to do when I wanted
to be and I didn't listen to anyone else.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
When were you happiest in your career?
Speaker 5 (07:51):
I mean I think I was happy every day I
was on the mountain. I think when I was, you know,
later in my career, after my injuries, I think every
injury gave me a different perspective, and I think I
appreciated it more and more as time went on.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
I never took it for granted because.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
I've been injured so many times, and.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Even if I wasn't injured, you know, I crash and
I would know, you know, okay, that could have been
my last run of my life, you know what I mean.
And so I think ski racing makes you really aware
of how quickly your career could be over. And so
I just always I've always had fun, and I think again,
maybe later in my career I appreciated a little bit
(08:28):
more and I was able to kind of reflect and
you know, enjoy also not just the racing, but the
experience of racing, you know, being in amazing parts of
the world, and you know, trying to experience a little
bit more culture. You know, those things also brought me joy.
But you know, I wouldn't let myself kind of see
those things until I was a little bit older and
(08:50):
achieved enough of what I had set out to do
to be able to, you know, open my blinders a
little bit more.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Because I come from a different world in the football world,
in the flight world.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
The fight world may not look like it, but our
whole crew total fear walking down to that cage. It's different.
If you don't have fear, you're an absolute psychopath. Do
you have fear up there in your sport when you're
flying down that mountain?
Speaker 4 (09:13):
No, it's kind of the opposite.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
I think if you if you have fear, you're not
able to push yourself as far as you need to
to win. You know, downhill is the unique sport. You know,
you're you're risking a lot. You know, obviously when you're fighting,
you're risking a lot as well, but you have to
be able to, you know, be so on the limit
and not push yourself over. But you always have to
(09:36):
be at that limit. And I think there's a lot
of especially women, that don't agree with me on that topic.
But I've never had fear, and that's one thing that
I think differentiates me is that I love to go fast,
you know, I love the thrill, and and that's one
thing I really miss now in my life is that
I don't have that. There's nothing that's pushing me to
(09:56):
the edge of my limit, you know, with that risk
and adrenaline and a excitement. There's just nothing nothing like
it in the world.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
What victory are you most proud of?
Speaker 5 (10:06):
A lot of them, I mean, especially after you know, injuries,
But I think what stands out to me is the
Olympic gold medal because more because of how much that.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Meant to my family, you know, my family.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
I'm the oldest of five kids, and my family sacrificed
a lot to get there, and I felt like that
was kind of the culmination of all of our hard
work that equaled, you know, something that I set out
to do when I was nine years old, you know,
and that's why it was so meaningful to me and
my family.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Now I'm gonna shift gears here with you because obviously
this is a mental health podcast, and I've been open
that I have, you know, my mental health issues, the
clinical depression, anxiety, a d D, might as well throwing
a little bipolar.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I mean shit, you could probably diagnost me as that
by now.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Right, I say, you're probably like, he's tripolar, he's not bipolar.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
What are your mental health issues? How do they feel
for you?
Speaker 5 (11:01):
I have depression and I've had it since I was
a teenager, I think, you know, being on the road
and away from any type of support system was really
hard on me and.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Not having an outlet or anyone to talk to.
Speaker 5 (11:15):
You know, I got really good at managing it in
a way that you know, I always didn't tell anyone
about it. And as an athlete, depression I think is
viewed as weakness, and that's not the case at all.
It's you know, something that everyone deals a lot of
people deal with, and it's kind of like I always
feel like it's like an injury, you know, or a
muscle strain, you know, it's something that you have to work.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
On and it's not like it goes away.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
You know, it's you know, a lot of people when
I when I start talking about my depression in twenty twelve,
you know, the response was really interesting because no one
was really talking about it at that time, and you know,
everyone's like, oh, how are you feeling today?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Do you want do you want to tile?
Speaker 6 (11:55):
And all like like like are you taking your medication today?
Speaker 5 (11:58):
Is I can? You know, I'm like, it's not like
I take it to and all every time I feel sad.
You know, that's not That's not how it works. And
you know, I think there's a lot more understanding around
you know, depression and just mental health in general, which
is amazing. But you know I definitely found ways to
cope with it and you know, to manage it and
you know, to keep it my problem and not you know,
(12:19):
share it with anyone else.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
That's really brave for you to come out then, because
again I was able to hear people like you and
Terry Bradshaw talked about it before I really came out.
I'm just trying to give it words so more of
us could have the conversation.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
You know, you can lean into somebody.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
And and I had to talk to my son or daughter,
or husband or wife or mid grandmother reached out saying,
for the first time in eighty years, now have the
words to tell my husband and kids and grandkids what
I've been going through. So that's really brave that you
did it all the way back then. What propelled you
to do?
Speaker 4 (12:50):
What?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
What what got you to say? You know what, I'm
gonna come, I'm gonna come out with us.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
I mean, it was a time in my in my
life when I was kind of unpacking a lot of
things and cuble tumultuous, you know, with my relationship that ended,
and I felt like it was something that I needed
to get off my shoulders. You know, I felt like
I was carrying this weight around and I was sick
of it. You know, I was sick of feeling like
(13:14):
I didn't have anyone, and you know, I knew a
lot of people that were struggling.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
With it as well.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
I mean, a really good friend of mine is the
reason why I even went to a doctor, because you know,
he was like, I think.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
This would really help you.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
And so for me, it was what I needed personally,
and I think that I the hope was that it
would help others, but the main reason was myself and
just my own journey and how do I become a
better person and in turn, hopefully that will help other
people in their journey as well.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
It's amazing again, you keep it inside.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I kept it inside for all these You were like,
physically right, we break our arm, you get a cast, Hey,
everybody signs it. I know.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
That's the funny thing is that, like, I think you
are a really shining example of you know, how physically
strong you can be, and you know, nothing phases you.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
You can get kicked in the face and you're like,
all right, do it again, you know.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
But you know, mental health is something totally different and
it needs just as much care as you know, again
like physical therapy or you know, rehab from an injury.
You know, it's very, very similar, but no one approaches
it that way. And I think again, like, just because
you're physically strong, or just because you know you're smiling,
you know, on the outside or to your friends, I
(14:31):
mean on the inside, you're not dealing with something.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, listen, I thought, man, once I got to where
I was in my career, at Rainbows and Unicorns and
and you find out, you know, you're almost not antidepressant.
A lot of the other things are not antidepressant. You
got to learn how to love yourself up from the
inside out. I now, because I've done this journey, now
I have a lot of tools I could use when
that beast is coming out of the box. And it
probably comes out of the box more now than I
(14:56):
have because I talk about it so much. It's so
prevalent in my life, which is my choice, so I
can be of service to people. But now I have
things I do every morning when these kids out of
the box later before I go to bed. What are
some of the practicing tools you use to kind of
you know, keep your keep the roommates in your head,
talking nice with each other.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
I have to physically exert myself almost every day. You know,
I need that outlet. I need to like recenter and refocus,
just you know, feel confident in myself and you know,
keep those thoughts away. Whenever I'm inactive, things creep in
and you know, it's just a really slippery slope. So
(15:36):
that's one of the reasons why you know, the gym
is so important to me still after retirement. And one
thing that always helped me keep it at bay.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
When I was.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Racing, was that I was racing, you know, I had
I felt like honesty. Ski Racing was always my therapist,
right and you know when I was when I was
in the starting, it was always the most peaceful and
clear headed and happy that I was me?
Speaker 4 (15:59):
And day is that the same? You know? And you
fight or like what do you what do you do
to help?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No, I so I need a team. So that's why
I'm like, look, I'm going for another back clean up.
What I gotta get cleaned up? Why?
Speaker 3 (16:16):
How are you shaming me for that? You are you
kidding me?
Speaker 6 (16:20):
Just now I know where to send my Ben and
Jerry's thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I'm just getting little clean out again.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
And then but Friday, I went and wrestled this football player.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Eric Wilson trained him and the other guys named gym
are like, what the fuck are you doing?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
But my main head coach over there, Jason Boorby, He's like,
now you're you're doing what you have to do. Like
I when I'm not around those guys and I'm not
able to you know, have that fight team if you will.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
The roomans my head, do not talk nice to each other.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
But what I've had to do as a result too
is figure out other ways of having teams, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Not just that.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
So now I when I'm having bad days, I call
four people to tell him I'm struggling. Our friend the
Rock is one of them who literally stops everything when.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I'm like, oh, it's one of those days.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Strayands one now, which I never did until came out
with this book. So even though I wrote about it,
we never talked vulnerable like this until one night I
was like, fuck, I can't go out tonight, and he
was like wow, And I just told him for the
first time, and he's like, why have you never told me?
Like I could have been there a for you as
your best friend for thirty years. I'm like, I don't
make at the rules of this shit.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
You know, with you, I feel change what it is.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
But you also have seen our dynamic. We constantly get
on each other. So it was like right like there
was like shame with him, But then his reaction was like,
but I could have been there for thirty years. So
now I know, call like four people and tell him,
and then I'll call four other people just to check
up on them. And not tell them what's happening with me.
And that's my way of being of service. And that's
(17:50):
my way is still having you know, a team around
me without having to go in a cage and have
Brandon Coturet, you know, tear my head off.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Yeah, that's solid.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
And I'm still really bad at a sharing and communicating
and like I'll just kind of go silent and coop
myself up and and then you know, people are like,
what is going on? I know it's so bad. You know,
It's like, I try to stay around people. I have
a really great tendency of hibernating, and you know, it's
(18:21):
it's nice in the mountains to do that, but then
that again, that's a bad place for me to be.
So I do have people that notice it. And then
I also have my therapist, doctor Mondo, that I always
call if I need I need him. But I still
have a hard time sharing because I feel like, you know,
I like telling my story because I think that I
hope that it helps other people share their story. But
(18:42):
I still have a hard time communicating when I'm having
a hard time.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Well, since I understand you, why don't we change.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
All, right?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Reach out to me? And be like, that's see, IM
fucking have one of those dark days.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
All right, I'll do it.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
That's me because that lists me up.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Also, that helps me, you know, I'm able to be
there for you and that's what we have to do.
And that's what like, I think we're in the majority, Lenz,
I don't think we're.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
In the minority.
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Oh, We're for sure in the majority.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
And that's the funny part is that you know, it's
like there's this huge stigma and you know, everyone thinks
that this bad thing is like everyone is dealing with it,
whether you want to admit it to yourself or not,
especially after COVID.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
Right, And I think COVID was kind of.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
An eye opener for a lot of people because I
think they were able to hide things maybe to themselves
and to others, you know that what they were struggling with,
but it, you know, became very clear for pretty much everyone,
you know, when COVID hit that, you know, there's things
that need to be addressed. And I think that it
made everyone more empathetic because we all have issues, you know,
(19:42):
we all have struggles, and it's a matter of supporting
each other. That's the only way that we get through it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And I think the more we show people we're in
the majority, the more people will be comfortable coming out
talking about it and leaning into each other. And you know,
I go and speak to these sports teams, I'm like, look,
there's just not the therapist out there for us yet.
You have to do each other's therapists and lead into
each other. And that's where somebody like you and someone
like myself could really help, I think, lead this next generation.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I'm hoping.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
I also when I'm you know, like I said, I'm
bad at communicating, I do journal a lot, and that's
kind of my way of like working through things if
I if I don't have someone that I can talk to.
Before I had doctor Mondo, I was always journaling. I've
been journaling since I was like ten, but I didn't
really realize, you know, how helpful it was until you
(20:29):
know later. But that's my process of like what am
I dealing with? You know, what can I do to
make myself feel better? And even just the press of
writing it down and acknowledging what I'm going through is helpful.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
I just started it. I learned it.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
Really, yeah, and I learned it well.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
The book is.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Honestly, it's a way of journaling as well, so to
be honest.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
So the book comes out and this year again I
have an anxiety attack, and I talk about in the book.
Every time I've been on TVs from two thousand and
five to now, we even like scriptive stuff. So it
became like it just became habitual. And this year, first
show I didn't have one a Fox and Uvil Sunday,
and then the second show, I didn't have a third show,
(21:12):
and I was like what. I was talking to Lane
Johnson from the Eagles, who had he had his own
issue and left the team, and he started talking about
how journaling was helping him, and I was like, oh, wait,
hold on a second, I haven't had anxiet attack these
first three weeks. Wait, maybe yes, journaling for me, maybe
this has helped me. So I started as a result
exactly what you're said. I started as a result of that.
It was huge and now thank you, Bud. And now
(21:34):
every day also I journal a wake up in the
morning and write down ten things I'm grateful for that happened.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
The previous day.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yeah, I had this.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
There's actually a journal that says like it's kind of
the three things I'm grateful for, you know, my three
goals for the day.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
And I used to do that at night.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
But then then it really got my brain going, and
then I had a heart I have a really hard
time sleeping, and so that did not help. So I
instead of like, if I do the grateful nice exercise,
I'll do it in the morning and then at night,
I'll do my regular journaling, which is helpful.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Okay, I love that. Oh that's yeah, that's actually good
because I kind of lump them together. I'm going to
try that. I'm gonna start doing that. Hey, a couple
more things before I let you go, A I want
you talk about your foundation.
Speaker 5 (22:16):
So I have a foundation I started in twenty fifteen,
and we try to empower underserved girls through scholarships and programs.
It's been one of the most rewarding things that I've
done in my life. We've helped girls who you know,
struggled a lot with self confidence that they do self harm,
and you know, we've brought them through these camps and
(22:36):
they've all seen a huge change, especially their parents and
their self confidence levels. And then we also obviously do scholarships,
which you know, since COVID has been kind of the
majority of what we've been doing, with fifty percent sports
based scholarships and fifty percent educational based scholarships. So I'm
just trying to, you know, empower the next generation. And
it has nothing to do with skiing. It just has
(22:57):
to do with, you know, telling girls that they can
be whatever they dream of becoming.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
This is not just for athletes, right, We're.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
All, no, No, It's for anyone.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
I mean, I have an aeronautical engineer who got a scholarship,
you know so, and she is a boss. You know,
She's like this fourteen year old boss who wants to,
you know, work for NASA, and I'm like, yes, I
will help you.
Speaker 3 (23:19):
I love that. Now here's the thing. I just moved
here to Malibu.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So my old house I had the bookshell Shop and
Rise was right there behind my shoulder. But now I
just got a Jakie set up over here because I
haven't put a books shell Shot.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Tell everybody about your book.
Speaker 4 (23:33):
Thanks.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
It's just really about you know, sharing my experiences in life.
It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with skiing, but
I mean there is a lot of skiing in there.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
But mainly it does.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
But the more of, but the more of all my
stories are inspirational stories and how I've overcome things, and
you know what I've experienced, and more on the emotional
side than you know. It's not about you know, what
I've wanted or how I got there. It's you know,
really about what I've overcome and how I got through it,
and you know what I've experienced in my twenty year
(24:08):
of professional skiing life.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
By the way, do you remember our first dinner. I
said to you, Ahi, let's let's go over a surgery.
How many surgers you have? And because I was like, hey,
you gotta be friut of your cars? How many surgeries
you have? And you said, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
I only count the big ones.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Oh no, no, I think you said like fourteen or something.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
Well, yeah, but if I count all the times I've
been cut open, yeah, yeah, but I don't.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
I don't generally.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Count in that, but you should because those are things
you still overcame. I can't be there's no major in
mind where somebody does cuts into your body. Your body
changes forever.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
It's never gonna be yeah right, yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Let's not discount so Lindsay says fourteen, and I just
was like, fuck, I wasn't expecting that, So I said seventeen.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
She said what, and then straight ahead immediately said you
open that fucking seventeen surgeries just.
Speaker 6 (24:57):
Pull got a first.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Yeah, exactly, exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
But you got to be proud of your scars. And
that's I think a huge thing for everybody. Do you
look at your scars now as a badge of honor?
Do you look at them? Are you able to if
things may have overcome this to have my dreams come true?
Speaker 5 (25:23):
I mean, I honestly don't notice them anymore because they're
just a part of me. You know, that's my story,
that's you know, how I got me where I am. Yeah,
I mean I think I always made very sure when
I went to surgery, I said, listen, guys, I are
not f uppy scars because they're big and I don't
I don't want to look crazy, and uh and they did.
(25:44):
They always did a really good job. They're like, you know,
I spent nextra thirty minutes making this scar look good.
I'm like, thank you very much. I very much appreciate it.
But yeah, they just that's a part of me. It's
a part of my life. And you know, there's no
not enough mederma in the world to make my scar
looks better.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
But you know that's I'm proud of it.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
I you know again, I'm stronger because of what I've
been through.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
So it makes your beautiful gangster.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
And it's also I now try and tell teams and
athletic trainers and when you have a player comes in,
let's say it's an.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
ACL, don't just ask them, hey, how you doing? Like
they're not doing good? No, so don't just throw it away.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Hey, really find out how they're doing that you can
help them as they're coming off this you know, year
long thing with when you're not able to.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
Do the thing that you love.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
I think especially in team sports, but generally whenever your
professional athlete and you get injured, the phone stops ringing.
People don't care anymore how you're doing because you're not
winning at something. And I think that's the hardest thing
to kind of overcome, is that you're surrounded by this
great team and then the second you get injured, you're
by yourself. You know, it's is it your family?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
You know, do you have a pet? There might be
you know a friend or two, but.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
You know, the the numbers aren't big, and so I
think making sure and checking in on athletes that are
injured is it's such a means so much. You know,
it's such a big deal. But everyone overlooks it because
they're like, eh, you know, they're taking care of the injury,
like they'll be fine, they'll be back here in a year.
Speaker 4 (27:12):
But your is a really long time.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
When you're learning how to walk again and you're own crutches,
like is no joke. So check in on your friends
that are injured. It makes a big difference.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
A week is a big deal because again you're you're right,
you get like the NFL, you get hey, you put
to the side over here, or fighting.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
You're not there right now.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
You're put over here.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
If you go rehab and the rest of us go practice.
And that's lonely.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
And I don't think anyone's ever taken care of or
even started to think about, hey, maybe we got to
take care of these athletes mental health while we're rehaving
them physically as well. Last question here for you is
when I ask all my guests your final question, give
me your own breakable moment, the thing that should have
broken you and didn't, and as a result, you came
(27:58):
to the other side of that tunnel longer.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
For the rest of your life.
Speaker 5 (28:02):
I mean, Jay, that list is really long. There's been
many unbreakable moments. I think probably my second when I
blew out my knee in twenty thirteen acl MCL to
be a plateau fracture, and then ten months later I
did it again, just no MCL, and basically the entire
(28:23):
world wrote me off and it almost broke me. It
was close, probably one of the hardest times of my life,
but I crawled my way out. I learned how to
walk again, I learned how to didn't run. Running was
out of the question. But I won my second race
back and that was basically two years of being out
(28:45):
of competition, and that was probably one of my proudest moments.
I cried like a little baby, and I guarantee you
that no one else would have been able to do.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
What I did.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I love that You're about to make me cry, but
that's okay. I'm secure with my manhood.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Yeah, you are as you should be.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Well, that is incredible. Just take me real quick before
I do. Let you go. When you did win that
take me behind your eyes, like behind your ribcage. How
how did that feel like? For those of us will
never experienced that.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
I mean, it's like I took when I crossed the
finish line and saw number one, I let out similar
to what I did at the Olympics in twenty ten,
just this like scream from my gut, you know, from
so deep within me, and it just was like let
it all out.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
You know.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
It was so much hard work, so much sweat, so
many tears, and I just kind of like emotionally imploded.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
And it felt so good.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
You know, it felt so good to let it out,
and you know, to just acknowledge what I've been through
and know that I'd come out on top despite it all.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
And you know, my.
Speaker 6 (29:57):
Team was crying, everyone was crying.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
And it was one of the most amazing experiences, second
only to the Olympics, but a lot harder.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
To do than the Olympics, to be honest, amazing.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Listen, Lindsa, I appreciate your time. You're amazing in so
many ways. But I'm most proud that you're my bestie.
Speaker 4 (30:14):
Thanks bestie. I'm proud that you're my bestie too.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
And now you're gonna start calling me right when you're
going through those dark days. Good and welcome to lends
you Bob, Thank you for joining us
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Here on the Unbreakable Mental Health podcast.
Hosts And Creators
kelvin washington
Rob Parker
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