October 13, 2020 • 25 mins
How do you perform under pressure? Do your nerves get in the way?
Olympic champion Julia Mancuso reveals how she prepares her mind for a race and how she stops negative thoughts from creeping in.
Don't underestimate the power of your brain! A positive attitude is learned behavior; train your brain daily to become more resilient and happy.
In this episode Julia and Jill discuss:
0:43 What does retirement mean to you?
4:48 Did skiing remain a passion even when it was your job?
7:17 How did you craft your positive mindset?
9:22 How do you deal with things that annoy you?
10:25 Sleep tricks and advice.
12:25 Tips of calming your nerves.
13:55 The biggest misconceptions about Julia.
16:27 Building the timeline of your goals.
17:36 Julia explains why her podcast is called “Just Be Yourself.”
18:26 The biggest lessons Julia has learned from being a mother.
19:05 Discussing the subject of discipline.
21:56 Julias tips on raising her vibration every day.
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Learn More: https://www.curtco.com/lifedonebetter
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Hosted by: Jill de Jong
Produced and edited by: AJ Moseley
Sound Engineering by: Michael Kennedy
Theme Music by: Chris Porter
A CurtCo Media Production
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
From Kurt Coe media this week on Life done better.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Luckily I think it's through a lot of the teachings
that my mom shared with us is that I just
wanted to be happy and you know at the end
of the day I think I'll have less regrets doing
what I truly love and being happy than sacrificing myself
for fame or money. Welcome to life.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Done better. I'm your host. Still the young. My guest
today is Julia Mancuso. Julia won four Olympic medals and
five world championships podiums. Hey Julia. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Thank you so much for having me. When did you
officially retire and what does that actually mean when you retire.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Does that mean that you're not competing but still training.
What does it mean for you in a big way.
Speaker 6 (00:53):
I retired from competition so I retired mostly because of
an injury so it was a little bit of a
forced retirement but I was also at the age of retirement.
So both of those things sort of happened. It was
actually really hard for me. I was going for my
fifth Olympics which I would have been one of three
athletes going for a record fifth Olympics as a winter
(01:15):
female Olympian. So I was really looking forward to that.
I think mostly just showing the longevity in sport and
The Age is just a number and you can do
whatever you want but unfortunately my hip which had been
dealing with since I was basically 18 just wasn't holding
up so I had another surgery and I couldn't quite
recover from it. I was having a really hard time
walking and skiing but I was very determined and strong
(01:41):
willed to get to the Olympics.
Speaker 7 (01:44):
And so I was still working my way back onto
the tour and I retired I guess you officially retired
right before those Olympics. So I guess being retired just
means I'm not competing but I'm still an athlete. I
think I'll always be an athlete. It's a weird transition
to go into to say because you're retired from a
competition to say that you're retired from your sport and
(02:06):
I've been dealing with that transition for the last two
years I thought I wanted to get into big mountain
skiing and doing more film work and traveling a bunch
to do that. And then I found myself pregnant so
it really couldn't have come at a better time. And
so it was nice to have you know the pressure
of being pregnant to kind of say OK you're going
to take it easy you're definitely not going to the
(02:26):
top of the mountain with the risk of death because
you're starting families.
Speaker 8 (02:31):
Yeah. You're delivering a miracle on this planet.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
So let's take a little break and you're also having
endured the injuries and the pain related to that pushing
through to pain you know making sure that you are
ready for competition must have been really hard on you
mentally physically and when you're in it you're in it
but when you're out of it you may look back
and say Gee that's kind of crazy Yeah because it
(02:54):
listeners like also need to know your age.
Speaker 9 (02:56):
Right. Because when we talk about retirement we think of
much older than 36 and that's what you're now. And
so you retired when you were 34 officially. Yeah. Yes.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
So you've had this whole career and now like your
body's not doing what you want it to do. Like
you've really pushed it to the limits and here you
are thinking OK how am I gonna get to the
next half of my life. I are more than half
right and I'm so glad you had that hip replacement
because that really has changed it all for you right.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
Yeah it really has been. So looking back you know
the question you ask is How do you think like
when you're in it why didn't I do these other
things earlier. For me I look back and I'm actually
really grateful for those experiences because I learned so much
the resilience and mostly attitude I learned a lot about
staying positive in the worst situations ever and also turning
(03:46):
off the volume of all the naysayers and people who
don't support you like where it really comes down to
yourself and knowing what you want and also knowing you
earned the opportunity to allow yourself to go through that.
So for me I had all the success and I
solidified my position on the team to where in my
(04:06):
own heart I knew it was my own choice and
privilege to take my own path and do what I wanted.
So yeah I don't regret it. It was really really
hard and I cried a lot. And there are a
ton of difficult moments but I do believe I learned
so much in those two years that made me even
a stronger person.
Speaker 9 (04:25):
I love hearing that yeah because we all deal with
so much hardship so many challenges. And also our bodies
don't always work the way we want it to work.
And those times that we can feel really down can
also be some of the most wonderful and mostly in
retrospect learning lessons in our life that really transfer and
upgrade or life in ways that we couldn't even imagine
(04:48):
during your career. Whiskey always passion related. Or did it
at some point become a real job and about making
a living it started as fashion and always was passion.
Speaker 6 (04:57):
I actually didn't know that as a kid. I had
no idea you could make a living from ski racing.
I think a lot of people still probably have no
idea that you can actually make a living from these
different sports. I mean I think it's becoming more common
now because of social media. So I think there's a
lot more pressure on kids. And you know a lot
more about opportunity and sponsorships because back when I was
(05:19):
starting racing I mean it was just pictures in the newspaper.
That's how you got your recognition stories and articles being
written about you. There was no social media presence or
popularity contests on there.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
There's a lot of pressure now.
Speaker 10 (05:31):
Yeah. There is so much pressure and I think it
goes back to being the popular kid in school. It's
like it's not necessarily about results anymore it's about whose
pictures are better and I think that's really hard. So
I have to say there was a lot more passion
when I was a kid because there was no outside
noise it was really easy to focus on what you
really loved.
Speaker 7 (05:50):
And when I was 16 I had to make the
decision if I was going to be a pro or
not because that's when I won my first bit of money.
So the first tour stepping stones to the World Cup
tour in skiing is called the norm cup. So it's
just mostly in North America. And it was the first
year that we had prize money. So when I was
15 I won ten thousand dollars for winning the Tour.
(06:13):
And it was a big deal because if you take
any money from your sport you can't compete. And CWA.
So if you want to get a scholarship to University
you can't accept any money. Otherwise you're ineligible.
Speaker 9 (06:25):
Oh I didn't know that. It's changing now. If you
are that age and you present at ten thousand dollars
and you're like Do you want to make this a
professional career. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (06:37):
But I do remember having this conversation with my mom
and saying I'm going to take the money because who knows.
Let's just see where it goes. And you also have
the option which I found out to give the money
back when you turn 18 and decide to go to
college you can actually pay back the money to wherever
you got it from. And then you can be eligible again.
So I just figured hey worst case scenario if I
(06:57):
don't make more money than it would cost for me
to go to university I'll just pay it back and
then get a scholarship. But in my mind I'm thinking
well maybe I can make more money than it cost
to get a scholarship and I can just pay for
my own school.
Speaker 9 (07:10):
See I'm not an Olympic athlete but I'm hungry for
money of course. I'm sure you give tons of people
advice as a mother help though a friend a wife.
I'm sure people constantly ask you about your mindset because
you are very very all about positive energy. And do
you feel like that has naturally been part of you
or is learned behavior.
Speaker 10 (07:30):
It's definitely learned behavior and I was so lucky to
have a very strong empowering spiritual mother. She always taught
me to look at the bright side and to use
the power of my intention to make life better really.
And she always taught us to use the secret. The
secret was a big book and well the movie in
our household.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
She made us watch the secret I was very young
it was right when it came out and really just
take that intention and feeling and then goals and and
put it out there and know that our mind really
creates our reality. And so anytime that I was having
a hard time I mean I was a typical kid
especially teenager you know at home bored or super bummed
(08:13):
when I lost ski races I worked hard. That was
given then I loved being outside. I mean that was
pretty natural for me. If we're talking like how I
got to be the best competitor. But when you reach
a certain level in any sport it's 99 percent mental.
I totally believe that because in skiing we train all
the time with each other and we're timing all the time.
(08:35):
I mean my whole teammates and I we're very similar
and we'd get into the race and whatever circumstances are
the very first run counts of course and so I
would do really well and the rest of my teammates
would not do as well as they were hoping. So
I know the potential was there and that was something
my mom taught me. She was always just like clear
out the external noise stay positive and stay focused and
(08:56):
then I think the best lesson that I always learned
about staying positive is putting on the stop sign to negativity.
So anytime negative thoughts came in it was always stop.
I'm not thinking about I'm going to focus on what's positive.
So you focus on is what manifests.
Speaker 9 (09:10):
Beautiful. Yeah. It's so important to catch that even as
yeah especially at a young age and I'm so glad
your mom taught you that from a young age and
it's constant practice right. I'm sure there's still things that
really annoy you.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
Yeah. And it's just recognizing that anything that comes out
you I love the vision of a drop of water
and just imagining it roll off you. So any thing
that gets thrown at you you can deal with and
really compartmentalizing things especially things that are negative or problems
and realizing that that's not who you are and that
you can deal with it at a certain time. But
taking a few deep breaths and then moving on. That's
(09:44):
a good visual. Another thing is always practicing what you
preach Of course I'm normal I'm human I have a
hard time and one thing I know I can do better.
Especially after being on this like crazy schedule where everything
was planned out for me is I am just like
I never want to be a planner again. And so
I don't write things down I don't schedule things and
I don't plan and so my life is a bit
(10:05):
chaotic now.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So there is an in-between of not getting too organized
but also not being chaotic right.
Speaker 10 (10:12):
Yeah yeah. Not being a slave to your organization but
being driven and using you know the positive energy to
manifest your destiny and create goals and reach those goals.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And how did you deal with the pressure of performing
like Did you ever have problems sleeping at night. Did
your nerves keep you up.
Speaker 10 (10:30):
I'm a really good sleeper so I think I just
loved my sleep and maybe as a young kid I
was so active and my mom kept me so busy
I realized that sleep was just such a good way
to regenerate. So sleeping has not been a problem as
far as tools jetlag and times when I can't sleep
because I'm thinking too much. That's the only time I've
(10:50):
been up it's not really nerve but sometimes I'm up
like thinking a lot and I just take a little
bit of melatonin and CBD and I sleep really well.
So I try to sleep on my own but if
I have to I think there's a lot of really
great natural remedies that help. And for me it's not
necessarily about sleeping it's more shutting my brain off I
need to be so tired which is also where physical
(11:13):
activity comes in. So just getting enough exercise which can
be really hard for me to now like I love
to play but prioritizing physical activity has been really hard
having a kid.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
So I'm learning a lot. I think I'm almost worse
than most people because I was like I said on
such a strict schedule that I don't want to schedule
anything and then all of a sudden now raising a
kid and I love pouring everything into this tiny human
I think coming from a career that was so selfish
and I did everything for myself. Now I just kind
of want to go with the flow and make sure
(11:45):
that he's happy.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
So I find myself forgetting to get enough exercise.
Speaker 9 (11:50):
I think you've exercised enough for the rest of your
life even if you counted the hours so you should
give yourself some freedom but knowing of course that if
you need it for your headspace you'll probably still walk
and you're still active but you know you compare it
to a very intense training schedule.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
Yes. But that is true and there's nothing more healing
than just getting outside. So going outside before bed that's
always really nice. That helps me sleep. If I watch
the sunset and just get out of the house. Yeah totally.
Talking about how I call my nerves as I loved
to practice qigong before racing and that was another thing
that I got made fun of a little bit because
(12:28):
people would see me shaking and maybe following the ball
of light and just re energizing my body.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
But I always had this philosophy that before skiing and
before racing. So for people who aren't familiar with ski
racing you have a start. No. And there's a start
time and there's a start interval so you pretty much
know exactly when you're going to kick out of the
start gate. And this will be some point a couple
hours before you get to the mountain. So first we'll
(12:54):
have a whole warmup where you get to ski around
either maybe ski course and then you'll get to inspect
the course and then a couple hours later will be
the actual race start time. So you kind of know
exactly when you're going to leave the start gate. So
I would get up there 15 20 minutes early get
my core temperature up just so I'm ready to physically
perform but then I would just do a lot of
(13:15):
relaxation techniques like Qigong to sort of clear my mind
because I felt like if my body was just in
this really calm status where it was vibrating at a
high frequency I was going to perform better and so
I didn't want to think about the course or the
training or my technique. I wanted to get up there
(13:37):
and just like do as much as I could to
just sort of be free.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
So Qigong really helped you be present and to kind
of drown out the nerves or noise that's going on
before the race and that help you get supercenter win. Yeah.
And hopefully win. Yeah yeah. What is the biggest misconception
people have about you.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Well being a mountain athlete that spent a lot of
time in Maui and really being free spirited. The biggest
misconception about me was always that I didn't try very
hard and that I didn't really care or that I
didn't train as hard as my competitors. I wasn't one
to go brag about how much I lifted in the
gym or how many hours I spent working out. I
(14:17):
was someone who talked more about the fun experiences I had.
So maybe when I was done with the winter and
of course when social media started I would always post
pictures of surfing and fun and my competitors would post
pictures of grinding in the gym and you know being
sweaty and miserable and how if you work harder than
everyone then you're going to win and it just wasn't
(14:38):
my philosophy. My philosophy is that everyone knows how to
work hard and I'm sure everyone's doing it. It's not
a competition about who's working harder than the other person
and I almost felt like it's not very nice to
say I would just work harder than you because that's
sort of discounting people's journeys. So my philosophy was always
just to share what makes me really happy. And so
(15:00):
if running intervals didn't make me super happy or not
to mention if I just didn't take picture of it
right it was done.
Speaker 11 (15:06):
It was over. We're going to take a quick break
and we'll be right back.
Speaker 12 (15:15):
On medicine we're still practicing. Join Dr. Steven Toback and
Bill Kurtis for real conversations with the medical professionals who
have their finger on the pulse of health care in
the modern world. Available on all your favorite podcasting platforms
produced by Kirk media.
Speaker 13 (15:35):
Welcome back. I'm so glad you did that.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
You know I'm so glad you were looking for other
ways to recover.
Speaker 9 (15:43):
Have fun because really that's where the magic happens. If
you're only focus on that one the one prize or
the one thing that you really need to achieve. You
can really get burned. And so you're doing fun stuff
and being a bit more lazier and again doesn't mean
that you're not putting in the work and that you're
not training hard because you do. But it's really just
(16:04):
giving yourself that freedom and I think everyone can learn
from that. We have to give ourselves permission to enjoy
life more and to do a little less too as
in do I really need to do even now as
a mom do I really need to have my house
in perfect order all the time or workout all the time.
Or Kim I'm going to sit back and read the
magazine with a cup of tea that I really want.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
Yeah definitely. And also just figuring out what your end
result what you want out of it. So that was
really important to me and I was always just re-evaluating
what my main goal What did I really want out
of ski racing. What did I want out of traveling
the world and at the end of the day it
wasn't necessarily to win so everyone could say you're so
(16:48):
amazing you're such a great winner. I wanted to look
back at my career and I wanted every day to
start with a smile and finish with a smile and
I wanted true joy in the experiences and adventures that
I was living.
Speaker 14 (17:00):
If I attain X and Y and Z What is
that going to bring me and is it Joy that
you're searching for.
Speaker 7 (17:07):
Or is it recognition you're searching for and what does
that actually mean. If you get recognized. So I was
able to realize luckily and I think it's through a
lot of the teachings that my mom shared with us
that I just wanted to be happy. And you know
at the end of the day I think I'll have
less regrets doing what I truly love and being happy
than sacrificing myself for fame or money.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I love that you say that because that kind of
reminds me of your podcast. Just be yourself with the
title of the podcast. And why did you choose this title.
Speaker 6 (17:43):
I also was going through a transition like what do
I want to do how do I make an impact
and of course how do I want to share my
story and I just feel like I have so much
to share and joy to share with the world. And
I was talking to a friend of mine my producer
that I worked on another little show with and and
he said You know I really really connected to your
(18:05):
hosting I thought you did a really great job maybe
that you know if you're interested I think podcasting would
be a great way to share your story. And a
lot of the themes that just kept coming up is
just being myself was how I really found success and
found joy.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So that's where the title came from the best you
can be is yourself and you have found yourself. What
is the biggest lesson your son or being a mother
has taught you since he is 14 months.
Speaker 14 (18:32):
My son Sunny he's 14 months and I didn't really
read very many books about babies it really I was
lucky to have this just natural mother ability and it
just felt normal for me to have a little baby
but then all of a sudden he started doing some
things that made me realize you know I know nothing
(18:52):
about toddlers and about developing just good habits in communication
in skills like not throwing a tantrum not throwing tantrums.
So I've been learning a lot about that and so
it comes down to discipline. That's what I want to
be really good at. I want to be good at
discipline because I think looking back I don't really agree
(19:15):
with how my parents disciplined me.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
I think it was the root of a lot of
mental problems mental health issues and I'm a very strong
person and I haven't ever had to deal with anything
super serious. But when I look at my insecurities and
the way I react to authority and some of the
things that I want to work on within myself I
think it all comes down to discipline and being disciplined
(19:38):
a certain way as parents where they try and to
discipline me too much and you were rebelling against it
or was there too little is it. Yeah I think
more like authoritarian discipline where there's no discussing what's right
or wrong it's more of this is right this is wrong.
You do as I say gotcha. And yeah I just
don't believe in that and I'm learning more and more
(19:58):
about it and really enjoying I have a book called
No Drama discipline. And it's the whole brain child so
it's also just connecting your child like left and right
brain and their basic concept is redirect and then come
back and discuss why something was wrong at a time
when they're ready to learn. So it's like fight or
flight mode right when you're toddlers throwing a tantrum. And
(20:22):
let me just say this is all new to me
so I'm going to be learning as I go but
that's just something I really want. But I've learned I
want to be really better at it because I think
that we have a lot of influence in our children's
mental health development from a young age. Back when I
was being raised in a lot of people my age
millennials there was just a certain way to discipline your
(20:42):
children and parents were this authoritarian figure. And I mean
I know all households are for sure different but I
just think it was pretty common to discipline in that way.
And I know also from being an athlete and growing
up so fast I feel like I might have skipped
over some things but I just had a really hard
time with getting told no. And then just creating emotions
(21:03):
that don't need to be there like I want to
be more of a problem solver and I want to
teach my kids to be problem solvers and without attaching
to emotion I don't think that you should take things
so personally. I think that's what it comes down to
so being able to discuss stuff with my child I
want to really just share that with him and also
be there to learn and grow together.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I'm sure that this is gonna be covered in a
few episodes on your new podcast show.
Speaker 8 (21:27):
Just be yourself especially as he grows up.
Speaker 9 (21:32):
I'm sure you learn so much every day and that
he's going to test your boundaries but I'm also sure
that your Olympic mindset is going to make you a
wonderful mother and you know you're going to hopefully share
all the things that you learned with all the women
out there that can learn some new strategies and ways
to communicate best and how to set boundaries and discipline
(21:52):
kids in a non authority way. So last question for
you How do you raise your vibration during the day
at maybe two tips that you can give all the
listeners and say hey if you're feeling down or if
some you know negativity comes in of you some drama
actually sticks and you want to raise your vibration what
can you do.
Speaker 14 (22:13):
Well there's a couple things that I really love. One
of them which is a combination of something I did
for myself in skiing and also what I learned in
health coaching. So if you need a cue it's basically
you can put a hair tie around your wrist or
just wear something on your body that will visually cue
you to turn your mind to things that make you
(22:37):
really happy. So it's always great to write lists of
what you're grateful for. We try to do it every
night before bed five things that went well that day
or just five things in general that you're really grateful for.
So just a funny example when I was skiing and
I was having a hard time. I had just purchased
my home in Maui which made me really happy. I
(22:59):
loved surfing. And as one of my coaches pointed out
you could not buy real good jelly donuts in Europe.
They always had cream or something weird inside. So we
made this joke but I loved them. I don't know
where it came from because I'm not a huge doughnut
person but on that day it really stuck with me
and made me laugh and happy so my list would
(23:21):
be right before I got into the start gate. I
would think of my house in Maui jelly donuts and surfing.
Speaker 7 (23:28):
So that automatically just raised my mood and raised my frequency.
You can do the same thing at home which is
why I like the idea of wearing something like a
bracelet or just a hair tie on your wrist if
you're having a bad day because every time and you
put it on with intention every time you look at
it it'll make you think of those things you're grateful for.
So that's one way. Another way is taking post it
(23:51):
notes and writing your affirmations and putting that on your
mirror or on your refrigerator so keeping your goals or
just what you look forward to in your life somewhere
visual that you walk by all the time and that
you see all the time those are just great ways
to remind you to stay on track and to stay happy.
So things that really make you happy if you can
visually get cues to remind you of them that will
(24:13):
raise your frequency.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
So you're coaching yourself in these moments.
Speaker 14 (24:17):
Self coach and just reminders I think that anytime it's
the pause button put the pause button on and remind
yourself about the things that make you really really happy
in life then hopefully when you go back to what
you're dealing with or just your thoughts for the day
you'll be in a little better place to deal and
manage them.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge and
you know these nuggets of wisdom I really enjoyed talking
to you and I have learned a lot and I'm
sure everyone that's been listening is inspired and sustains us
through Instagram. Yeah.
Speaker 15 (24:52):
Julia Mancuso put that in the show notes and your
podcast just be yourself is launching on October 1st. All
right thanks so much for being on the show and
spending time with me. Much love. Thank you so much
for having me. This episode was recorded for Kurt Commedia.
(25:13):
Produced and edited by AJ mostly s mastering by Michael Kennedy.
Thank you so much for joining us today. Until next
time my friends.
Speaker 16 (25:29):
From Kurkov media media for your mind.
From Kurt Coe media this week on Life done better.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Luckily I think it's through a lot of the teachings
that my mom shared with us is that I just
wanted to be happy and you know at the end
of the day I think I'll have less regrets doing
what I truly love and being happy than sacrificing myself
for fame or money. Welcome to life.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Done better. I'm your host. Still the young. My guest
today is Julia Mancuso. Julia won four Olympic medals and
five world championships podiums. Hey Julia. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
Thank you so much for having me. When did you
officially retire and what does that actually mean when you retire.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Does that mean that you're not competing but still training.
What does it mean for you in a big way.
Speaker 6 (00:53):
I retired from competition so I retired mostly because of
an injury so it was a little bit of a
forced retirement but I was also at the age of retirement.
So both of those things sort of happened. It was
actually really hard for me. I was going for my
fifth Olympics which I would have been one of three
athletes going for a record fifth Olympics as a winter
(01:15):
female Olympian. So I was really looking forward to that.
I think mostly just showing the longevity in sport and
The Age is just a number and you can do
whatever you want but unfortunately my hip which had been
dealing with since I was basically 18 just wasn't holding
up so I had another surgery and I couldn't quite
recover from it. I was having a really hard time
walking and skiing but I was very determined and strong
(01:41):
willed to get to the Olympics.
Speaker 7 (01:44):
And so I was still working my way back onto
the tour and I retired I guess you officially retired
right before those Olympics. So I guess being retired just
means I'm not competing but I'm still an athlete. I
think I'll always be an athlete. It's a weird transition
to go into to say because you're retired from a
competition to say that you're retired from your sport and
(02:06):
I've been dealing with that transition for the last two
years I thought I wanted to get into big mountain
skiing and doing more film work and traveling a bunch
to do that. And then I found myself pregnant so
it really couldn't have come at a better time. And
so it was nice to have you know the pressure
of being pregnant to kind of say OK you're going
to take it easy you're definitely not going to the
(02:26):
top of the mountain with the risk of death because
you're starting families.
Speaker 8 (02:31):
Yeah. You're delivering a miracle on this planet.
Speaker 5 (02:33):
So let's take a little break and you're also having
endured the injuries and the pain related to that pushing
through to pain you know making sure that you are
ready for competition must have been really hard on you
mentally physically and when you're in it you're in it
but when you're out of it you may look back
and say Gee that's kind of crazy Yeah because it
(02:54):
listeners like also need to know your age.
Speaker 9 (02:56):
Right. Because when we talk about retirement we think of
much older than 36 and that's what you're now. And
so you retired when you were 34 officially. Yeah. Yes.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
So you've had this whole career and now like your
body's not doing what you want it to do. Like
you've really pushed it to the limits and here you
are thinking OK how am I gonna get to the
next half of my life. I are more than half
right and I'm so glad you had that hip replacement
because that really has changed it all for you right.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
Yeah it really has been. So looking back you know
the question you ask is How do you think like
when you're in it why didn't I do these other
things earlier. For me I look back and I'm actually
really grateful for those experiences because I learned so much
the resilience and mostly attitude I learned a lot about
staying positive in the worst situations ever and also turning
(03:46):
off the volume of all the naysayers and people who
don't support you like where it really comes down to
yourself and knowing what you want and also knowing you
earned the opportunity to allow yourself to go through that.
So for me I had all the success and I
solidified my position on the team to where in my
(04:06):
own heart I knew it was my own choice and
privilege to take my own path and do what I wanted.
So yeah I don't regret it. It was really really
hard and I cried a lot. And there are a
ton of difficult moments but I do believe I learned
so much in those two years that made me even
a stronger person.
Speaker 9 (04:25):
I love hearing that yeah because we all deal with
so much hardship so many challenges. And also our bodies
don't always work the way we want it to work.
And those times that we can feel really down can
also be some of the most wonderful and mostly in
retrospect learning lessons in our life that really transfer and
upgrade or life in ways that we couldn't even imagine
(04:48):
during your career. Whiskey always passion related. Or did it
at some point become a real job and about making
a living it started as fashion and always was passion.
Speaker 6 (04:57):
I actually didn't know that as a kid. I had
no idea you could make a living from ski racing.
I think a lot of people still probably have no
idea that you can actually make a living from these
different sports. I mean I think it's becoming more common
now because of social media. So I think there's a
lot more pressure on kids. And you know a lot
more about opportunity and sponsorships because back when I was
(05:19):
starting racing I mean it was just pictures in the newspaper.
That's how you got your recognition stories and articles being
written about you. There was no social media presence or
popularity contests on there.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
There's a lot of pressure now.
Speaker 10 (05:31):
Yeah. There is so much pressure and I think it
goes back to being the popular kid in school. It's
like it's not necessarily about results anymore it's about whose
pictures are better and I think that's really hard. So
I have to say there was a lot more passion
when I was a kid because there was no outside
noise it was really easy to focus on what you
really loved.
Speaker 7 (05:50):
And when I was 16 I had to make the
decision if I was going to be a pro or
not because that's when I won my first bit of money.
So the first tour stepping stones to the World Cup
tour in skiing is called the norm cup. So it's
just mostly in North America. And it was the first
year that we had prize money. So when I was
15 I won ten thousand dollars for winning the Tour.
(06:13):
And it was a big deal because if you take
any money from your sport you can't compete. And CWA.
So if you want to get a scholarship to University
you can't accept any money. Otherwise you're ineligible.
Speaker 9 (06:25):
Oh I didn't know that. It's changing now. If you
are that age and you present at ten thousand dollars
and you're like Do you want to make this a
professional career. Yeah.
Speaker 7 (06:37):
But I do remember having this conversation with my mom
and saying I'm going to take the money because who knows.
Let's just see where it goes. And you also have
the option which I found out to give the money
back when you turn 18 and decide to go to
college you can actually pay back the money to wherever
you got it from. And then you can be eligible again.
So I just figured hey worst case scenario if I
(06:57):
don't make more money than it would cost for me
to go to university I'll just pay it back and
then get a scholarship. But in my mind I'm thinking
well maybe I can make more money than it cost
to get a scholarship and I can just pay for
my own school.
Speaker 9 (07:10):
See I'm not an Olympic athlete but I'm hungry for
money of course. I'm sure you give tons of people
advice as a mother help though a friend a wife.
I'm sure people constantly ask you about your mindset because
you are very very all about positive energy. And do
you feel like that has naturally been part of you
or is learned behavior.
Speaker 10 (07:30):
It's definitely learned behavior and I was so lucky to
have a very strong empowering spiritual mother. She always taught
me to look at the bright side and to use
the power of my intention to make life better really.
And she always taught us to use the secret. The
secret was a big book and well the movie in
our household.
Speaker 6 (07:50):
She made us watch the secret I was very young
it was right when it came out and really just
take that intention and feeling and then goals and and
put it out there and know that our mind really
creates our reality. And so anytime that I was having
a hard time I mean I was a typical kid
especially teenager you know at home bored or super bummed
(08:13):
when I lost ski races I worked hard. That was
given then I loved being outside. I mean that was
pretty natural for me. If we're talking like how I
got to be the best competitor. But when you reach
a certain level in any sport it's 99 percent mental.
I totally believe that because in skiing we train all
the time with each other and we're timing all the time.
(08:35):
I mean my whole teammates and I we're very similar
and we'd get into the race and whatever circumstances are
the very first run counts of course and so I
would do really well and the rest of my teammates
would not do as well as they were hoping. So
I know the potential was there and that was something
my mom taught me. She was always just like clear
out the external noise stay positive and stay focused and
(08:56):
then I think the best lesson that I always learned
about staying positive is putting on the stop sign to negativity.
So anytime negative thoughts came in it was always stop.
I'm not thinking about I'm going to focus on what's positive.
So you focus on is what manifests.
Speaker 9 (09:10):
Beautiful. Yeah. It's so important to catch that even as
yeah especially at a young age and I'm so glad
your mom taught you that from a young age and
it's constant practice right. I'm sure there's still things that
really annoy you.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
Yeah. And it's just recognizing that anything that comes out
you I love the vision of a drop of water
and just imagining it roll off you. So any thing
that gets thrown at you you can deal with and
really compartmentalizing things especially things that are negative or problems
and realizing that that's not who you are and that
you can deal with it at a certain time. But
taking a few deep breaths and then moving on. That's
(09:44):
a good visual. Another thing is always practicing what you
preach Of course I'm normal I'm human I have a
hard time and one thing I know I can do better.
Especially after being on this like crazy schedule where everything
was planned out for me is I am just like
I never want to be a planner again. And so
I don't write things down I don't schedule things and
I don't plan and so my life is a bit
(10:05):
chaotic now.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
So there is an in-between of not getting too organized
but also not being chaotic right.
Speaker 10 (10:12):
Yeah yeah. Not being a slave to your organization but
being driven and using you know the positive energy to
manifest your destiny and create goals and reach those goals.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And how did you deal with the pressure of performing
like Did you ever have problems sleeping at night. Did
your nerves keep you up.
Speaker 10 (10:30):
I'm a really good sleeper so I think I just
loved my sleep and maybe as a young kid I
was so active and my mom kept me so busy
I realized that sleep was just such a good way
to regenerate. So sleeping has not been a problem as
far as tools jetlag and times when I can't sleep
because I'm thinking too much. That's the only time I've
(10:50):
been up it's not really nerve but sometimes I'm up
like thinking a lot and I just take a little
bit of melatonin and CBD and I sleep really well.
So I try to sleep on my own but if
I have to I think there's a lot of really
great natural remedies that help. And for me it's not
necessarily about sleeping it's more shutting my brain off I
need to be so tired which is also where physical
(11:13):
activity comes in. So just getting enough exercise which can
be really hard for me to now like I love
to play but prioritizing physical activity has been really hard
having a kid.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
So I'm learning a lot. I think I'm almost worse
than most people because I was like I said on
such a strict schedule that I don't want to schedule
anything and then all of a sudden now raising a
kid and I love pouring everything into this tiny human
I think coming from a career that was so selfish
and I did everything for myself. Now I just kind
of want to go with the flow and make sure
(11:45):
that he's happy.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
So I find myself forgetting to get enough exercise.
Speaker 9 (11:50):
I think you've exercised enough for the rest of your
life even if you counted the hours so you should
give yourself some freedom but knowing of course that if
you need it for your headspace you'll probably still walk
and you're still active but you know you compare it
to a very intense training schedule.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
Yes. But that is true and there's nothing more healing
than just getting outside. So going outside before bed that's
always really nice. That helps me sleep. If I watch
the sunset and just get out of the house. Yeah totally.
Talking about how I call my nerves as I loved
to practice qigong before racing and that was another thing
that I got made fun of a little bit because
(12:28):
people would see me shaking and maybe following the ball
of light and just re energizing my body.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
But I always had this philosophy that before skiing and
before racing. So for people who aren't familiar with ski
racing you have a start. No. And there's a start
time and there's a start interval so you pretty much
know exactly when you're going to kick out of the
start gate. And this will be some point a couple
hours before you get to the mountain. So first we'll
(12:54):
have a whole warmup where you get to ski around
either maybe ski course and then you'll get to inspect
the course and then a couple hours later will be
the actual race start time. So you kind of know
exactly when you're going to leave the start gate. So
I would get up there 15 20 minutes early get
my core temperature up just so I'm ready to physically
perform but then I would just do a lot of
(13:15):
relaxation techniques like Qigong to sort of clear my mind
because I felt like if my body was just in
this really calm status where it was vibrating at a
high frequency I was going to perform better and so
I didn't want to think about the course or the
training or my technique. I wanted to get up there
(13:37):
and just like do as much as I could to
just sort of be free.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
So Qigong really helped you be present and to kind
of drown out the nerves or noise that's going on
before the race and that help you get supercenter win. Yeah.
And hopefully win. Yeah yeah. What is the biggest misconception
people have about you.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Well being a mountain athlete that spent a lot of
time in Maui and really being free spirited. The biggest
misconception about me was always that I didn't try very
hard and that I didn't really care or that I
didn't train as hard as my competitors. I wasn't one
to go brag about how much I lifted in the
gym or how many hours I spent working out. I
(14:17):
was someone who talked more about the fun experiences I had.
So maybe when I was done with the winter and
of course when social media started I would always post
pictures of surfing and fun and my competitors would post
pictures of grinding in the gym and you know being
sweaty and miserable and how if you work harder than
everyone then you're going to win and it just wasn't
(14:38):
my philosophy. My philosophy is that everyone knows how to
work hard and I'm sure everyone's doing it. It's not
a competition about who's working harder than the other person
and I almost felt like it's not very nice to
say I would just work harder than you because that's
sort of discounting people's journeys. So my philosophy was always
just to share what makes me really happy. And so
(15:00):
if running intervals didn't make me super happy or not
to mention if I just didn't take picture of it
right it was done.
Speaker 11 (15:06):
It was over. We're going to take a quick break
and we'll be right back.
Speaker 12 (15:15):
On medicine we're still practicing. Join Dr. Steven Toback and
Bill Kurtis for real conversations with the medical professionals who
have their finger on the pulse of health care in
the modern world. Available on all your favorite podcasting platforms
produced by Kirk media.
Speaker 13 (15:35):
Welcome back. I'm so glad you did that.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
You know I'm so glad you were looking for other
ways to recover.
Speaker 9 (15:43):
Have fun because really that's where the magic happens. If
you're only focus on that one the one prize or
the one thing that you really need to achieve. You
can really get burned. And so you're doing fun stuff
and being a bit more lazier and again doesn't mean
that you're not putting in the work and that you're
not training hard because you do. But it's really just
(16:04):
giving yourself that freedom and I think everyone can learn
from that. We have to give ourselves permission to enjoy
life more and to do a little less too as
in do I really need to do even now as
a mom do I really need to have my house
in perfect order all the time or workout all the time.
Or Kim I'm going to sit back and read the
magazine with a cup of tea that I really want.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
Yeah definitely. And also just figuring out what your end
result what you want out of it. So that was
really important to me and I was always just re-evaluating
what my main goal What did I really want out
of ski racing. What did I want out of traveling
the world and at the end of the day it
wasn't necessarily to win so everyone could say you're so
(16:48):
amazing you're such a great winner. I wanted to look
back at my career and I wanted every day to
start with a smile and finish with a smile and
I wanted true joy in the experiences and adventures that
I was living.
Speaker 14 (17:00):
If I attain X and Y and Z What is
that going to bring me and is it Joy that
you're searching for.
Speaker 7 (17:07):
Or is it recognition you're searching for and what does
that actually mean. If you get recognized. So I was
able to realize luckily and I think it's through a
lot of the teachings that my mom shared with us
that I just wanted to be happy. And you know
at the end of the day I think I'll have
less regrets doing what I truly love and being happy
than sacrificing myself for fame or money.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
I love that you say that because that kind of
reminds me of your podcast. Just be yourself with the
title of the podcast. And why did you choose this title.
Speaker 6 (17:43):
I also was going through a transition like what do
I want to do how do I make an impact
and of course how do I want to share my
story and I just feel like I have so much
to share and joy to share with the world. And
I was talking to a friend of mine my producer
that I worked on another little show with and and
he said You know I really really connected to your
(18:05):
hosting I thought you did a really great job maybe
that you know if you're interested I think podcasting would
be a great way to share your story. And a
lot of the themes that just kept coming up is
just being myself was how I really found success and
found joy.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So that's where the title came from the best you
can be is yourself and you have found yourself. What
is the biggest lesson your son or being a mother
has taught you since he is 14 months.
Speaker 14 (18:32):
My son Sunny he's 14 months and I didn't really
read very many books about babies it really I was
lucky to have this just natural mother ability and it
just felt normal for me to have a little baby
but then all of a sudden he started doing some
things that made me realize you know I know nothing
(18:52):
about toddlers and about developing just good habits in communication
in skills like not throwing a tantrum not throwing tantrums.
So I've been learning a lot about that and so
it comes down to discipline. That's what I want to
be really good at. I want to be good at
discipline because I think looking back I don't really agree
(19:15):
with how my parents disciplined me.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
I think it was the root of a lot of
mental problems mental health issues and I'm a very strong
person and I haven't ever had to deal with anything
super serious. But when I look at my insecurities and
the way I react to authority and some of the
things that I want to work on within myself I
think it all comes down to discipline and being disciplined
(19:38):
a certain way as parents where they try and to
discipline me too much and you were rebelling against it
or was there too little is it. Yeah I think
more like authoritarian discipline where there's no discussing what's right
or wrong it's more of this is right this is wrong.
You do as I say gotcha. And yeah I just
don't believe in that and I'm learning more and more
(19:58):
about it and really enjoying I have a book called
No Drama discipline. And it's the whole brain child so
it's also just connecting your child like left and right
brain and their basic concept is redirect and then come
back and discuss why something was wrong at a time
when they're ready to learn. So it's like fight or
flight mode right when you're toddlers throwing a tantrum. And
(20:22):
let me just say this is all new to me
so I'm going to be learning as I go but
that's just something I really want. But I've learned I
want to be really better at it because I think
that we have a lot of influence in our children's
mental health development from a young age. Back when I
was being raised in a lot of people my age
millennials there was just a certain way to discipline your
(20:42):
children and parents were this authoritarian figure. And I mean
I know all households are for sure different but I
just think it was pretty common to discipline in that way.
And I know also from being an athlete and growing
up so fast I feel like I might have skipped
over some things but I just had a really hard
time with getting told no. And then just creating emotions
(21:03):
that don't need to be there like I want to
be more of a problem solver and I want to
teach my kids to be problem solvers and without attaching
to emotion I don't think that you should take things
so personally. I think that's what it comes down to
so being able to discuss stuff with my child I
want to really just share that with him and also
be there to learn and grow together.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I'm sure that this is gonna be covered in a
few episodes on your new podcast show.
Speaker 8 (21:27):
Just be yourself especially as he grows up.
Speaker 9 (21:32):
I'm sure you learn so much every day and that
he's going to test your boundaries but I'm also sure
that your Olympic mindset is going to make you a
wonderful mother and you know you're going to hopefully share
all the things that you learned with all the women
out there that can learn some new strategies and ways
to communicate best and how to set boundaries and discipline
(21:52):
kids in a non authority way. So last question for
you How do you raise your vibration during the day
at maybe two tips that you can give all the
listeners and say hey if you're feeling down or if
some you know negativity comes in of you some drama
actually sticks and you want to raise your vibration what
can you do.
Speaker 14 (22:13):
Well there's a couple things that I really love. One
of them which is a combination of something I did
for myself in skiing and also what I learned in
health coaching. So if you need a cue it's basically
you can put a hair tie around your wrist or
just wear something on your body that will visually cue
you to turn your mind to things that make you
(22:37):
really happy. So it's always great to write lists of
what you're grateful for. We try to do it every
night before bed five things that went well that day
or just five things in general that you're really grateful for.
So just a funny example when I was skiing and
I was having a hard time. I had just purchased
my home in Maui which made me really happy. I
(22:59):
loved surfing. And as one of my coaches pointed out
you could not buy real good jelly donuts in Europe.
They always had cream or something weird inside. So we
made this joke but I loved them. I don't know
where it came from because I'm not a huge doughnut
person but on that day it really stuck with me
and made me laugh and happy so my list would
(23:21):
be right before I got into the start gate. I
would think of my house in Maui jelly donuts and surfing.
Speaker 7 (23:28):
So that automatically just raised my mood and raised my frequency.
You can do the same thing at home which is
why I like the idea of wearing something like a
bracelet or just a hair tie on your wrist if
you're having a bad day because every time and you
put it on with intention every time you look at
it it'll make you think of those things you're grateful for.
So that's one way. Another way is taking post it
(23:51):
notes and writing your affirmations and putting that on your
mirror or on your refrigerator so keeping your goals or
just what you look forward to in your life somewhere
visual that you walk by all the time and that
you see all the time those are just great ways
to remind you to stay on track and to stay happy.
So things that really make you happy if you can
visually get cues to remind you of them that will
(24:13):
raise your frequency.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
So you're coaching yourself in these moments.
Speaker 14 (24:17):
Self coach and just reminders I think that anytime it's
the pause button put the pause button on and remind
yourself about the things that make you really really happy
in life then hopefully when you go back to what
you're dealing with or just your thoughts for the day
you'll be in a little better place to deal and
manage them.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge and
you know these nuggets of wisdom I really enjoyed talking
to you and I have learned a lot and I'm
sure everyone that's been listening is inspired and sustains us
through Instagram. Yeah.
Speaker 15 (24:52):
Julia Mancuso put that in the show notes and your
podcast just be yourself is launching on October 1st. All
right thanks so much for being on the show and
spending time with me. Much love. Thank you so much
for having me. This episode was recorded for Kurt Commedia.
(25:13):
Produced and edited by AJ mostly s mastering by Michael Kennedy.
Thank you so much for joining us today. Until next
time my friends.
Speaker 16 (25:29):
From Kurkov media media for your mind.
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