August 7, 2025 • 30 mins
This one’s inspiring, GISTer.
On this very special episode of The GIST of It, Associate Managing Editor Lauren Tuiskula sits down with author, swimmer, and retired therapist Hendrika de Vries ahead of the release of her memoir, “Open Turns.” de Vries fled Nazi-occupied Amsterdam as a child and started a new life as an immigrant in Australia, where becoming an athlete helped her re-discover her sense of self amid global and internal turmoil. Don’t miss this one.
A big thank you to BMO for sponsoring today’s pod! BMO has been committed to growing the beautiful game in North America for nearly two decades, supporting four MLS teams as well as the NWSL’s Angel City FC — and they’re the official bank of the Northern Super League. Learn more by visiting our Soccer Help Desk today.
Show notes:
“Open Turns” by Hendrika de Vries
Check out BMO’s Soccer Help Desk
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
On this very special episode of The GIST of It, Associate Managing Editor Lauren Tuiskula sits down with author, swimmer, and retired therapist Hendrika de Vries ahead of the release of her memoir, “Open Turns.” de Vries fled Nazi-occupied Amsterdam as a child and started a new life as an immigrant in Australia, where becoming an athlete helped her re-discover her sense of self amid global and internal turmoil. Don’t miss this one.
A big thank you to BMO for sponsoring today’s pod! BMO has been committed to growing the beautiful game in North America for nearly two decades, supporting four MLS teams as well as the NWSL’s Angel City FC — and they’re the official bank of the Northern Super League. Learn more by visiting our Soccer Help Desk today.
Show notes:
“Open Turns” by Hendrika de Vries
Check out BMO’s Soccer Help Desk
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
What's Ups. Welcome or welcome back to another episode of
The Gist of It. Today is Thursday, August seventh. We're
co hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm Ellen Hisslap and I'm Steph Rots and we.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Are very excited to be bringing this episode to you
because it's a little bit out of the ordinary. We
decided to try something new and see what you all thought.
Our very own Lauren Tuscala, who covered for me on
Tuesday's podcast, Thank You Laura, spoke with author Hendrika Davrees
ahead of the release of her memoir Open Turns and
(00:43):
Get This. When Dvrees was just thirteen years old, her
family moved from Nazi occupied Amsterdam to Australia following World
War Two, and her memoir details her childhood after emigration,
including how swimming ultimately shaped her into the woman she.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Was born to be. It was a really cool conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I know that Lauren really enjoyed it, especially because Lauren's
been recently getting into swimming, and I think that again,
it's something different that we're trying that we want to
get everyone's opinions on, and.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
We think that your opinions will be pretty positive and.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
We can't wait for you to hear that particular conversation
with degrees. But of course we need to take a
pause here and call an audible. And I think because
we're talking about a memoir and we're talking about, you know,
the people that we are born to be, I need
to talk about something that Ellen and I recently discovered,
(01:44):
which is we have the same exact personality type on
the meyer Brigg scale.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
If that's how you correctly say it. I think it's
my years with an S.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Meyer Brig.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I don't know, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
But I take the different one and it's not called that.
It's called the sixteen personality quiz as much because it
has the same like numbering system asmyer.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
We should say two. For context, everyone, we are pre recording.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You caught us, and so if there is anything that
has happened since Tuesday's podcast that we are not catching,
we're literally so sorry.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Follow us on.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Social follow our newsletter.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That's where you can get the up to date tea.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
But we wanted to record this in advance before I
went on vacation, and because the interview with Debreeze was
so fun, and so that's why we thought this audible
would be way more fun because it's evergreen content. And
so I'm sitting there today and in the middle of
the work day, STEPF just sends me this.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Personality quiz and goes, which one are you?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And what I really appreciate about that stuff is a
just your directness, but also b you sent me a
free link personality test, and I went, I'll do anything
that's free. And what I also really appreciated about this link,
which makes me think we should probably put it in
the show notes, is that normally, when you do personality
tests or whatever, you have to enter your email to
(03:10):
get the results. Not here, you can just get the results,
and if you want to learn more about what it
means for your career, you can then enter your email
and get more detail on your personality type.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
But if you want to just do it for fun,
say you're shooting the shit with some friends or co workers,
or maybe you want to learn a little bit more,
you can angle this too at your workplace, like how
you want to learn how to better communicate with your
co workers and this, Yeah, that's what we did today.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
That's what you did today. Even though stuff's just kind
of nosy, I am so nosy of course, Yeah, you
just wanted to know.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So, if you're wondering, Steph and I are both en FJS,
which is the protagonist?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Did you estinate?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So the reason why I also I did this test
today or the day that we are recording, which is
about a week prior, is I wanted to know do
I have the same personality as my early twenties because
the last time I took this quiz was in my
early twenties. So I was just so headstrong on the
fact that I was probably going to get a different
personality type and I got the same exact one. So
(04:17):
I have been the quote unquote protagonist for at least
like fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Oh my gosh, fifteen years.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Well think about it.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
How long have we been on the house.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Your early twenties is early ten years?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Okay, maybe like ten years?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, yeah, ten years.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Sorry, I'm dating myself.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's okay, we're protagonists, We're not so yeah that E ANDFJ. Seth.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
It was so interesting that you say that, because my
personality has actually changed.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
So I was YESTJ, which was the executive in my
early twenties, and you know what now that some people
would consider me a quote unquote executive I'm like, Jesus,
maybe that's why I'm.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Not an executive anymore. I'm like, this shit is hard.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I feel like I've learned so much and I've lived
a lot of lives, and so I when I was
reading the NFJ in comparison to the ESTJ and just
kind of the traditional personality type of the executive versus
the protagonist, I did resonate with the protagonists a lot more.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
And I think that I think that I've maybe since my.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Early twenties, experienced a lot more life and had a
lot more frontal love development, and have learned more about
different perspectives from more.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
People in my life in comparison to where I.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Was coming out of business school and entering a finance
job that I don't know, this resonates more with me.
But I'm really curious stuff. I feel like when we're
in our forties, maybe your maybe your personality will be
the same, but I'd be really curious about how life
impacts our personalities decade over decade and how it informs
(05:56):
the way that we communicate with people or think about things.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I don't know better.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Never disabled this website because I do plan on taking
it at least once a decade, do you.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, how are you going to remember to do that?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Will?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
It does say? It does say. It was just so funny.
In the E NFJ personality, we we do thrive on
meeting full connections.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
We are idealistic in nature. But what did it say?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I don't know what part you're reading from.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Oh no, I thought that it's it'd say something about organization,
but maybe that was just one of the questions was
about organization.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And then for context, so that the first letter E
is either an E for extrovert, I for introvert, and
then N is either intuitive or thinking. And then the
observant is this one? Yeah, yeah, T it would be thinking.
It's the same yeah. And then the third letter, so
Ellen and I both had an F for feeling, but
(06:55):
you can also get an N instead for intuitive. And
then the last thing, no, T for thinking. Wait what
E NF what?
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So it's E for extroverted, I for introverted, Yeah, N
for intuitive okay 'or T for think for or as
for observant.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Guys, guys, let's just go to the website. We're gonna
put in the show notes. I promise you're gonna have
so much fun.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And then at the end too, you can scroll and
see which famous people have the same personality type as you,
because that's obviously also what we came here for, for
a similar personality. This is gonna make me sound conceited,
but Barack Obama, Oprah, room free.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, hell yeah, we're.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Riding with that. I love that so much.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And I'm sure when I was an executive, I'd be
able to call out those names properly.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But now that we're protagonists, not not my problem.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Should I see who the executive famous people were? Yeah, okay, Judge, Judy,
Frank Sinatra, Frank Me and Franklin Baby Johnson. Yeah, there
you go.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, No, I've changed, and I think I've changed for
the better, So thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But no shade to any executive. Yeah exactly. No, you're right,
you're right. It's not for the better.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
It's for my better, yes, your better, because we need
my growth, my personal growth in different ways.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
We need every We need every single person to represent
every single different sixteen personality types to make the world
go round. Thanks again to our pals up BIMO for
supporting this podcast. Footy fans know that BMO is a
longtime supportive soccer here in Canada, but this year BMO
up the anti hosting fifteen star sudded soccer clinics across
(08:33):
the country.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
She shoots she scores.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
To learn more about how BIMO has supported more than
one million young players over twenty years, check out our
Soccer Helped Usk today. One more time, check out our
Soccer Helped Us, which we've linked in the show notes today.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Alrighty is promised. It's time for Lauren to those conversation
with author Hendrika Davrees ahead of the release of her
new memoir Open Turns. Having escaped from Nazi occupied Amsterdam
as a child, Divirees found solace in swimming as an
immigrant in Australia, a testament to the impact sports have
on cultivating our worldview. There is something for everything or
(09:20):
everyone in debris story. So without further ado, let's let
Lauren and Henrika take it away.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Hendrika, welcome to the gist of it. We're so excited
to have you on and hear more about your story today.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
Oh, thank you very much for inviting me. Yeah, I'm
looking forward to sharing my story me too.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
I am really looking forward to this conversation so well.
You can you just get right into it. Your memoir
open turns. It's a real story of resilience and bravery.
It begins in nineteen fifty You're thirteen years old. You've
just emigrated from Nazi occupied Amsterdam to Australia. So just
to kind of ground us, can you take us back
to some of those memories and what you're feeling as
(10:01):
you are embarking on this new life in this new place.
Speaker 6 (10:04):
Oh, that's a great, great way to start. Well, you know,
I was a war baby. I was a little girl
in World War Two, and so I really dealt a
lot with the memories by swimming. I started swimming at
about age nine, and I was a fast little swimmer.
And then my parents decided to emigrate to Australia for
(10:27):
a number of reasons that I actually do write about
in the book. And as you can imagine, I was
not a happy little girl being taken away from my
friends and the swimming pool. And I started my book
with that, those feelings of being on board ship going
to Australia and actually having to think a little bit
(10:48):
about what it meant to be an immigrant. You know,
It's like, how am I going to be different and
what does it all mean in my life?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Definitely. Yeah, And you mentioned swimming. I know you get
back to it after you move and you write about
how it's a survival tool for you. Can you elaborate
on that. I know probably a lot of our gisters
feel that connection to their movement and what they do
in their every day So can you elaborate a little
bit more about that.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (11:13):
Absolutely, it totally was a survival tool. We went to
the bush for a year first of all, and I
was miserable. And then we moved to the city and
I was able to swim again, and you know, it
did many things, Lauren, the swimming for me. When I
look back, it really set the stage for the rest
of my life, you know. And here I am, you know,
(11:35):
my mid eighties and I still swim. It still gives
me that feeling of strength and what it did at
the time.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
Think about it.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
I had to adjust to a language, I had to
find new friends in the pool. I found community in
the pool. All the differences fell away. And actually Bonnie
two in her book Why Do We Swim? Uh talks
about that how the how the difference is when we
entered the water, when we entered the pool, the difference
(12:05):
for differences fall away. And there are actually quite a
few European immigrants at that time that were swimming. And
what was interesting, we never talked about the traumas we'd
experienced when we when we swam. And I swam also
in a lot in the river swims and some ocean swims.
(12:26):
I did some long distance ocean swims.
Speaker 7 (12:29):
Uh. We were the swimmers.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
And the other thing that it did for me, it
gave me the strength of being in my own body.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
I belonged in my own body. My body belonged to me.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
And I think that's why swimming in any sports for
young women is so important, because so much of what
women experience, or girls experience, is the focus on our appearance.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
How do we look.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
And I know that you know now these days with
social media, that's even worse than it was.
Speaker 7 (12:59):
In my time.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
But even when I was in Australia, when I was
a young young girl, that was very important. And I
have a chapter in my book about how I actually
was a beauty queen and how that did not did
not give me the pleasure or satisfaction or the strength
that swimming did. Because swimming gave swimming gave me that
(13:21):
sense of something.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
I could achieve.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
And Katie Ladeki in her book talks about, you know
how swimming, swimming gives her that that feeling of strength
and that feeling of that we can be in leadership,
and I think that's what it did for me. It
prepared me for approaching life as an athlete, you know,
with determination and focus and and also of course the
(13:46):
disappointments because you know when you're an athlete that there
are going to be people who are going to be
faster than you. They're going to be people who are
who are going to beat you at the next the
next race. But it's it was crucial for me. It
was a real survival tool and a preparation for my life.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I love that. I love how you described the pool
too as this equalizer, because I think that's so true
of all sports. We see it all the time in
these international tournaments and countries coming together. They're competing on
the pitch, but it's that equalizer, it's that common language
that people can have. So I just think that's such
a beautiful app description. I love that so much. Do
you have a favorite anecdote or a memory that sticks
(14:26):
out from those early days swimming just something that comes
to mind an anecdote.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
I think one of the things in my book that
I talk about is in the early fifties in Australia.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
We would go and swim anywhere.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
We would pilopping cars with the club and go swim
in rivers, go swim in the harbor. And I remember
one swimming in a river and I thought a water
there was a water snake and I thought it was
poisonous and I'm jumping out of the water and screaming,
and the east there said, you know, we were all
(15:01):
teenagers and they said.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Oh, craigy, it's just a snake.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
It's not a crocodile. And that sort of stands out
for me.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
And then just a lot of the camaraderie, a lot
of the feeling that when I was in the pool,
I was not a New Australian, I was not an immigrant,
you know, And so a lot of that, that kind
of good memories. And I'm still in touch with some
of the women that I swam with all.
Speaker 7 (15:32):
Of years ago.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
So there was that and uh oh on another memory
that oh, let me think you asked me about memories
and suddenly a whole bunch of.
Speaker 7 (15:43):
Them jumping up. They're all in the book.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
But there was one memory where we're swimming in a
harbor and I'm thinking, oh, the water is so pretty,
this is pretty sheen. Of course, we later learned we
were swimming through an oil slick.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
And it's like.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
We didn't have much awareness in those days of what
we were swimming in, right, that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Some funny memories in hindsight now when you look back
on them, probably yeah.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
Yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
And then of course, you know, when I was fifteen,
I beat I broke a state an Olympic swimmer state record,
and that was kind of my entry into oh, my goodness,
I could.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Be really something in this swimming world.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
You know.
Speaker 7 (16:31):
It gave me a lot of confidence.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Nice, I love that. And you alluded to this too,
but just the misogyny that you experienced as a swimmer
in that era and probably in general in that era too.
And we of course I'm a woman in sports, we
have women in sports are still dealing with this. Of course,
how do you think about that having experienced this and
then some of the parallels to what people are still
(16:53):
experiencing to this day.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Oh, it really makes me very sad, Lauren, because I
had some medical issues when I was a teenager, and
again I do describe them in the book, but the
medical approach to it was, well, you're a girl, you
shouldn't be swimming so much. You know, there was there was,
there was a definite attitude. And I thought in the
(17:18):
last few decades that we're heading in a better direction.
But lately I'm seeing women sort of women's rights and
the attitude towards young girls and women being I'm whittled
down again, and it makes me very sad.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
You know, I have a.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Bunch of grandchildren, and I have sons, a son and
two daughters, so I can see both sides, you know,
the boys' issues too, but I really see how for girls,
how much it has to do with our bodies, and
how in sports we have to make sure that girls
get supported and that they can own their own bodies
(17:59):
and feel that ranks in their own bodies.
Speaker 7 (18:02):
It's so important.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Definitely. Yeah, you mentioned Katie Ladeki and people like her
who show it's good to be strong. Look what you
can accomplish when you're strong and you're competitive, and your fears.
We were lucky. Now we have these role models in
women's yes are actually on TV. But it's still such
a problem, Like you're saying, it's it is pretty devastating.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Yeah, well it's you know, it's Katie Ladecci and Bonitou
and then Vicky Velosik, who wrote a beautiful book about
women in aquatic swimming, and again that that struggle that
girls and women have between appearance and strength, you know,
how we how we're made to choose, how we're split somehow,
(18:45):
And I think it's something really worth fighting for.
Speaker 7 (18:49):
And I'm so glad you guys are.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
Doing it, because you know, that's that's one reason I
actually wrote the book I wanted. At first, I thought, well,
it was just going to be for my grant grant children,
you know, but then my friends and everybody said, it's
such an important issue, and I think it is a
really crucial issue.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Definitely, definitely, you know.
Speaker 6 (19:09):
And the girls girls are slipping back. I mean, yes
they are. They are making in roads in many areas,
but they're still there there with social media when I'm
hearing it's there, they're so preoccupied with their appearance. And
I remember when I was a beauty queen. You know,
(19:33):
it gave me a feeling. Okay, I'm I won something.
I did it for the club and it's in my book,
but it made me feel in some way disempowered.
Speaker 7 (19:46):
I was being judged.
Speaker 6 (19:47):
Whereas when I was swimming doing my sport, and I
still I do a lot of walking these days as
well as swimming, that gave me a feeling of mastery
over myself. And I think that's why sport is so
important for girls, so important.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
It's so true. We see those stats all the time
of girls and the teenage years when they kind of
drop out of sports too, of that cusp of it's
like a fork in the road where if you don't
stick in it, you're going to be left behind. That
you're saying, kind of fall through the crack. So it's
so important. We were speaking earlier. I do a lot
of swimming now, and I exactly what you're saying. I
feel so present in my body and just free when
(20:24):
I'm actually in the pool. So yeah, this is really resonating.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
Yeah, you know, it's so funny because here I am
in my ladies and I get in the pool. You know,
I sort of I'm walking and off. Sure, I start
to feel a little bit like oh, you know, I'm
I'm walking like an old lady.
Speaker 7 (20:40):
No, I'm not really, But.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Then I get into pool and the minute I'm swimming,
it's like my muscle memory comes back and I swim
a couple of butterfly lengths and it's like, yes, you know,
I'm here, and that's I think the joy. Now, sure
there are challenges, you know, but I see think that's
the joy that young young women need to feel in
(21:04):
their bodies.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Definitely, Yeah, that's yeah, yeah. And we're talking a lot
about mindset, kind of how you're you're feeling in your body,
that mindset approach. And one thing that stuck out to
me is you wrote that your parents wouldn't let you
see yourself as a victim in this transition and this emigration,
and yeah, that just reminds me of resilience and how
you're approaching the world. So I'm curious how this resilience
(21:29):
mindset is kind of carried throughout the rest of your
life too.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
That's a great question because my parents would not permit
a victim victim point.
Speaker 7 (21:39):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
I'm reading a book by one of my favorite psychologists
because I was a before I retired, I was a
family therapist, Robert J. Lifton, and he in his book
he dealt a lot with survivors of major catastrophes, you know.
Speaker 7 (21:55):
The Holocaust.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
And and other major tragedies, and he said, don't let
yourself be incapacitated by victimhood. And that's that's what my parents.
They would not allow.
Speaker 7 (22:09):
Me to think of being a victim.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
They always believed there was meaning in life and challengers
were to be overcome, to be dealt with, to be
looked at and see, Okay, what what else can we do?
Speaker 7 (22:22):
What can we do here?
Speaker 6 (22:23):
So I really learned a lot of resilience. And my
mother was an amazing, amazing woman, and she was an
athlete herself and believed in women's sports. And really even
when I when I had some disappointments, she she would
not let me be a victim. Okay, what else can
(22:45):
you do? What's life wanting from you? So yeah, yeah,
and I think that's what I think. It's funny too,
says who says it, or it may be Katie Dedeki.
You don't want to misquote anybody, but because they're both
amazing in their writing, but they say, you know, it's
it's you learn when you're when you're swimming, you learn
(23:06):
that you're going to have setbacks and you learn to
deal with them, and that's part of sports. I think
that's why sport is so important for girls.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Definitely, it's that learning in the moment on the field,
as you're saying, those experiences really shape you and the
person that you become.
Speaker 7 (23:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Yeah, and you mentioned your mom as such a role model.
There's one line from the book that I just love it.
I wanted to want to make sure I get it right.
You said, you wrote your mother said quote, intentions are
like prayers. If you pay attention, they come back as destiny.
And that's just so beautiful. It reminds me a lot
of manifestation, which I know a lot of our audience
is into that manifestation mindset. But what intentions of yours
(23:45):
became destiny in your own life? And can you just
tell us a little bit more about that quote too.
It's just it's so powerful.
Speaker 7 (23:52):
That's a huge topic. We probably need an hour to cover. Yeah,
we'll have to do enough follow up.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Well, I learned that how we think about life, how
we think what about what we want to do or
be in life, makes a huge impact on what we
call destiny. It's it's huge. And then my dad was
an interesting man who taught me that everything is interconnected.
So if you if you choose one thing, it's going
(24:20):
to have an impact on other things too. So I
grew up with that double double.
Speaker 7 (24:25):
Strengths from from both parents. And what it did for
me was.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
I was I had a lot of big dreams when
I was When I moved to Australia, it was like
one of my friends, who was a writer, wrote read
the book and she said, oh, you were willful, and
so I think that was a good thing. But I
I had intentions of becoming an Olympic champion.
Speaker 7 (24:54):
That that was an intention.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
And then my my friends in and my swim friends
gave me a novel and it was about a girl
who becomes an Olympic champion, works in a newspaper and
marries a newspaper man. Well, somehow that book from my
friends became like an oracle. And as you'll see in
(25:17):
my book, I actually a couple of things didn't work out,
but a couple of things really did in the end.
Those intentions, that's thought that that could happen, I could
make things happen. Really created a life that when I
look at it, it was a long, rich life that
(25:37):
I've had and it created the destiny of my life.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
The picture the tapestry, that's so beautiful.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Yeah, putting it out in the world and knowing what's
possible and knowing what you can reach is so important.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
What an incredible story, an amazing person.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, yeah, So thank you so much for being on
the pod, and thank you Laura for once again being
on the pod as well.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yes, and justers let us know your thoughts and so
now would normally be the time for our personal training session,
but as we had to tell you all, we re
recorded and so we didn't have one that made.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Sense for today's podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
But we really want you all to leave us a
voicemail on any questions that you have or DM on
any facts that we missed or hot takes that you have.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
The list goes on and on for future episodes.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
So one, four, three, seven, five, six, four, five, five,
seven nine to give us a shout. The numbers also
in the show notes, and then you can d m
us Ellen at the gist at seth Rots or email.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Us at pod at the Gist. But we decided for
today we wanted to do something different. Today's all about different.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
We're doing things different except for you being the same personality,
but otherwise we're doing things differently.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Here are the Gist.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
We're exploring what it means to be part of a community,
and we are brainstorming different ways that we can interact
with you guys, the gisters, and so we do want
to know. We have a question for you. Instead of
you giving us a question today, we're giving you a question,
and that is what communities are you a part of?
Where are you interacting and chatting with these communities? Is
(27:21):
it irl?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Is it online?
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Are you on different Slack channels that are non work related?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Discords?
Speaker 6 (27:29):
Reddit?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Where are you finding your people?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Where are you hanging out virtually or in person? We
want to know because we might have something up our sleeves,
we might be working on something, and we want to
make sure that we are super serving our best and
I think that some of our most amazing gistters are
those who tune into the podcast all the time. And
(27:53):
so if you again want to call us, email us
dm us let us know your thoughts on where you're
hanging right now, but also where you might want to
hang with the gist or fellow gisters too.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah, where do you want to go for a sport community?
Perhaps we'll limit it there.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I love that. That's a great summation.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
That's Steph knowing how to do research because you've done
You've had a thesis.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Well saying a couple of words instead of a lot.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Of words, just summarizing and thank you. Yeah, you did
that very well.
Speaker 7 (28:27):
Thank you With that.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
That mark the end of today's episode. Thank you so
much for tuning in being a part of this conversation,
and we'll be back in your feed with the new
podcast on Tuesday. In the meantime, if you enjoyed today's episode,
would love to hear your feedback, Please rate, review, subscribe,
give us a personal training, sash react anything. We would
love to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, let us know your thoughts and we promise Tuesday's
podcast will be timely and moving forward, it will be timely.
This episode was edited by Savannah how Will to in
produce by Lisa Mantillo, Alexander Puccio.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
And of course Lauren Tescala. Again, I'm Ail
Speaker 3 (29:01):
In his Lab and I'm Steph Rotts and don't forget
to grab Hendrika's memoir Open Turns anywhere books are sold,
and we'll chat with you again on Tuesday.
What's Ups. Welcome or welcome back to another episode of
The Gist of It. Today is Thursday, August seventh. We're
co hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I'm Ellen Hisslap and I'm Steph Rots and we.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Are very excited to be bringing this episode to you
because it's a little bit out of the ordinary. We
decided to try something new and see what you all thought.
Our very own Lauren Tuscala, who covered for me on
Tuesday's podcast, Thank You Laura, spoke with author Hendrika Davrees
ahead of the release of her memoir Open Turns and
(00:43):
Get This. When Dvrees was just thirteen years old, her
family moved from Nazi occupied Amsterdam to Australia following World
War Two, and her memoir details her childhood after emigration,
including how swimming ultimately shaped her into the woman she.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Was born to be. It was a really cool conversation.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I know that Lauren really enjoyed it, especially because Lauren's
been recently getting into swimming, and I think that again,
it's something different that we're trying that we want to
get everyone's opinions on, and.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
We think that your opinions will be pretty positive and.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
We can't wait for you to hear that particular conversation
with degrees. But of course we need to take a
pause here and call an audible. And I think because
we're talking about a memoir and we're talking about, you know,
the people that we are born to be, I need
to talk about something that Ellen and I recently discovered,
(01:44):
which is we have the same exact personality type on
the meyer Brigg scale.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
If that's how you correctly say it. I think it's
my years with an S.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Meyer Brig.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I don't know, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
But I take the different one and it's not called that.
It's called the sixteen personality quiz as much because it
has the same like numbering system asmyer.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
We should say two. For context, everyone, we are pre recording.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
You caught us, and so if there is anything that
has happened since Tuesday's podcast that we are not catching,
we're literally so sorry.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Follow us on.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Social follow our newsletter.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That's where you can get the up to date tea.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
But we wanted to record this in advance before I
went on vacation, and because the interview with Debreeze was
so fun, and so that's why we thought this audible
would be way more fun because it's evergreen content. And
so I'm sitting there today and in the middle of
the work day, STEPF just sends me this.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Personality quiz and goes, which one are you?
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And what I really appreciate about that stuff is a
just your directness, but also b you sent me a
free link personality test, and I went, I'll do anything
that's free. And what I also really appreciated about this link,
which makes me think we should probably put it in
the show notes, is that normally, when you do personality
tests or whatever, you have to enter your email to
(03:10):
get the results. Not here, you can just get the results,
and if you want to learn more about what it
means for your career, you can then enter your email
and get more detail on your personality type.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
But if you want to just do it for fun,
say you're shooting the shit with some friends or co workers,
or maybe you want to learn a little bit more,
you can angle this too at your workplace, like how
you want to learn how to better communicate with your
co workers and this, Yeah, that's what we did today.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
That's what you did today. Even though stuff's just kind
of nosy, I am so nosy of course, Yeah, you
just wanted to know.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So, if you're wondering, Steph and I are both en FJS,
which is the protagonist?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Did you estinate?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So the reason why I also I did this test
today or the day that we are recording, which is
about a week prior, is I wanted to know do
I have the same personality as my early twenties because
the last time I took this quiz was in my
early twenties. So I was just so headstrong on the
fact that I was probably going to get a different
personality type and I got the same exact one. So
(04:17):
I have been the quote unquote protagonist for at least
like fifteen years.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Oh my gosh, fifteen years.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
Well think about it.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
How long have we been on the house.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Your early twenties is early ten years?
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Okay, maybe like ten years?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, yeah, ten years.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Sorry, I'm dating myself.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's okay, we're protagonists, We're not so yeah that E ANDFJ. Seth.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
It was so interesting that you say that, because my
personality has actually changed.
Speaker 5 (04:40):
So I was YESTJ, which was the executive in my
early twenties, and you know what now that some people
would consider me a quote unquote executive I'm like, Jesus,
maybe that's why I'm.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Not an executive anymore. I'm like, this shit is hard.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I feel like I've learned so much and I've lived
a lot of lives, and so I when I was
reading the NFJ in comparison to the ESTJ and just
kind of the traditional personality type of the executive versus
the protagonist, I did resonate with the protagonists a lot more.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
And I think that I think that I've maybe since my.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Early twenties, experienced a lot more life and had a
lot more frontal love development, and have learned more about
different perspectives from more.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
People in my life in comparison to where I.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Was coming out of business school and entering a finance
job that I don't know, this resonates more with me.
But I'm really curious stuff. I feel like when we're
in our forties, maybe your maybe your personality will be
the same, but I'd be really curious about how life
impacts our personalities decade over decade and how it informs
(05:56):
the way that we communicate with people or think about things.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
I don't know better.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Never disabled this website because I do plan on taking
it at least once a decade, do you.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, how are you going to remember to do that?
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Will?
Speaker 1 (06:11):
It does say? It does say. It was just so funny.
In the E NFJ personality, we we do thrive on
meeting full connections.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
We are idealistic in nature. But what did it say?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I don't know what part you're reading from.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Oh no, I thought that it's it'd say something about organization,
but maybe that was just one of the questions was
about organization.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
And then for context, so that the first letter E
is either an E for extrovert, I for introvert, and
then N is either intuitive or thinking. And then the
observant is this one? Yeah, yeah, T it would be thinking.
It's the same yeah. And then the third letter, so
Ellen and I both had an F for feeling, but
(06:55):
you can also get an N instead for intuitive. And
then the last thing, no, T for thinking. Wait what
E NF what?
Speaker 1 (07:03):
So it's E for extroverted, I for introverted, Yeah, N
for intuitive okay 'or T for think for or as
for observant.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Guys, guys, let's just go to the website. We're gonna
put in the show notes. I promise you're gonna have
so much fun.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And then at the end too, you can scroll and
see which famous people have the same personality type as you,
because that's obviously also what we came here for, for
a similar personality. This is gonna make me sound conceited,
but Barack Obama, Oprah, room free.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, hell yeah, we're.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Riding with that. I love that so much.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
And I'm sure when I was an executive, I'd be
able to call out those names properly.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
But now that we're protagonists, not not my problem.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Should I see who the executive famous people were? Yeah, okay, Judge, Judy,
Frank Sinatra, Frank Me and Franklin Baby Johnson. Yeah, there
you go.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yeah, No, I've changed, and I think I've changed for
the better, So thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
But no shade to any executive. Yeah exactly. No, you're right,
you're right. It's not for the better.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
It's for my better, yes, your better, because we need
my growth, my personal growth in different ways.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
We need every We need every single person to represent
every single different sixteen personality types to make the world
go round. Thanks again to our pals up BIMO for
supporting this podcast. Footy fans know that BMO is a
longtime supportive soccer here in Canada, but this year BMO
up the anti hosting fifteen star sudded soccer clinics across
(08:33):
the country.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
She shoots she scores.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
To learn more about how BIMO has supported more than
one million young players over twenty years, check out our
Soccer Helped Usk today. One more time, check out our
Soccer Helped Us, which we've linked in the show notes today.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Alrighty is promised. It's time for Lauren to those conversation
with author Hendrika Davrees ahead of the release of her
new memoir Open Turns. Having escaped from Nazi occupied Amsterdam
as a child, Divirees found solace in swimming as an
immigrant in Australia, a testament to the impact sports have
on cultivating our worldview. There is something for everything or
(09:20):
everyone in debris story. So without further ado, let's let
Lauren and Henrika take it away.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Hendrika, welcome to the gist of it. We're so excited
to have you on and hear more about your story today.
Speaker 6 (09:33):
Oh, thank you very much for inviting me. Yeah, I'm
looking forward to sharing my story me too.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
I am really looking forward to this conversation so well.
You can you just get right into it. Your memoir
open turns. It's a real story of resilience and bravery.
It begins in nineteen fifty You're thirteen years old. You've
just emigrated from Nazi occupied Amsterdam to Australia. So just
to kind of ground us, can you take us back
to some of those memories and what you're feeling as
(10:01):
you are embarking on this new life in this new place.
Speaker 6 (10:04):
Oh, that's a great, great way to start. Well, you know,
I was a war baby. I was a little girl
in World War Two, and so I really dealt a
lot with the memories by swimming. I started swimming at
about age nine, and I was a fast little swimmer.
And then my parents decided to emigrate to Australia for
(10:27):
a number of reasons that I actually do write about
in the book. And as you can imagine, I was
not a happy little girl being taken away from my
friends and the swimming pool. And I started my book
with that, those feelings of being on board ship going
to Australia and actually having to think a little bit
(10:48):
about what it meant to be an immigrant. You know,
It's like, how am I going to be different and
what does it all mean in my life?
Speaker 4 (10:57):
Definitely. Yeah, And you mentioned swimming. I know you get
back to it after you move and you write about
how it's a survival tool for you. Can you elaborate
on that. I know probably a lot of our gisters
feel that connection to their movement and what they do
in their every day So can you elaborate a little
bit more about that.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (11:13):
Absolutely, it totally was a survival tool. We went to
the bush for a year first of all, and I
was miserable. And then we moved to the city and
I was able to swim again, and you know, it
did many things, Lauren, the swimming for me. When I
look back, it really set the stage for the rest
of my life, you know. And here I am, you know,
(11:35):
my mid eighties and I still swim. It still gives
me that feeling of strength and what it did at
the time.
Speaker 7 (11:43):
Think about it.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
I had to adjust to a language, I had to
find new friends in the pool. I found community in
the pool. All the differences fell away. And actually Bonnie
two in her book Why Do We Swim? Uh talks
about that how the how the difference is when we
entered the water, when we entered the pool, the difference
(12:05):
for differences fall away. And there are actually quite a
few European immigrants at that time that were swimming. And
what was interesting, we never talked about the traumas we'd
experienced when we when we swam. And I swam also
in a lot in the river swims and some ocean swims.
(12:26):
I did some long distance ocean swims.
Speaker 7 (12:29):
Uh. We were the swimmers.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
And the other thing that it did for me, it
gave me the strength of being in my own body.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
I belonged in my own body. My body belonged to me.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
And I think that's why swimming in any sports for
young women is so important, because so much of what
women experience, or girls experience, is the focus on our appearance.
Speaker 7 (12:53):
How do we look.
Speaker 6 (12:54):
And I know that you know now these days with
social media, that's even worse than it was.
Speaker 7 (12:59):
In my time.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
But even when I was in Australia, when I was
a young young girl, that was very important. And I
have a chapter in my book about how I actually
was a beauty queen and how that did not did
not give me the pleasure or satisfaction or the strength
that swimming did. Because swimming gave swimming gave me that
(13:21):
sense of something.
Speaker 7 (13:22):
I could achieve.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
And Katie Ladeki in her book talks about, you know
how swimming, swimming gives her that that feeling of strength
and that feeling of that we can be in leadership,
and I think that's what it did for me. It
prepared me for approaching life as an athlete, you know,
with determination and focus and and also of course the
(13:46):
disappointments because you know when you're an athlete that there
are going to be people who are going to be
faster than you. They're going to be people who are
who are going to beat you at the next the
next race. But it's it was crucial for me. It
was a real survival tool and a preparation for my life.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I love that. I love how you described the pool
too as this equalizer, because I think that's so true
of all sports. We see it all the time in
these international tournaments and countries coming together. They're competing on
the pitch, but it's that equalizer, it's that common language
that people can have. So I just think that's such
a beautiful app description. I love that so much. Do
you have a favorite anecdote or a memory that sticks
(14:26):
out from those early days swimming just something that comes
to mind an anecdote.
Speaker 6 (14:31):
I think one of the things in my book that
I talk about is in the early fifties in Australia.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
We would go and swim anywhere.
Speaker 6 (14:40):
We would pilopping cars with the club and go swim
in rivers, go swim in the harbor. And I remember
one swimming in a river and I thought a water
there was a water snake and I thought it was
poisonous and I'm jumping out of the water and screaming,
and the east there said, you know, we were all
(15:01):
teenagers and they said.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Oh, craigy, it's just a snake.
Speaker 7 (15:05):
It's not a crocodile. And that sort of stands out
for me.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
And then just a lot of the camaraderie, a lot
of the feeling that when I was in the pool,
I was not a New Australian, I was not an immigrant,
you know, And so a lot of that, that kind
of good memories. And I'm still in touch with some
of the women that I swam with all.
Speaker 7 (15:32):
Of years ago.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
So there was that and uh oh on another memory
that oh, let me think you asked me about memories
and suddenly a whole bunch of.
Speaker 7 (15:43):
Them jumping up. They're all in the book.
Speaker 6 (15:46):
But there was one memory where we're swimming in a
harbor and I'm thinking, oh, the water is so pretty,
this is pretty sheen. Of course, we later learned we
were swimming through an oil slick.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
And it's like.
Speaker 6 (16:00):
We didn't have much awareness in those days of what
we were swimming in, right, that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Some funny memories in hindsight now when you look back
on them, probably yeah.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
Yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
And then of course, you know, when I was fifteen,
I beat I broke a state an Olympic swimmer state record,
and that was kind of my entry into oh, my goodness,
I could.
Speaker 7 (16:26):
Be really something in this swimming world.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
You know.
Speaker 7 (16:31):
It gave me a lot of confidence.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Nice, I love that. And you alluded to this too,
but just the misogyny that you experienced as a swimmer
in that era and probably in general in that era too.
And we of course I'm a woman in sports, we
have women in sports are still dealing with this. Of course,
how do you think about that having experienced this and
then some of the parallels to what people are still
(16:53):
experiencing to this day.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Oh, it really makes me very sad, Lauren, because I
had some medical issues when I was a teenager, and
again I do describe them in the book, but the
medical approach to it was, well, you're a girl, you
shouldn't be swimming so much. You know, there was there was,
there was a definite attitude. And I thought in the
(17:18):
last few decades that we're heading in a better direction.
But lately I'm seeing women sort of women's rights and
the attitude towards young girls and women being I'm whittled
down again, and it makes me very sad.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
You know, I have a.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Bunch of grandchildren, and I have sons, a son and
two daughters, so I can see both sides, you know,
the boys' issues too, but I really see how for girls,
how much it has to do with our bodies, and
how in sports we have to make sure that girls
get supported and that they can own their own bodies
(17:59):
and feel that ranks in their own bodies.
Speaker 7 (18:02):
It's so important.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Definitely. Yeah, you mentioned Katie Ladeki and people like her
who show it's good to be strong. Look what you
can accomplish when you're strong and you're competitive, and your fears.
We were lucky. Now we have these role models in
women's yes are actually on TV. But it's still such
a problem, Like you're saying, it's it is pretty devastating.
Speaker 6 (18:22):
Yeah, well it's you know, it's Katie Ladecci and Bonitou
and then Vicky Velosik, who wrote a beautiful book about
women in aquatic swimming, and again that that struggle that
girls and women have between appearance and strength, you know,
how we how we're made to choose, how we're split somehow,
(18:45):
And I think it's something really worth fighting for.
Speaker 7 (18:49):
And I'm so glad you guys are.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
Doing it, because you know, that's that's one reason I
actually wrote the book I wanted. At first, I thought, well,
it was just going to be for my grant grant children,
you know, but then my friends and everybody said, it's
such an important issue, and I think it is a
really crucial issue.
Speaker 7 (19:07):
Definitely, definitely, you know.
Speaker 6 (19:09):
And the girls girls are slipping back. I mean, yes
they are. They are making in roads in many areas,
but they're still there there with social media when I'm
hearing it's there, they're so preoccupied with their appearance. And
I remember when I was a beauty queen. You know,
(19:33):
it gave me a feeling. Okay, I'm I won something.
I did it for the club and it's in my book,
but it made me feel in some way disempowered.
Speaker 7 (19:46):
I was being judged.
Speaker 6 (19:47):
Whereas when I was swimming doing my sport, and I
still I do a lot of walking these days as
well as swimming, that gave me a feeling of mastery
over myself. And I think that's why sport is so
important for girls, so important.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
It's so true. We see those stats all the time
of girls and the teenage years when they kind of
drop out of sports too, of that cusp of it's
like a fork in the road where if you don't
stick in it, you're going to be left behind. That
you're saying, kind of fall through the crack. So it's
so important. We were speaking earlier. I do a lot
of swimming now, and I exactly what you're saying. I
feel so present in my body and just free when
(20:24):
I'm actually in the pool. So yeah, this is really resonating.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
Yeah, you know, it's so funny because here I am
in my ladies and I get in the pool. You know,
I sort of I'm walking and off. Sure, I start
to feel a little bit like oh, you know, I'm
I'm walking like an old lady.
Speaker 7 (20:40):
No, I'm not really, But.
Speaker 6 (20:43):
Then I get into pool and the minute I'm swimming,
it's like my muscle memory comes back and I swim
a couple of butterfly lengths and it's like, yes, you know,
I'm here, and that's I think the joy. Now, sure
there are challenges, you know, but I see think that's
the joy that young young women need to feel in
(21:04):
their bodies.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
Definitely, Yeah, that's yeah, yeah. And we're talking a lot
about mindset, kind of how you're you're feeling in your body,
that mindset approach. And one thing that stuck out to
me is you wrote that your parents wouldn't let you
see yourself as a victim in this transition and this emigration,
and yeah, that just reminds me of resilience and how
you're approaching the world. So I'm curious how this resilience
(21:29):
mindset is kind of carried throughout the rest of your
life too.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
That's a great question because my parents would not permit
a victim victim point.
Speaker 7 (21:39):
And it's interesting.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
I'm reading a book by one of my favorite psychologists
because I was a before I retired, I was a
family therapist, Robert J. Lifton, and he in his book
he dealt a lot with survivors of major catastrophes, you know.
Speaker 7 (21:55):
The Holocaust.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
And and other major tragedies, and he said, don't let
yourself be incapacitated by victimhood. And that's that's what my parents.
They would not allow.
Speaker 7 (22:09):
Me to think of being a victim.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
They always believed there was meaning in life and challengers
were to be overcome, to be dealt with, to be
looked at and see, Okay, what what else can we do?
Speaker 7 (22:22):
What can we do here?
Speaker 6 (22:23):
So I really learned a lot of resilience. And my
mother was an amazing, amazing woman, and she was an
athlete herself and believed in women's sports. And really even
when I when I had some disappointments, she she would
not let me be a victim. Okay, what else can
(22:45):
you do? What's life wanting from you? So yeah, yeah,
and I think that's what I think. It's funny too,
says who says it, or it may be Katie Dedeki.
You don't want to misquote anybody, but because they're both
amazing in their writing, but they say, you know, it's
it's you learn when you're when you're swimming, you learn
(23:06):
that you're going to have setbacks and you learn to
deal with them, and that's part of sports. I think
that's why sport is so important for girls.
Speaker 4 (23:14):
Definitely, it's that learning in the moment on the field,
as you're saying, those experiences really shape you and the
person that you become.
Speaker 7 (23:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
Yeah, and you mentioned your mom as such a role model.
There's one line from the book that I just love it.
I wanted to want to make sure I get it right.
You said, you wrote your mother said quote, intentions are
like prayers. If you pay attention, they come back as destiny.
And that's just so beautiful. It reminds me a lot
of manifestation, which I know a lot of our audience
is into that manifestation mindset. But what intentions of yours
(23:45):
became destiny in your own life? And can you just
tell us a little bit more about that quote too.
It's just it's so powerful.
Speaker 7 (23:52):
That's a huge topic. We probably need an hour to cover. Yeah,
we'll have to do enough follow up.
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Well, I learned that how we think about life, how
we think what about what we want to do or
be in life, makes a huge impact on what we
call destiny. It's it's huge. And then my dad was
an interesting man who taught me that everything is interconnected.
So if you if you choose one thing, it's going
(24:20):
to have an impact on other things too. So I
grew up with that double double.
Speaker 7 (24:25):
Strengths from from both parents. And what it did for
me was.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
I was I had a lot of big dreams when
I was When I moved to Australia, it was like
one of my friends, who was a writer, wrote read
the book and she said, oh, you were willful, and
so I think that was a good thing. But I
I had intentions of becoming an Olympic champion.
Speaker 7 (24:54):
That that was an intention.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
And then my my friends in and my swim friends
gave me a novel and it was about a girl
who becomes an Olympic champion, works in a newspaper and
marries a newspaper man. Well, somehow that book from my
friends became like an oracle. And as you'll see in
(25:17):
my book, I actually a couple of things didn't work out,
but a couple of things really did in the end.
Those intentions, that's thought that that could happen, I could
make things happen. Really created a life that when I
look at it, it was a long, rich life that
(25:37):
I've had and it created the destiny of my life.
Speaker 7 (25:40):
The picture the tapestry, that's so beautiful.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Yeah, putting it out in the world and knowing what's
possible and knowing what you can reach is so important.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
What an incredible story, an amazing person.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Yeah, yeah, So thank you so much for being on
the pod, and thank you Laura for once again being
on the pod as well.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yes, and justers let us know your thoughts and so
now would normally be the time for our personal training session,
but as we had to tell you all, we re
recorded and so we didn't have one that made.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Sense for today's podcast.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
But we really want you all to leave us a
voicemail on any questions that you have or DM on
any facts that we missed or hot takes that you have.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
The list goes on and on for future episodes.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
So one, four, three, seven, five, six, four, five, five,
seven nine to give us a shout. The numbers also
in the show notes, and then you can d m
us Ellen at the gist at seth Rots or email.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Us at pod at the Gist. But we decided for
today we wanted to do something different. Today's all about different.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
We're doing things different except for you being the same personality,
but otherwise we're doing things differently.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Here are the Gist.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
We're exploring what it means to be part of a community,
and we are brainstorming different ways that we can interact
with you guys, the gisters, and so we do want
to know. We have a question for you. Instead of
you giving us a question today, we're giving you a question,
and that is what communities are you a part of?
Where are you interacting and chatting with these communities? Is
(27:21):
it irl?
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Is it online?
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Are you on different Slack channels that are non work related?
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Discords?
Speaker 6 (27:29):
Reddit?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Where are you finding your people?
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Where are you hanging out virtually or in person? We
want to know because we might have something up our sleeves,
we might be working on something, and we want to
make sure that we are super serving our best and
I think that some of our most amazing gistters are
those who tune into the podcast all the time. And
(27:53):
so if you again want to call us, email us
dm us let us know your thoughts on where you're
hanging right now, but also where you might want to
hang with the gist or fellow gisters too.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Yeah, where do you want to go for a sport community?
Perhaps we'll limit it there.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
I love that. That's a great summation.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
That's Steph knowing how to do research because you've done
You've had a thesis.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Well saying a couple of words instead of a lot.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Of words, just summarizing and thank you. Yeah, you did
that very well.
Speaker 7 (28:27):
Thank you With that.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
That mark the end of today's episode. Thank you so
much for tuning in being a part of this conversation,
and we'll be back in your feed with the new
podcast on Tuesday. In the meantime, if you enjoyed today's episode,
would love to hear your feedback, Please rate, review, subscribe,
give us a personal training, sash react anything. We would
love to hear from you.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Yeah, let us know your thoughts and we promise Tuesday's
podcast will be timely and moving forward, it will be timely.
This episode was edited by Savannah how Will to in
produce by Lisa Mantillo, Alexander Puccio.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
And of course Lauren Tescala. Again, I'm Ail
Speaker 3 (29:01):
In his Lab and I'm Steph Rotts and don't forget
to grab Hendrika's memoir Open Turns anywhere books are sold,
and we'll chat with you again on Tuesday.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
What Are We Even Doing? with Kyle MacLachlan
Join award-winning actor and social media madman Kyle MacLachlan on “What Are We Even Doing,” where he sits down with Millennial and Gen Z actors, musicians, artists, and content creators to share stories about the entertainment industry past, present, and future. Kyle and his guests will talk shop, compare notes on life, and generally be weird together. In a good way. Their conversations will resonate with listeners of any age whose interests lie in television & film, music, art, or pop culture.