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Speaker 1: I think the thing that really kept me going being

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Speaker 1: a paralympian was people telling me that I couldn't do it,

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Speaker 1: and that's that was the big motivation. I just get

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Speaker 1: really excited throughout my life by really challenging situations or

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Speaker 1: really challenging moments, and being bad at something is the

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Speaker 1: most challenging thing we can face at times, So I

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Speaker 1: love being bad at things.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the sees the Yay Podcast. Busy and happy

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Speaker 2: are not the same thing. We too rarely question what

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Speaker 2: makes the heart seeing. We work, then we rest, but

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Speaker 2: rarely we play and often don't realize there's more than

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Speaker 2: one way. So this is a platform to hear and

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Speaker 2: explore the stories of those who found lives They adore

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Speaker 2: the good.

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Speaker 3: Bad and ugly.

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Speaker 2: The best and worst day will bear all the facets

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Speaker 2: of seizing your yay. I'm Sarah Davidson or Spoonful of Sarah,

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Speaker 2: a lawyer turned fu entrepreneur whos wapped the suits and

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Speaker 2: heels to co found Matcham Maiden and Matcham Milk. Bark

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Speaker 2: Czya is a series of conversations on finding a life

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Speaker 2: you love and exploring the self doubt, challenge, joy and

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Speaker 2: fulfillment along the way lovely neighborhood. I am so excited

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Speaker 2: about our guests this week. I know I say it

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Speaker 2: about every single guest, but it truly is a privilege

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Speaker 2: to get to sit down with such incredible people. I'm

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Speaker 2: just especially excited about this person because We've been trying

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Speaker 2: to line it up for such a long time, and

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Speaker 2: I've been fangirling over her for even longer than that.

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Speaker 2: But as always, the Universe, in its infinite wisdom, worked

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Speaker 2: out the perfect timing for us in the end, so

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Speaker 2: that this chat would come out the very same week

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Speaker 2: as her first incredible book. Most of you will already

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Speaker 2: know Ellie Cole as one of many things, our most

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Speaker 2: decorated Australian female Paralympian of all time, a sought after

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Speaker 2: public speaker, a talented TV presenter, and for around the

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Speaker 2: same time as me, actually a boy mum, which I've

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Speaker 2: loved bonding over with her over the past year or so.

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Speaker 2: But as of this week, she can now add published

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Speaker 2: author to the lineup, releasing her beauty full book Felix

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Speaker 2: and His Fantastic Friends into the world, with the main

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Speaker 2: character based on her son Felix. The book was born

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Speaker 2: out of Ellie's passion to change the way we think

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Speaker 2: about difference and to do so from a young age.

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Speaker 2: So it follows able bodied Felix through the playground, teaching

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Speaker 2: him how to make playtime magical with all kinds of

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Speaker 2: different friends who have all kinds of differences. It's such

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Speaker 2: a heartwarming, powerful extension of Ellie's already passionate advocacy. And

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Speaker 2: of course you'll hear more about how it came about

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Speaker 2: and why she's excited in the episode. But I got

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Speaker 2: mine or Teddy's copy this morning, just before I recorded

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Speaker 2: this intro, and it was so special to pour over

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Speaker 2: the beautiful, colorful pages. It's illustrated by Carolyn Keyes, and

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Speaker 2: the pages are just filled with color and joy. But

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Speaker 2: to pour over those pages having just had this chat

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Speaker 2: was really special. And of course Teddy isn't reading just yet,

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Speaker 2: but to have this tool to introduce him to kinds

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Speaker 2: of differences with the right language and with the right

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Speaker 2: magic is I'm just so grateful to Ellie and so

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Speaker 2: excited for this book to come into the world. I

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Speaker 2: also love that instead of recording this during her decorated

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Speaker 2: swimming career, which was when we first started talking about

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Speaker 2: the podcast, we ended up chatting after her retirement turned reinvention,

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Speaker 2: which touches on all the themes we love on this

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Speaker 2: show about identity, definitions of success, and finding new happiness.

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Speaker 2: I had about two hours sleep though the night before,

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Speaker 2: and you'll hear me apologize to her multiple times but

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Speaker 2: not doing what I felt didn't do her justice. But

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Speaker 2: luckily she's as eloquent as she is talented, so my

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Speaker 2: terrible questions were no obstacle to her sharing so many

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Speaker 2: pearls of wisdom. It was such a great episode, and

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Speaker 2: I hope you guys enjoy as much as I did.

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Speaker 2: Ellie Cole Welcome to Ceza.

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Speaker 4: Oh yay. I actually did that ironically quite naturally.

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Speaker 3: It's so on brand.

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Speaker 1: I'm so excited for this. This has been years in waiting.

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Speaker 2: It has, but I also feel like our relationship has

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Speaker 2: kind of been like years in development, Like we followed

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Speaker 2: each other for ages on social media before we met

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Speaker 2: one day at that event, and it was just so

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Speaker 2: nice because I gave you a big hug and I

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Speaker 2: felt like we'd known each other for ages, and I've

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Speaker 2: still kept following from afar.

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Speaker 1: I know, you know what I love about going to

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Speaker 1: social events now in twenty twenty five is you're surrounded

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Speaker 1: by usually a lot of people that you don't know,

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Speaker 1: but thanks to social media a lot of the time,

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Speaker 1: you do follow quite a lot of people who might

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Speaker 1: be in the same room as you, so you've got

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Speaker 1: a lot of conversation starters.

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Speaker 2: I know, and I'm that person who's like, I just

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Speaker 2: met someone I've never met them before. But how is

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Speaker 2: your dog's bet appointment two days ago that I.

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Speaker 3: Know all about?

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Speaker 2: Because I'll just out myself for being a stalker, which

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Speaker 2: is kind of creepy, but I actually really like it

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Speaker 2: because I think you know, with us, for example, we

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Speaker 2: both became mums at the same time, and even though

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Speaker 2: we don't live close together, we've been able to share

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Speaker 2: that chapter kind of following each other's journeys online.

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Speaker 1: I know, I think I've related hard to all of

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Speaker 1: your social media content.

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Speaker 4: You're not getting any sleep.

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Speaker 1: Oh my god, I feel like I was at Teddy's

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Speaker 1: first birthday party, even though I wasn't.

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Speaker 4: But I'm definitely riding the journey with you. Oh my god.

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Speaker 3: You guys were there in spirit and it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, has been really nice to have this motherhood journey

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Speaker 2: in common with you. But one thing we don't have

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Speaker 2: in common is that I would call myself the opposite

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Speaker 2: of an elite athlete these days, and yet you are

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Speaker 2: the most decorated Australian female paralympian of all time and

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Speaker 2: it has been a joy to follow your career. Congratulations

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Speaker 2: on everything that you've achieved. We're so lucky to have you.

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Speaker 4: Thank you. It's strange.

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Speaker 1: I retired about two years ago and I reflect on

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Speaker 1: my career now and you know, I hear things like

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Speaker 1: what you've just said, and I feel like a completely

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Speaker 1: different person, Like my whole swimming career never even really happened.

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Speaker 1: But it's nice because you know, I've got my metals framed.

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Speaker 1: They're hanging up in my gym. They look pretty impressive

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Speaker 1: obviously on my wall, and it is a nice reminder

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Speaker 1: of what I once was. I don't know, just even

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Speaker 1: just after tears for like a completely different person and

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Speaker 1: gives you a bit of perspective I think on just

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Speaker 1: how people can really reinvent themselves and change so much

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Speaker 1: based on you know, where they tie their identity to now.

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Speaker 1: Obviously uptime, my identity very closely to being Felix's mum

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Speaker 1: and working in the media now, and I suppose Yet,

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Speaker 1: like I said, when I look back at my career,

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Speaker 1: I'm just like, that doesn't feel like that was me

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Speaker 1: doing all of those things. Like I watch videos of

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Speaker 1: my racism, like that's not me, but it is.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so fascinating.

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Speaker 2: I kind of had the same even a couple of

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Speaker 2: weeks after Teddy, that I didn't remember the person I

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Speaker 2: was before or the life that I had before, even

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Speaker 2: though that'd be my whole life up into that time.

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Speaker 2: And for you, it's not just motherhood but also retiring

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Speaker 2: from a career that had been your whole life up

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Speaker 2: into that point.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Now I just kind of watch sport as a

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Speaker 1: fan the same as everybody else does. But I, yeah,

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Speaker 1: definitely have an understanding of the hard work and effort

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Speaker 1: and sleep deprivation and exhaustion and pressure that you put

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Speaker 1: on yourself when you go through that experience. But definitely

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Speaker 1: still in my honeymoon phase like two years after. Although

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Speaker 1: I still wake up quite early with Felix, I'm not

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Speaker 1: waking up at four o'clock in the morning anymore.

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Speaker 4: So.

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Speaker 1: I think being an athlete for like almost twenty years

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Speaker 1: prepared me so well for being a mum, because like

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Speaker 1: being a mumm is exhausting, it's very similar to actually

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Speaker 1: being an athlete. And I feel like, you know, if

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Speaker 1: you've gone through all of the experiences of training for

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Speaker 1: a Paralympics or training for an Olympics, and you know,

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Speaker 1: being so exhausted but having to pull yourself out of

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Speaker 1: bed and getting the job done anyway, that's exactly what

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Speaker 1: being a mum is.

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Speaker 2: It's a perfect training ground. Well, I'm actually really glad

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Speaker 2: that it ended up taking us so long to record

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Speaker 2: this because when we first started talking, you were still

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Speaker 2: an elite athlete in the heights of your career, and

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Speaker 2: that would have been amazing to catch you in the

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Speaker 2: moment for many reasons. But I actually think it's more

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Speaker 2: powerful to talk to you now when you're a couple

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Speaker 2: of years into a whole new chapter, because what comes

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Speaker 2: up the most on CZA is the idea that our

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Speaker 2: life and our ya unravels in multiple chapters. You can

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Speaker 2: spend your whole life in one mindset, but often life

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Speaker 2: will lead you into something else completely where you have

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Speaker 2: to let go of an old identity and form a

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Speaker 2: new one, and let go of old ways of looking

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Speaker 2: at success and joy and fulfillment and metrics for measuring

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Speaker 2: your life to find new ones. But that transition can

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Speaker 2: be so difficult. So I'm so grateful that we've caught

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Speaker 2: you at this particular time in your life. But the

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Speaker 2: other thing we look at is the flip side who

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Speaker 2: you were before that, who you were leading up to

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Speaker 2: that moment, because we can walk into your life at

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Speaker 2: this chapter, and all the dots make sense looking backwards,

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Speaker 2: of course they do, but I'm sure there were many

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Speaker 2: times going forwards that you had no idea where you

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Speaker 2: would end up. So I like to go all the

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Speaker 2: way back to childhood earlywhere it all began. But particularly

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Speaker 2: for you being diagnosed with a neurosarcoma at two years

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Speaker 2: old and having a part of your leg amputated at

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Speaker 2: such a young age, I would love to start there.

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Speaker 2: Your childhood in the Lilyddale and Howard all unraveled.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, lily Dale.

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Speaker 1: So most people probably don't know where lily Dale is,

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Speaker 1: but it's in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I grew

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Speaker 1: up in this place called Mount Evelyn, rightnear lily Dale,

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Speaker 1: and it was in a log cabin that my dad

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Speaker 1: had built, and I even slept on these like beds

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Speaker 1: that my dad had made out of logs, Like it

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Speaker 1: was very rustic, like that experience would go for a

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Speaker 1: lot on Red Balloon or Airbnb right now. And I

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Speaker 1: even had like stained glass windows and just lived in

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Speaker 1: this beautiful hills of Melbourne.

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Speaker 4: But it was kind of pretty idyllic.

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Speaker 1: However, I suppose the experience of being diagnosed with cancer

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Speaker 1: when I was too maybe wasn't as idyllic as the

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Speaker 1: kind of environment that I was growing up in. So

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Speaker 1: my childhood did start off pretty rough with a cancer diagnosis.

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Speaker 1: I underwent a whole year of chemotherapy. But at the

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Speaker 1: age of two when this all happened, I wasn't really

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Speaker 1: sure what was happening at the time. Like I knew

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Speaker 1: that I was sick and there was something wrong, but

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Speaker 1: I didn't really understand the gravity of a cancer diagnosis

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Speaker 1: at the age of two. And I feel for my parents,

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Speaker 1: especially now that I am one looking back, you know

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Speaker 1: how they supported not only me going through that, but

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Speaker 1: my other siblings. When I had three other siblings back

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Speaker 1: at home. That whole journey of my family's life being

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Speaker 1: turned upside down must have been awful for them to

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Speaker 1: go through and then yeah, I woke up one day

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Speaker 1: and my parents were told that I would need to

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Speaker 1: have my leg amputated. This is when I was just

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Speaker 1: turned three years old and went into the operating theater

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Speaker 1: and came out and all of a sudden had a

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Speaker 1: disability and was devastating for my parents because they didn't

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Speaker 1: know anybody that had a disability.

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Speaker 4: This was in nineteen ninety four.

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Speaker 1: You didn't see anyone with a disability on television or

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Speaker 1: really in the communities, being successful in the workplace or

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Speaker 1: anything like that.

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Speaker 4: And I think that was the thing that.

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Speaker 1: Really scared my parents is that I was this young

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Speaker 1: three year old girl who was going to go through

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Speaker 1: my whole life and against all of the odds all

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Speaker 1: of the time, and not really have any opportunities. But

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Speaker 1: I was really fortunate that I have a twin sister.

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Speaker 1: Her name's Britney.

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Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I didn't know that.

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Speaker 4: I do have a twin. Say.

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Speaker 1: She was amazing for my recovery. You know, she taught

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Speaker 1: me how to walk again. There's like these really cute

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Speaker 1: FAMS videos where I'm wearing my prosthetic and I have

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Speaker 1: to learn how to walk again. There's a video of

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Speaker 1: her like when I'm falling over, she picks me up,

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Speaker 1: gives me a cuddle, and encourages me to keep going.

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Speaker 1: Oh Early, I think back to those like those videos

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Speaker 1: and the support that I had around me, and I know,

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Speaker 1: for me, I just had my family there, and it

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Speaker 1: was my family who were picking me up literally every

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Speaker 1: single time that I fell over, teaching me that I

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Speaker 1: could do or be anything that I wanted to be.

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Speaker 1: And so I was really fortunate to have a really

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Speaker 1: good family support network there. And then my sister and

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Speaker 1: I we just went exploring, you know, we went out

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Speaker 1: into the big wide world. I was a little bit

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Speaker 1: different obviously than I had been before, but we rode

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Speaker 1: our bikes, we jumped off you know cliff faces. We

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Speaker 1: went out into the world and didn't come back until

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Speaker 1: dinner time. And as far as I was concerned, I

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Speaker 1: was exactly the same as every other kid. I didn't

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Speaker 1: really understand the social stigma around disability because I was

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Speaker 1: in my bubble of my family and it wasn't really

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Speaker 1: until I went to school. The kids were great at

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Speaker 1: my school. Like when you introduced disability to a child

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Speaker 1: and you explain it to them, they get over it

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Speaker 1: and move on.

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Speaker 4: Very quickly.

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Speaker 1: It was actually more the teachers that were probably a

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Speaker 1: bit cautious about letting me do things that other kids

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Speaker 1: were doing that they perceived could have maybe hurt me,

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Speaker 1: or you know, I think they were scared about putting

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Speaker 1: me in an environment where I was most likely going

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Speaker 1: to fail because of my disability. And it's almost like

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Speaker 1: the teachers had this preconceived idea of what I could

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Speaker 1: or couldn't do, and that was probably the thing that

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Speaker 1: damaged my confidence the most. But then I always had

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Speaker 1: my family to come back to. So yeah, it was

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Speaker 1: certainly a really interesting time to grow up with a disability.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety four, we were kind of on the

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Speaker 1: brink of people even knowing that people with disabilities existed.

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Speaker 1: But I was really fortunate, actually to lose my leg

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Speaker 1: at a young age and to not know any differently,

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Speaker 1: and to grow up probably learning the lesson about adaptability

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Speaker 1: and really being agile and being really creative with problem solving.

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Speaker 1: I think learning that from a really young age set

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Speaker 1: me up really well for the rest.

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Speaker 4: Of my life.

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Speaker 1: So I've always seen my disability as a real blessing,

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Speaker 1: and I know that that can be really confusing for

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Speaker 1: people who have just nearly acquired a disability. But from

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Speaker 1: every paralympian that I've ever met, or anybody that I've

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Speaker 1: known that has had a disability for a really long time,

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Speaker 1: they are the most resilient, creative, impressive people that I know.

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Speaker 1: And that's because we have had to overcome a lot

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Speaker 1: of hardship, and we have had to be so self

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Speaker 1: confident in what we can achieve, and we put ourselves

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Speaker 1: in positions that not many people go through in their

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Speaker 1: whole life, and so I've really been blessed with it

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Speaker 1: in the end, my hips not so much, in my

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Speaker 1: back not so much. But I look back at the

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Speaker 1: success that I had in my swimming career and wonder

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Speaker 1: if I would have achieved that being an able bodied athlete,

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Speaker 1: and probably not. I probably would have given up when

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Speaker 1: I was like ten years old, because I think the

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Speaker 1: thing that really kept me going being a paralympian was

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Speaker 1: people telling me that I couldn't do it, and that

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Speaker 1: was the big motivation.

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Speaker 2: Well, you have well and truly proven anyone wrong who's

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Speaker 2: ever doubted you even for a moment, with your incredible achievements.

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Speaker 2: I was reading your Wikipedia trying to put together the

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Speaker 2: buyer for this episode, and I mean it'd fill an

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Speaker 2: entire episode. You've not just been a retired Paralympic, you've

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Speaker 2: been a wheelchair basketball player as well, So talk about

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Speaker 2: multi talented, but I mean in the Paralympics alone, seventeen medals,

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Speaker 2: six gold, five silver, six bronze from four different Paralympic games.

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Speaker 2: Such an incredible career and an amazing example as well

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Speaker 2: that so much of our confidence and our belief, even

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Speaker 2: what we will attempt to try in our lives, can

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Speaker 2: be shaped by what other people perceive to be possible.

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Speaker 2: So interesting what you said about your teachers, that them

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Speaker 2: trying to stop you trying things because they thought you

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Speaker 2: couldn't did really affect your confidence. But then on the

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Speaker 2: flip side, have such amazing family support and your twin

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Speaker 2: just believing you could do anything and letting you try.

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Speaker 2: How powerful that can be. And I think outside of

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Speaker 2: disability extrapolating for anyone in anything they attempt to do

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Speaker 2: that other people's beliefs can be so limiting, but they

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Speaker 2: can also be full of possibility. And I think I

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Speaker 2: was reading that, you know, after your amputation, they said

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Speaker 2: it would take a year to regain certain types of movement,

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Speaker 2: but that you were back in the swimming pool eight

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Speaker 2: weeks later.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it wasn't anything to do with my parents being like, right,

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Speaker 1: let's make her a Paralympian straightaway. No, the swimming lessons

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Speaker 1: all started because of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation happens a lot through

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Speaker 1: swimming because it's an environment, aquatic environments, you know, they

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Speaker 1: take the pressure off all of the joints and you

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Speaker 1: learn how to use your body again without having to

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Speaker 1: fight with gravity so much so, a lot of our

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Speaker 1: Paralympic swimming superstars actually all started in rehabilitation pools, which

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Speaker 1: is pretty incredible. It's probably very insensitive for me to

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Speaker 1: go down to a rehabilitation pull and find our next

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Speaker 1: paralymic superstar, but yeah, it's fascinating that, you know, I

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Speaker 1: was thrown into the pool for rehabilitation, and never would

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Speaker 1: I have imagined in those moments that it was going

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Speaker 1: to open up all of the opportunities for me that

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Speaker 1: my parents were scared that I was never going to have.

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Speaker 4: It was amazing. I did go around in circles for

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Speaker 4: a while.

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Speaker 1: I related very heavily to finding Nemo when it came out,

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Speaker 1: But that's so cute, but yeah, it took me I

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Speaker 1: think six or seven weeks of swimming a straight line.

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Speaker 3: Wow, that's fast.

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Speaker 1: It is fast, And I think the big reason being

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Speaker 1: is because I was chasing my twin sister. You know,

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Speaker 1: she was thrown in there with me actually for a

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Speaker 1: bit of support. Then I went through the normal learned

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Speaker 1: to swim program that all able bodied kids go through,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, I was kind of just integrated into able

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Speaker 1: bodied land, which now I guess in a way, I'm

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Speaker 1: fortunate that I have a type of disability where I

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Speaker 1: can do a lot of things that able body people

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Speaker 1: can do.

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Speaker 4: I don't have.

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Speaker 1: I'm not higher needs. So I did just kind of

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Speaker 1: fall into that mainstream able bodied swimming and was very competitive.

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Speaker 1: So I wanted to be as fast as all of

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Speaker 1: the kids that had two arms and two legs. And

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Speaker 1: I think even things like when I was just doing

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Speaker 1: kick so only using legs, it's like a drill that

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Speaker 1: we do in swimming, I wanted to be the fastest

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Speaker 1: and I knew that I had like fifty percent less

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Speaker 1: power than they did, but I managed to be like

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Speaker 1: the fastest kicker in my program.

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Speaker 4: With one leg.

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Speaker 1: No way, little things like that really set me up

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Speaker 1: to be really successful in the Paralympics. I never imagined

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Speaker 1: the Paralympics when I first started swimming, because I didn't

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Speaker 1: know about the Paralympics.

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Speaker 4: All I wanted to.

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Speaker 1: Do was just be the fastest kid in the pool,

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Speaker 1: and it just opened up all of these doors.

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Speaker 2: It is so crazy that you barely knew about the

380
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Speaker 2: Paralympics and then went on to become our most successful

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Speaker 2: female Paralympian in history. And it gives me goosebumps to

382
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Speaker 2: think just the importance of visibility and how little Ellie

383
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Speaker 2: couldn't aim to be a Paralympian if she'd never seen

384
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Speaker 2: anyone do that or didn't know they existed. And there

385
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Speaker 2: might have been other young people who grew up at

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Speaker 2: the same time who didn't aim for greatness like you

387
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Speaker 2: have because they didn't think they could. I love that

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Speaker 2: your family, and especially having a twin sister, who just

389
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,520
Speaker 2: didn't sort of allow it to be a limit, just

390
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Speaker 2: let you go and try and see what you could achieve.

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Speaker 2: I love that that meant you weren't hampered in the

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Speaker 2: way that other people might have assumed you were. And

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Speaker 2: I also love thinking that there are young people who

394
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Speaker 2: have followed your career in this day and age and

395
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Speaker 2: started forming their dreams and sense of possibility for themselves,

396
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Speaker 2: which I know has become a passion in this next

397
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Speaker 2: chapter of your life as well, which will come to

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Speaker 2: But just that importance of visibility and trying and seeing

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Speaker 2: what you can do.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think I love that definitely does come

401
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Speaker 1: down to mindset. And it's something that you know everybody

402
00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:49,720
Speaker 1: struggles with, is not being good at something. No one

403
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,720
Speaker 1: likes to pursue any kind of hobby or any kind

404
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:54,960
Speaker 1: of skill if they're not that good at it, because

405
00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,320
Speaker 1: we've been reinforced for our whole life that if we're

406
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Speaker 1: not good at something, we maybe shouldn't fee so good

407
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Speaker 1: about ourselves.

408
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Speaker 4: But for me, I think.

409
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Speaker 1: Being an athlete and then also having a disability as well,

410
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Speaker 1: I really craved the opportunities for the self improvement. You know,

411
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:15,000
Speaker 1: when you're an athlete, you change something within your technical abilities,

412
00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 1: or you change something within your physiological makeup if you

413
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,040
Speaker 1: can to try and get that zero point zero one

414
00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:24,359
Speaker 1: percent faster, and that could be the difference between winning

415
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Speaker 1: a gold medal or not. I think most people look

416
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:29,600
Speaker 1: at elite athletes and look at particularly ones that have

417
00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,000
Speaker 1: been really successful in their careers and think, wow, like

418
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,840
Speaker 1: all of this success has been amazing. But if I

419
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Speaker 1: reflect on my career, out of the thousands and thousands

420
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Speaker 1: and thousands of races that I swam thousands, I would

421
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Speaker 1: say that only two of them I would have considered

422
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Speaker 1: to be perfect, if not close to perfect.

423
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Speaker 3: Wow.

424
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Speaker 1: We want to try and be the very very best

425
00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,480
Speaker 1: versions of ourselves and in terms of athlete, and then

426
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Speaker 1: when we see data that says this is an area

427
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,000
Speaker 1: that you can improve on, we like through everything that

428
00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:00,840
Speaker 1: we can at that. And it was it's amazing to

429
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Speaker 1: see the way that my idea of success shifted over

430
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Speaker 1: my time being an athlete, and that was an area

431
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:07,159
Speaker 1: that was one of them.

432
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Speaker 4: It wasn't necessarily about the outcome.

433
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Speaker 1: It was more about the process and the approach of

434
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Speaker 1: being an athlete that I really fell in love with

435
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 1: towards the end. But it's kind of translated into everyday

436
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:20,560
Speaker 1: life for me as well, where I actually really enjoy

437
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,600
Speaker 1: being bad at something because the idea of improvement is

438
00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,399
Speaker 1: like so exciting to me. And I knew, you know,

439
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,800
Speaker 1: when I started in media there were some small things

440
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,560
Speaker 1: that I could improve on and my partner, Sylvia, watches

441
00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,919
Speaker 1: all of my interviews and gives me like the smallest

442
00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:40,640
Speaker 1: zero point five percent of feedback, like even the way

443
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:43,000
Speaker 1: that I'm leaning into someone or leaning away from someone,

444
00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:46,040
Speaker 1: like the smallest things. And I crave that and I

445
00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:48,720
Speaker 1: love it because it's exciting to be to put that

446
00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: in action for next time. So that mindset is so important,

447
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:54,840
Speaker 1: that to lean into things that you might not necessarily

448
00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,400
Speaker 1: be so good at, and then to start teaching yourself

449
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:00,520
Speaker 1: to really embrace that challenge and embrace the excitement of

450
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: getting better at something. I think being good at something

451
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:04,160
Speaker 1: that's boring.

452
00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,040
Speaker 2: I mean, says the person who was literally the best

453
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:10,800
Speaker 2: in history at what she does.

454
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:12,840
Speaker 1: It was a big part of the reason why I

455
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:15,919
Speaker 1: did retire, because I had pulled everything out of assuming

456
00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:17,520
Speaker 1: that I had wanted to, and I wanted to be

457
00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:19,880
Speaker 1: challenged in a whole new way. Like the whole reason

458
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:21,720
Speaker 1: why I went into the jungle from a celebrity to

459
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:23,600
Speaker 1: get me out of here last year is because I

460
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:24,960
Speaker 1: really wanted to be challenged.

461
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,560
Speaker 4: I knew that being I'm actually quite an introvert.

462
00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:29,240
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't believe me when I say that,

463
00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,320
Speaker 1: but being in an environment with twelve people twenty four

464
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:34,560
Speaker 1: hours a day was going to make me extremely uncomfortable.

465
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,600
Speaker 1: I just get really excited throughout my life by really

466
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:42,160
Speaker 1: challenging situations or really challenging moments, and being bad at

467
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,560
Speaker 1: something is the most challenging thing we can face at times.

468
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,120
Speaker 1: So I love being bad at things.

469
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:50,919
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say I love it.

470
00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,040
Speaker 2: I'm still pretty a type, but I am trying to

471
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,480
Speaker 2: embrace that mentality more because, similar to being an athlete,

472
00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 2: my first career was as a ballerina, and that's the

473
00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:03,480
Speaker 2: pinnacle of perfectionism and not feeling worthy unless everything is

474
00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,200
Speaker 2: absolutely perfect. But I've tried to let go of that

475
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,439
Speaker 2: and learn to enjoy the process more because there is

476
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:11,640
Speaker 2: so much beauty in being a beginner. I think there

477
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 2: is a lot of pressure in society on success looking

478
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,080
Speaker 2: a perfect way, or success looking a certain way and

479
00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 2: being perfect and being these metrics of a certain wage

480
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,160
Speaker 2: or a certain job or a title or a house

481
00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,960
Speaker 2: or whatever. And the problem with goal setting that way

482
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,200
Speaker 2: is then when you do arrive at that so called

483
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,879
Speaker 2: perfection or success, what else is there? Where else do

484
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:32,640
Speaker 2: you go from there? That's why there are so many

485
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:37,800
Speaker 2: chronically unhappy, wealthy people or famous people, because if you

486
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,280
Speaker 2: don't learn to enjoy the journey, what else is there.

487
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:42,960
Speaker 2: But I'm so glad that mentality led you to the

488
00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 2: Jungle because that is actually where my love affair with

489
00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,480
Speaker 2: Ellie Cole started. Do you know this how intimately involved

490
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 2: I got with that season. For those who don't know,

491
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:54,960
Speaker 2: I did. Khan't social media while he was in the

492
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,159
Speaker 2: jungle from the hospital bed because Teddy arrived early, so

493
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 2: I was literally lying on my back recovering from giving birth.

494
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:03,120
Speaker 3: I couldn't do anything except.

495
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:04,920
Speaker 2: Watch I have a salop, get me out of here,

496
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,919
Speaker 2: and get intimately acquainted with everyone in the jungle.

497
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 3: It was an amazing time.

498
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 1: I was super excited, actually because obviously with Cann I

499
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 1: became very close with him in the jungle, and we

500
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:16,680
Speaker 1: did speak about you a few times, and.

501
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,240
Speaker 4: We'd always be like, I wonder if she's had.

502
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,240
Speaker 1: The baby yet, because I was following your life so

503
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 1: close to your social media and we didn't know, like

504
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,520
Speaker 1: we get told nothing in the jungle. We didn't even know,

505
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,560
Speaker 1: you know, about the Bondai shootings. We didn't know about

506
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,159
Speaker 1: Princess Kate having cancer, like there were just so many

507
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,800
Speaker 1: big news stories that happened that we were not aware of.

508
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:37,920
Speaker 1: And another big news story was whether you had given

509
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,320
Speaker 1: birth or not according to Karen and I, And when

510
00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:41,359
Speaker 1: we received.

511
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,400
Speaker 4: Those letters from home, it was so exciting, and yeah.

512
00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,439
Speaker 1: It's just you know, that's what I mean when I

513
00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:48,320
Speaker 1: was going back before about how you feel like you

514
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 1: get to know someone through social media or following somebody's story,

515
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,159
Speaker 1: and you did get so invested into people.

516
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:57,000
Speaker 4: So it was a nice moment Teddy had her eye.

517
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,199
Speaker 3: I was so glad. It was such a big highlight

518
00:23:59,240 --> 00:23:59,639
Speaker 3: for everyone.

519
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 2: You guys, when I'm in the jungle, it was I

520
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,800
Speaker 2: guess that was the time where I became a big fangirl.

521
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,119
Speaker 2: And that has continued so much to the point today

522
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,960
Speaker 2: where I've been so engrossed in your eloquence and your

523
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,720
Speaker 2: incredible pearls of wisdom that I have not actually made

524
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:15,280
Speaker 2: it to have the questions I had for this part

525
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:16,760
Speaker 2: of your life. What it was like to get a

526
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:19,359
Speaker 2: prosthetic as a child, when you realize that swimming was

527
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 2: a career that you wanted to have, How you made

528
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:23,919
Speaker 2: it to the Paralympic because I'm lucky. I guess that

529
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:26,480
Speaker 2: a lot of that's been documented elsewhere so I'm sorry

530
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,199
Speaker 2: for having overlooked all those questions, but I do want

531
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:31,919
Speaker 2: to move on at this point to the part that

532
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:33,919
Speaker 2: I think is so powerful, and as I mentioned, that

533
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,880
Speaker 2: is your reinvention the new chapter. In the past couple

534
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:40,320
Speaker 2: of years post swimming, of finding a new identity, of

535
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,960
Speaker 2: having little Felix, becoming a mum, embracing a new juggle,

536
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 2: and of course Felix and his fantastic friends. This beautiful

537
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 2: first book of yours that comes out next week.

538
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,240
Speaker 3: Tell us all about this latest chapter.

539
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,919
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, so Felix is very very similar age to Teddy.

540
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 4: He just turned one in February. He was only five weeks.

541
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,480
Speaker 1: Old when I went into the jungle. So I kind

542
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,639
Speaker 1: of agreed to do this, the whole jungle thing. I

543
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,639
Speaker 1: think it was at the very beginning of the pregnancy,

544
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 1: and it was one of those moments where I was like, oh,

545
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:11,600
Speaker 1: say yes to it. I'll deal with it when I

546
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 1: get there. Yeah, that's a later Ellie problem.

547
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did the.

548
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,440
Speaker 1: Whole that's a later Elie problem thing. And then Felix

549
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:23,120
Speaker 1: ended up actually coming a month early. I actually did

550
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 1: not time that well, like high risk, I could have

551
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:26,400
Speaker 1: missed the bath.

552
00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh my god.

553
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,359
Speaker 1: I honestly have only just realized this right now. So

554
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,320
Speaker 1: he ended up being only five weeks old when I left.

555
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 1: Being a mum was amazing for me because throughout this

556
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,399
Speaker 1: whole process of I'm in a same sex relationship. So

557
00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 1: my partner, Sylvia, carried the baby. She's always wanted to

558
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 1: be a mom ever since we met her. We've been

559
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,720
Speaker 1: together for twelve years, and I knew that I would

560
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:52,560
Speaker 1: enjoy being a mum, but it's not something that I

561
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 1: ever pined for in like personally speaking, but I knew

562
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,240
Speaker 1: that I would really embrace being a mum and would

563
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,840
Speaker 1: love being a mum and everything. So when she became

564
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,520
Speaker 1: pregnant with Felix, it was a really exciting moment for me,

565
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,080
Speaker 1: but I almost had the role of being a dad

566
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,879
Speaker 1: where I wasn't going through, you know, the attachment to

567
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 1: this baby that was growing inside of Sylvia. Like I

568
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,560
Speaker 1: was excited for him to come, but it was a

569
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 1: very different feeling than what Sylvia was feeling. And then

570
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 1: the moment that he was born, it was incredible. We

571
00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,960
Speaker 1: had an emergency sea section, and the morning that Silver

572
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:29,679
Speaker 1: went into labor, I told her that she just had

573
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 1: Braxton Hicks and to go back to bed.

574
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 3: So I'm supportive.

575
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:38,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, I really supported.

576
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,200
Speaker 1: Well, well, we were so early and she had never

577
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 1: even had Braxon Hicks before, so I'm like, God, I

578
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 1: must be Braxon Hicks because I was like, there's no

579
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 1: way he's coming now, and we're holding him like three

580
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,119
Speaker 1: hours later. It was crazy, but yeah, to have the

581
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:53,239
Speaker 1: sea section, I'll never ever forget. The next morning, I

582
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:55,159
Speaker 1: was like sleeping on this trundle bed in the hospital

583
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,480
Speaker 1: room and I woke up and I peeked up, my

584
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 1: head up and I saw Sylvia laying in a hospital bed,

585
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 1: and I looked over at the bascinet where Felix should

586
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: have been, and he wasn't there.

587
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 4: And then so I stood up and he was.

588
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 1: Cuddled into Silvia and they were both asleep, and it

589
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:13,680
Speaker 1: was like that, you know, the mental snapshot you take

590
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: in life, like those little mental that was one of them.

591
00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: It was like the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

592
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:23,240
Speaker 1: And then since that day, he's just been everything to me.

593
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,399
Speaker 1: So having to leave him, going to the jungle at

594
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 1: five weeks old was so hard. And one of the

595
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 1: hardest moments that I had in the jungle was I

596
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:33,919
Speaker 1: was trying to remember what his face looks like.

597
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:36,320
Speaker 4: But when you have a young one month old.

598
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,199
Speaker 1: Their faces changed so quickly that I didn't have an

599
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,160
Speaker 1: exact idea of what he looked like, and I actually

600
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,560
Speaker 1: forgot what my own son looked like. I could remember

601
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:47,360
Speaker 1: his eyes, I could remember his nose, what his lips

602
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 1: looked like, but I couldn't remember his face as a whole.

603
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,760
Speaker 1: And that broke my heart, like it broke my heart

604
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,399
Speaker 1: so much. I'm so happy that I had Cahn in

605
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,920
Speaker 1: the jungle. And then Sandra Sally did her messages from

606
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,040
Speaker 1: home and I got to see him. He had learned

607
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,920
Speaker 1: how to smile since I'd been in there, and I.

608
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:05,880
Speaker 4: Could see his face again.

609
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:08,199
Speaker 1: He looks so different, and I was like, I have

610
00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: to get out of here, like I have to leave.

611
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:12,160
Speaker 1: But the thing about the jungle is if you say

612
00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 1: to the television cameras, stop voting me in, like I

613
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,080
Speaker 1: don't want to be here anymore, stop voting me in,

614
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,200
Speaker 1: then they don't play it.

615
00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:19,640
Speaker 4: To the DV.

616
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:25,359
Speaker 1: So Australia kept voting me in because I decided to

617
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 1: teach this adult who couldn't swim how to swim, and

618
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 1: apparently Australia loved that, and I kept getting voted in,

619
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:33,480
Speaker 1: so I was there for a lot longer than I

620
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,200
Speaker 1: thought that I was going to be, but.

621
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:37,520
Speaker 4: Coming home and seeing him was amazing. But the idea

622
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:38,640
Speaker 4: of this book.

623
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:41,560
Speaker 1: That I I've just written actually came about in the

624
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 1: jungle because I was speaking to Britt Hockley while I

625
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:46,920
Speaker 1: was in there about how Felix will one day grow up.

626
00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:48,880
Speaker 4: He'll go to school.

627
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,480
Speaker 1: And someone one of his classmates is going to point

628
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:52,840
Speaker 1: out that his mum is different.

629
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 4: And I always approached that idea.

630
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:58,680
Speaker 1: And that conversation that he was going to have with

631
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: one of his classmates, it was going to be a

632
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: negative conversation. But then I started thinking, and you have

633
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: a lot of time in the jungle, I started thinking,

634
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 1: maybe it doesn't have to be like a negative conversation

635
00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:10,520
Speaker 1: that he has to have with his classmate that his

636
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:13,000
Speaker 1: mum's different. Maybe that being different is actually really cool

637
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 1: and it's amazing and it's so unique. And I really

638
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 1: want Felix to grow up meeting all of my paralympic

639
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 1: friends and really embracing people that are different to him.

640
00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:24,880
Speaker 1: And so I thought, why not write a book about

641
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 1: this for kids? Because from what I've seen being a Paralympian.

642
00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 1: Kids are so pliable with their world and how they

643
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 1: see their world, and watching the Paralympic Games in particular,

644
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,280
Speaker 1: they see people they have disabilities that are world champions.

645
00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 4: And I never had that when I was young.

646
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,640
Speaker 1: And the way that kids are growing up perceiving people

647
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: who are different to them that you can have a disability,

648
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 1: you can still be a champion.

649
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 4: It was so different.

650
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 1: And if my parents had that message when I was

651
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 1: losing my leg, they would have approached my whole disability

652
00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 1: journey very differently. So I wanted to be able to

653
00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:02,000
Speaker 1: target kids who are going to school. They're going to

654
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:03,840
Speaker 1: be in the playground with people who are different to them,

655
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 1: and I want them to be equipped with the skills

656
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:09,080
Speaker 1: and the knowledge to be able to go up to

657
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 1: someone who is different to them and to just invite

658
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 1: them to play. And that is the whole idea of

659
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 1: my book is My main character is Felix. He's able bodied.

660
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:21,280
Speaker 1: A lot of books around disabilities that main character's disabled,

661
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,040
Speaker 1: but he's an able bodied kid that goes to school.

662
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,120
Speaker 1: He comes across six different types of disabilities and he

663
00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 1: learns to communicate with each of them. In a very

664
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 1: different way, but the end story is always the same,

665
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 1: is that he ends up playing with them and learning

666
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 1: something from them, and he goes back home to Sylvia

667
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 1: and I and he teaches us about all of the

668
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,040
Speaker 1: things that he learned about his new friends. And so

669
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 1: that was the whole idea of the book, is that

670
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,120
Speaker 1: I wanted able bodied kids who are going to school

671
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,720
Speaker 1: to be able to embrace differences, because that's where they're

672
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,960
Speaker 1: going to, you know, be in their first team environments.

673
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: It's where the kids are going to learn and to share,

674
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: to play, and to support one another. And I want

675
00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,360
Speaker 1: them to be able to embrace and lean into those differences.

676
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: So that's why the book was written.

677
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:05,240
Speaker 3: Oh Ellie, that's so beautiful. It makes me want to

678
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:06,520
Speaker 3: cry well.

679
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 2: An incredible culmination of your experience and dedication to Felix

680
00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,720
Speaker 2: and the world that he will grow up in. It's

681
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:19,280
Speaker 2: so true that children are They just are so pure

682
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 2: the way they see the world. They perceive a difference

683
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,840
Speaker 2: in such a non judgmental way compared to adults and

684
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:29,840
Speaker 2: the sort of value judgments that we bring to our relationships.

685
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,480
Speaker 2: And I love that you've captured that in a book

686
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,400
Speaker 2: that will guide so many young people. It just really

687
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:37,200
Speaker 2: I can't wait to get a copy for Teddy.

688
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,360
Speaker 1: I have put a lot of pressure on Felix that

689
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:40,960
Speaker 1: when he goes to school, he's going to have to

690
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 1: be really nice to everybody.

691
00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 4: I think, I don't think that's a bad thing.

692
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:48,600
Speaker 1: Also really inspired by my niece to write this book

693
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,880
Speaker 1: because she's ten now, but when she was growing up,

694
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:54,160
Speaker 1: when she was about five or six years old, she

695
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,920
Speaker 1: really started to notice my prosthetic, Like it's a leg

696
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,240
Speaker 1: that's made of metal and it's all black and plastic,

697
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:00,760
Speaker 1: so of course she's going to noticed it's a little

698
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,520
Speaker 1: bit different. But you know, over the relationship that I

699
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:05,520
Speaker 1: had with her, I'll never forget the time I was

700
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:07,680
Speaker 1: standing out in my my parents have a sheep farm.

701
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:09,280
Speaker 1: I was standing out in the middle of a paddock

702
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: and she bought out my leg charger and tried to

703
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:12,959
Speaker 1: like charge my leg in the middle of a paddock,

704
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 1: like it was the most normal thing in the world.

705
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,440
Speaker 1: And I was just thinking, like, this is the way

706
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:21,160
Speaker 1: the world should be. Like she's been exposed to this

707
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 1: disability at a really young age, and she's been exposed

708
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:26,040
Speaker 1: to a lot of disabilities because of a lot of

709
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,840
Speaker 1: my friends are paralympians, and she just knows how to

710
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:32,000
Speaker 1: talk to people with disabilities, what terminology to use. She's

711
00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:36,320
Speaker 1: really comfortable about it. And because she's comfortable around the

712
00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 1: topics and people that are different to her, she just

713
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 1: engages really well. And that's what I want every kid

714
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 1: to be able to do. So it's a big inspiration

715
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 1: behind writing the book.

716
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,160
Speaker 2: It's interesting that you mentioned the word normal, that your

717
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 2: niece found your disability so normal, and I think normalizing difference,

718
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:56,080
Speaker 2: and you know, disabilities or any other kind of difference,

719
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,400
Speaker 2: is what's so important to help alleviate the fear and

720
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,000
Speaker 2: anxiety a lot of people have when they broach a subject,

721
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 2: or meet a person, or have to enter a situation

722
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 2: that they're less familiar with. Is there anything that you

723
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:12,800
Speaker 2: could offer as advice, perhaps to anyone listening who doesn't

724
00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 2: feel as comfortable or hasn't grown up around a disability

725
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,240
Speaker 2: when they have questions or when they're out and about

726
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,400
Speaker 2: in society. Is there anything that you find adults do

727
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:25,120
Speaker 2: that is particularly unuseful or things that is done really well.

728
00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 1: I think when it comes to just interacting with somebody

729
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,240
Speaker 1: who's different to you, it's coming from my own experience

730
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 1: having a disability, A lot of people who want to.

731
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:35,200
Speaker 4: Come up and maybe ask questions.

732
00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 1: Or if I'm at a dinner or something and people

733
00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 1: want to talk about what my experiences have been like,

734
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 1: you can see that they're nervous, and I can see

735
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 1: that they can be nervous as well.

736
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:47,960
Speaker 4: So I think, firstly, there is no silly.

737
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,560
Speaker 1: Question, and I think going into a conversation knowing that

738
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: there is no silly question is really important. I am

739
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 1: very very patient with people who show, like, genuinely show

740
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 1: good intentions towards wanting to have a conversation. You can

741
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,240
Speaker 1: tell if someone's being genuine or not, and that alone

742
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 1: is enough for me. You can ask anything that you

743
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 1: want to And I think a huge thing that really

744
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 1: addresses the elephant in the room is if you do

745
00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 1: go up to someone who's different to you and want

746
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:15,839
Speaker 1: to have a conversation about their differences, you just say, Hi,

747
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 1: I'm not really familiar with this or X or y

748
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:21,759
Speaker 1: or z, but I want to know more. Can you

749
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 1: tell me more? And just start the conversation off like that,

750
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 1: And then usually I would say, well, what do you

751
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,200
Speaker 1: want to know? And it just opens the door up

752
00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:30,239
Speaker 1: for so many questions and things that you might be

753
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 1: really curious about. I have seen a lot of conversation

754
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,400
Speaker 1: change because of the Paralympic movement. You know, when I

755
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,720
Speaker 1: first joined the team in two thousand and six, children

756
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:42,480
Speaker 1: especially point to me on the street and say, Mum,

757
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,200
Speaker 1: she's got a metal leg, or Mum, she's a pirate,

758
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:48,160
Speaker 1: or she's different to you know, and they notice the differences.

759
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,479
Speaker 1: And back in two thousand and eight, the children usually

760
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 1: got hushed by their parents or you know, the parent

761
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:55,759
Speaker 1: grabbed them by the arm pull them out of that

762
00:34:55,840 --> 00:35:00,080
Speaker 1: situation because they felt uncomfortable. But now, since the our

763
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,000
Speaker 1: Olympic Games is becoming more and more exposed on mainstream television,

764
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 1: parents are more inclined now to lean into the questions

765
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:09,640
Speaker 1: and to get down to their child's level and to

766
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:12,040
Speaker 1: talk to them about it, and sometimes even approach me

767
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,479
Speaker 1: and say, Hi, my daughter or my son is really

768
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:16,120
Speaker 1: interested in your prosthetic.

769
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 4: Do you mind talking to them about it? And I

770
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:18,759
Speaker 4: love that.

771
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:21,960
Speaker 1: I love curiosity, regardless of whether you're an adult or

772
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 1: whether you're a child. Curiosity is so important. There is

773
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,200
Speaker 1: no silly question, and if you can show genuine intentions,

774
00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,239
Speaker 1: then can I really ask whatever you want to. I

775
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,360
Speaker 1: have a very similar uncomfortable feeling when I'm speaking to people,

776
00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 1: you know, from different cultural backgrounds, because I'm not sure

777
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,120
Speaker 1: what the terminology is and I'm not sure if I'm

778
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,480
Speaker 1: going to say something that might offend. And it's exactly

779
00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,239
Speaker 1: the same regardless of what minority group you're talking to

780
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,600
Speaker 1: or what difference a group of differences you're talking to.

781
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: It's just very common and natural to feel that way.

782
00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:54,880
Speaker 1: But if you can show good intentions, then that's the

783
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:55,719
Speaker 1: best thing you can do.

784
00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:57,320
Speaker 3: Yeah's such great advice.

785
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 2: I think people often do want to learn more and

786
00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:01,960
Speaker 2: they scared to say the wrong thing or to offend.

787
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,279
Speaker 2: And it's great that you're so patient when people do

788
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:08,160
Speaker 2: have a curiosity and want to learn more, because, yeah,

789
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 2: conversation is I guess, the best way for people to

790
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:14,160
Speaker 2: become more familiar with something they're unfamiliar with. And I

791
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,279
Speaker 2: love how much advocacy work that you are doing now.

792
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,040
Speaker 2: I think one of the other roles that you have

793
00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,400
Speaker 2: is being on the board of the Paralympics Committee, and

794
00:36:21,600 --> 00:36:24,839
Speaker 2: that that's a really great outlet for your passion for

795
00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,080
Speaker 2: harnessing the power of the Paralympics.

796
00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:28,040
Speaker 3: As we've spoken.

797
00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:29,840
Speaker 2: About So what does your day look like now that

798
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,000
Speaker 2: you have so many different roles in this new chapter

799
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:35,600
Speaker 2: kind of how do you spend your time and how

800
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:38,760
Speaker 2: are you managing the juggle? Tell us all about this chapter.

801
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: It's certainly very different too when I was an athlete

802
00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,759
Speaker 1: my day. So I've been doing a few different projects

803
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:47,080
Speaker 1: since I have retired. Obviously one of them was the

804
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:51,560
Speaker 1: reality television show. But yeah, since then, I've been doing

805
00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:53,759
Speaker 1: a couple of different things. So I actually sit on

806
00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:57,480
Speaker 1: a council. It's called the Counselor of the Order of Australia, do.

807
00:36:57,600 --> 00:36:59,520
Speaker 4: You Yeah, it's amazing.

808
00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:03,440
Speaker 1: So we provide recommendations to the Governor General on the

809
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:07,880
Speaker 1: Australian Honors system. And I love it because We've received

810
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,920
Speaker 1: so many applications for Australians who are doing incredible things

811
00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:12,680
Speaker 1: and I'm really fortunate to be able to read through

812
00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:15,080
Speaker 1: all of these amazing things that Australians are doing and

813
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 1: to make sure that they're recognized for that.

814
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 4: And I love that role so much.

815
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,560
Speaker 1: Because it is bringing a group of about twelve people

816
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,200
Speaker 1: who are so different from very different backgrounds together and

817
00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 1: discussing what we want our Australia to look like in

818
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:29,840
Speaker 1: terms of the people who are contributing to it.

819
00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:30,440
Speaker 4: So I love that.

820
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,239
Speaker 1: I also sit on the board of Paralympics Australia. And

821
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:35,439
Speaker 1: the reason why I really enjoy that role as well

822
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,040
Speaker 1: is because when I was an athlete, I mentioned before

823
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:41,759
Speaker 1: that my idea of success always looks so different as

824
00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 1: I progress through my career. Towards the back end of

825
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,880
Speaker 1: my career, in the last four or five years, I

826
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 1: really lean into embracing the impact that the Paralympic movement

827
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:56,719
Speaker 1: can have in changing stigmas, changing stereotypes, perceptions of people

828
00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:00,640
Speaker 1: have disabilities. I absolutely love that whole aspect it. And

829
00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:03,040
Speaker 1: I didn't race that well in Tokyo, Like my times

830
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 1: were pretty good, but I won a silver and a

831
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:08,359
Speaker 1: bronze with two bronzes, which a lot of people would

832
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 1: say is a great result.

833
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm like, that's awesome coming from.

834
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: I think my six gold Prior to that, I think

835
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:16,839
Speaker 1: a lot of people were expecting maybe a little bit

836
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 1: more from me, but I was like thirty as well.

837
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:23,000
Speaker 4: But yeah, I kind of lend more into the advocacy.

838
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,239
Speaker 1: Role in the last four years and you know, really

839
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 1: uplifting the people that were in my Paralympic team to

840
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:30,799
Speaker 1: make sure that everyone was seen in the same way,

841
00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,520
Speaker 1: regardless of whether they were a seventeen time Paralympic medalist

842
00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 1: or had been to their first Paralympics, and it was

843
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:40,840
Speaker 1: a huge part of me wanting the athlete to feel

844
00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:43,000
Speaker 1: like they were being seen as a person as well.

845
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:44,880
Speaker 1: So that was a big focus of me in the

846
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:46,840
Speaker 1: last part of my career. Now that I sit on

847
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:48,799
Speaker 1: the board of Paralympics Australia, I could still do that,

848
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 1: which has been amazing for my own transition into retirement

849
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,279
Speaker 1: because I haven't lost my identity of what I loved

850
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,239
Speaker 1: to do when I was an athlete. I'm still doing that.

851
00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,400
Speaker 1: I just get to sleep in until six am now

852
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:04,160
Speaker 1: instead of four because of feelings, but I'm still doing

853
00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:05,680
Speaker 1: what I love to do when I was an athlete.

854
00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:07,960
Speaker 4: So the Paralympics Australia board has been great for me.

855
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:09,359
Speaker 4: I do a lot of.

856
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:13,480
Speaker 1: Keynotes speaking as well, and I enjoy that because I

857
00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:16,319
Speaker 1: do love meeting people who are different to me, and

858
00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 1: I work in so many different industries doing that and

859
00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,920
Speaker 1: so many different organizations and companies not for profits, and

860
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 1: just meeting incredible Australians who then I receive a lot

861
00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:30,840
Speaker 1: of applications for in the Council of the Order of Australia,

862
00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 1: so yeah, a lot of keynotes speaking, I've worked do

863
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:35,120
Speaker 1: a bit of work with Channel nine on wild water sports,

864
00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:38,799
Speaker 1: the Council and Paralympics Australia Board, so a little bit

865
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:40,720
Speaker 1: of everything. And now a children's book author.

866
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:42,040
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, you.

867
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 4: Can pass a lot of time being a mum as well. Yeah.

868
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:49,359
Speaker 2: Did you feel I mean, especially for anyone who has

869
00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:51,160
Speaker 2: had a career, I think there are a lot of

870
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:55,080
Speaker 2: a lot of careers like sport that are you know,

871
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,440
Speaker 2: for a time, they're short lived. You can't do them

872
00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 2: past a particular age, and it is really overwhelming when

873
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,319
Speaker 2: you do a approach that time to re craft your

874
00:40:02,360 --> 00:40:04,480
Speaker 2: identity and to make a pivot. And it's amazing that

875
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:06,640
Speaker 2: you've been able to stay in and around the industry.

876
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,200
Speaker 2: Did you find it overwhelming? Did you feel like you

877
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 2: were starting from the beginning and did sort of imposter

878
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 2: syndrome ever creep in because you had been doing something

879
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:18,279
Speaker 2: that you were so good at and so familiar with,

880
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 2: and then suddenly you know, one day you wake up

881
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:22,440
Speaker 2: and that's not your every day. Did you find it

882
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,000
Speaker 2: really difficult to transition or was it just this natural

883
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 2: How did your mindset kind of carry you through that time.

884
00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:31,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good question because a lot of people

885
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,719
Speaker 1: do transition into different careers now or even you know,

886
00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:36,759
Speaker 1: going on maternity leave and then going back into the

887
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:40,360
Speaker 1: workplace can be a completely different transition to prior to

888
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 1: having a baby and everything. So a lot of people

889
00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:45,480
Speaker 1: will experience something like this. And from what I've seen

890
00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 1: from athletes, athletes do not transition well because they do

891
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,680
Speaker 1: tie up their identity and being an athlete, but they

892
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:55,480
Speaker 1: also really heavily perceive their self worth on whether they

893
00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:57,640
Speaker 1: win a gold medal or not, and that's just the

894
00:40:57,640 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 1: way that being an athlete is. I've got a lot

895
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 1: of joyment out of as I mentioned before, lifting up

896
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:06,720
Speaker 1: the Paralympic movement and fighting for things like pay parody

897
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:10,640
Speaker 1: for Paralympians and doing a lot of advocating for paralympians,

898
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:14,400
Speaker 1: and so the transition out of sport wasn't too difficult

899
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,000
Speaker 1: for me because my focus had shifted so much in

900
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:19,640
Speaker 1: the back end of my career. I also was really

901
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:22,520
Speaker 1: fortunate to have been studying when I was an athlete.

902
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:24,960
Speaker 1: In I did a degree in health and exercise science,

903
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,319
Speaker 1: which I actually have not used at all, but it

904
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,000
Speaker 1: always did give me a fallback plan, and I always,

905
00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:32,640
Speaker 1: when I was an athlete, made sure that I was

906
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:37,239
Speaker 1: doing work opportunities or collaborating with people or networking with

907
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,239
Speaker 1: people who may be able to help me once I

908
00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,719
Speaker 1: did finish sport. And one of those people were the

909
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:44,000
Speaker 1: ones that work within Channel nine. So I already had

910
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,160
Speaker 1: a role waiting for me pretty much as soon as

911
00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:47,640
Speaker 1: I finished, and.

912
00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:50,160
Speaker 4: So that made things a lot easier. In terms of

913
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:51,240
Speaker 4: the mental shift.

914
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:54,440
Speaker 1: That was a little bit challenging because I was training

915
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: six hours a day and I found that really hard

916
00:41:58,200 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 1: to let go of.

917
00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:01,080
Speaker 4: I was still training a lot. When I've retired, I

918
00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:02,600
Speaker 4: was still doing like two hours.

919
00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:05,520
Speaker 1: Of exercise a date home was just nuts and I

920
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 1: had to let go of that a little bit, and

921
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,840
Speaker 1: I found that hard. But now I am finding it

922
00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:11,120
Speaker 1: hard to do half an hour a day.

923
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:14,279
Speaker 4: It's God, I've gone too far the other way.

924
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 1: But yeah, the transition for me was just planned meticulously,

925
00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:24,480
Speaker 1: but also allowing enough flexibility that maybe I might go

926
00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 1: off in this direction or that direction, because you just

927
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:29,360
Speaker 1: don't know, so I think whenever you're stepping into a

928
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,640
Speaker 1: new era of your life. Just be really open minded

929
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:36,240
Speaker 1: in terms of the imposter syndrome. I've never really felt

930
00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:38,719
Speaker 1: that because I've always had to fight really hard to

931
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:40,840
Speaker 1: get to where I have been in sport. As a

932
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:44,799
Speaker 1: paralympian who received no funding at the beginning, athlete with

933
00:42:44,800 --> 00:42:47,120
Speaker 1: a disability, who got told that I was an inspiration

934
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:49,759
Speaker 1: just for showing up to a competition, I had to

935
00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:53,040
Speaker 1: fight very, very hard to be able to show people

936
00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:57,719
Speaker 1: how strong and fierce and everything that being an athlete was.

937
00:42:57,880 --> 00:42:59,560
Speaker 1: I had to show people that I was that as well.

938
00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:04,840
Speaker 1: So I know that in any industry that I step into,

939
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,160
Speaker 1: I know that I'm going to deserve to be there,

940
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:09,680
Speaker 1: maybe not at the very beginning, but I'm going to

941
00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 1: work so hard to make sure that I do. And

942
00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,279
Speaker 1: I think that's the big thing about imposter syndrome is

943
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:17,040
Speaker 1: we're all going to feel it at some time. We

944
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:19,080
Speaker 1: all have to be really patient with ourselves and be

945
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 1: really committed to being the best that we can be

946
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,400
Speaker 1: in that particular role. And if you are committed to that,

947
00:43:25,520 --> 00:43:27,600
Speaker 1: you're never really going to feel that imposter syndrome.

948
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:31,239
Speaker 2: Oh, that's such good advice. You are so incredibly well adjusted,

949
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 2: and I have such good advice for everyone listening. What an

950
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:38,960
Speaker 2: amazing episode. What about the transition then to motherhood and

951
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:42,960
Speaker 2: the juggle? I personally have found that, especially when you

952
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,160
Speaker 2: do come from a career like being an elite athlete

953
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:48,759
Speaker 2: in an individual sport where all of your time and

954
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:52,600
Speaker 2: energy can be dedicated to your pursuit and what you

955
00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:55,279
Speaker 2: want to do, it's a really big adjustment to become

956
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:57,960
Speaker 2: a mum and try and have a career and be

957
00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:01,360
Speaker 2: split in lots of different directions. Just listen to a

958
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:02,480
Speaker 2: snippet from.

959
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:04,799
Speaker 3: Call Her Daddy. That podcast they.

960
00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:06,920
Speaker 2: Had Ellen Pompeio from Grey's Anatomy on, and it was

961
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:10,200
Speaker 2: just her sort of calling it and saying, if you're

962
00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:12,480
Speaker 2: a working mum, you'll never really be one hundred percent

963
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:16,040
Speaker 2: there while your child you know, exists, but you know

964
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,120
Speaker 2: you'll be split. Your identity will be split in so

965
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:21,879
Speaker 2: many different directions. But that that's okay. It's of course

966
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:25,440
Speaker 2: parenthood involves sacrifice, but that's part of it, and the

967
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:29,719
Speaker 2: person you lose gets replaced by someone you gain. You

968
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:33,320
Speaker 2: gain so much richness in your life, so much deeper emotion,

969
00:44:33,560 --> 00:44:37,000
Speaker 2: and so much love. How do you manage the juggle.

970
00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 2: Does it feel like a split to you?

971
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 1: It certainly it's trying times, you know, trying to get

972
00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:46,040
Speaker 1: work done and trying to fly all over the country

973
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:49,719
Speaker 1: while having a baby at home. Firstly, Sylvia has been

974
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,960
Speaker 1: super sip supportive of my career, which certainly does help.

975
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:54,440
Speaker 1: But I know that there are a lot of single

976
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,000
Speaker 1: moms out there who have to rely on their communities

977
00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,120
Speaker 1: or the ability to be able to put their child

978
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:02,960
Speaker 1: into childcare. I was super ambitious obviously as an athlete,

979
00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:04,760
Speaker 1: and I thought that I was going to be super

980
00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 1: ambitious in my career as.

981
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:06,919
Speaker 4: Well, and I am.

982
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:09,160
Speaker 1: But I know that there is only so much that

983
00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:12,840
Speaker 1: your cup can hold, and I just go towards whatever

984
00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:13,319
Speaker 1: makes me.

985
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,520
Speaker 4: Happy, and being at home, being with Felix.

986
00:45:16,400 --> 00:45:18,399
Speaker 1: And seeing the way that he grows, like he took

987
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:20,320
Speaker 1: his first steps a few days ago, which I still

988
00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:23,319
Speaker 1: I've watched that video like I swear to God one

989
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 1: thousand times.

990
00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:26,759
Speaker 3: You need to send it to me.

991
00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:29,880
Speaker 4: I will, I will, But you know, those.

992
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:31,759
Speaker 1: Are the moments that make me really really happy, and

993
00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:34,000
Speaker 1: I don't want to miss them. Being in the jungle

994
00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:36,200
Speaker 1: and missing his first smile killed me, and I don't

995
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:38,360
Speaker 1: want to have to miss all of these amazing milestones

996
00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:42,000
Speaker 1: with him while he's still so young. And so I think, yeah,

997
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:45,319
Speaker 1: work is incredibly important, but my priorities have changed, and

998
00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:48,960
Speaker 1: I think being a working mum and being comfortable with

999
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,840
Speaker 1: the fact that your priorities are changing or do have

1000
00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:53,839
Speaker 1: to change. Sometimes they have to change a bit more

1001
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: towards work as well, but being comfortable with that knowing

1002
00:45:57,000 --> 00:45:59,799
Speaker 1: that you're providing the best home or best environment that

1003
00:45:59,840 --> 00:46:02,120
Speaker 1: you can be your child at that time. Sometimes you

1004
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:04,239
Speaker 1: will have to work to be able to do that.

1005
00:46:04,239 --> 00:46:07,040
Speaker 1: That being comfortable with that is really really important. And

1006
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: I think a lot of mums aren't comfortable in that

1007
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,839
Speaker 1: environment because there is a lot of judgment out there

1008
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:15,919
Speaker 1: about the ways that people are parenting. But guess what

1009
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,680
Speaker 1: we're in twenty twenty five now. The world is looking

1010
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,239
Speaker 1: more and more different every single year. You can be

1011
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:25,319
Speaker 1: a working mum. You can be so ambitious and so

1012
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 1: successful in your role and still be a mum at home.

1013
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 1: And yes, you are going to have people that are

1014
00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:30,920
Speaker 1: going to comment on that, but you need to put

1015
00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:33,560
Speaker 1: the blinkers up and focus on your job, and focus

1016
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:35,759
Speaker 1: on your family, and focus on the things that make

1017
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:38,560
Speaker 1: you happy and fill your cup because the negative comments

1018
00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 1: aren't going to so they can go on the bin.

1019
00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 3: In my opinion, that's the perfect way to end. Ellie.

1020
00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:49,319
Speaker 2: You are one of the most extraordinary human beings. You

1021
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:52,680
Speaker 2: have been so eloquent, articulate, so much wisdom in so

1022
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:55,719
Speaker 2: many areas, And if I thought I loved you before this,

1023
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:59,319
Speaker 2: I love you even more. I apologize for having been

1024
00:46:59,719 --> 00:47:01,720
Speaker 2: so oh so like my brain.

1025
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:02,360
Speaker 3: I don't even know.

1026
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:05,600
Speaker 2: You've been so articulate the entire time, and I've just

1027
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 2: been like so you No listening to is one of

1028
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:11,320
Speaker 2: the worst interviews I've done, But you're.

1029
00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:13,520
Speaker 4: Incredibly high expectations.

1030
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:14,560
Speaker 3: Oh so bad?

1031
00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:15,520
Speaker 4: Are you serious?

1032
00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:17,560
Speaker 1: Well, it makes you feel any better, It's one of

1033
00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:18,719
Speaker 1: the best ones I've done.

1034
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,200
Speaker 3: Like you are one of my favorite guests of all time.

1035
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:24,200
Speaker 2: Every single thing you have said has been just like

1036
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:26,160
Speaker 2: you usually get a couple of nuggets of wisdom, but

1037
00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:29,360
Speaker 2: you have just been like banger after banger of things

1038
00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 2: that just apply to everyone's life, Like, no matter what

1039
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:35,480
Speaker 2: journey you're on, you have said so much that I

1040
00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:38,920
Speaker 2: think is so valuable. And yeah, like I said, if

1041
00:47:38,960 --> 00:47:41,000
Speaker 2: my love affair with Ellie Cole was deep before, it's

1042
00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:43,960
Speaker 2: now like a thousandfold. I cannot wait for the book.

1043
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:47,040
Speaker 2: I'm so excited. April first, which is at the time

1044
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:49,920
Speaker 2: of recording. It'll be next week. So we'll put the

1045
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,799
Speaker 2: links in the show notes and all the information there

1046
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:54,480
Speaker 2: for everyone of where they can follow you, where they

1047
00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:55,120
Speaker 2: can watch you.

1048
00:47:55,640 --> 00:47:57,480
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, thank you, And I am going

1049
00:47:57,560 --> 00:47:59,200
Speaker 1: to go back to what you said before about you

1050
00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:01,399
Speaker 1: thinking that you're not eloquent, but you said that there's

1051
00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:03,239
Speaker 1: a lot of nuggets that I have and we never

1052
00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:05,400
Speaker 1: would have gotten there if you didn't ask the right questions.

1053
00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:06,480
Speaker 4: So you did a great job.

1054
00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:10,760
Speaker 2: Oh that is so kind of you that it's true.

1055
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:13,640
Speaker 2: My only excuse is that, as we mentioned before, we

1056
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:17,440
Speaker 2: sarted recording Teddy's twelve month sleep progression. I was in

1057
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:20,880
Speaker 2: his court six times last night. I've been like sleep

1058
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:24,319
Speaker 2: deprived from maybe into the cot, like I don't fit

1059
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:26,680
Speaker 2: in it, but I have to. And I think it's

1060
00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:30,439
Speaker 2: been maybe eighteen days or something of like not having

1061
00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:33,279
Speaker 2: more than two hours sleep, So my brain I thought

1062
00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:35,720
Speaker 2: it could hold itself together. But I got to minute

1063
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:38,239
Speaker 2: I reckon minute twelve of this interview, and I was like, oh, dear,

1064
00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:40,200
Speaker 2: I am not doing her justice.

1065
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:43,560
Speaker 3: I was so good at bringing it around yourself.

1066
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:46,359
Speaker 1: You know what. The great thing you just spoke about

1067
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:48,799
Speaker 1: not fitting the cot, about being a leg amputee, is

1068
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:51,359
Speaker 1: he like squeeze into really tiny places.

1069
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:52,160
Speaker 4: If you just take your leg off.

1070
00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:57,400
Speaker 3: Oh my god, always finny a silver lining.

1071
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:00,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so good, like you able bodied, You must

1072
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:01,520
Speaker 1: feel like octopus.

1073
00:49:01,560 --> 00:49:03,960
Speaker 4: You just have it so hard. Oh yeah, so many

1074
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:06,680
Speaker 4: limbs to get tangled, so many limbs.

1075
00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:11,719
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, always one to find a civilizing You

1076
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:15,520
Speaker 2: have been absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for joining us, Ellie,

1077
00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:17,000
Speaker 2: and I can't wait to chat again, sir.

1078
00:49:17,360 --> 00:49:17,759
Speaker 4: Thank you.

1079
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:22,600
Speaker 2: Firstly, how incredible is Ellie Cole? I mean, what a woman.

1080
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,080
Speaker 2: I was just absolutely in awe of her before this

1081
00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:29,120
Speaker 2: episode and even more so afterwards. And secondly, I'm so

1082
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 2: grateful that on a day when the twelve month regression

1083
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,759
Speaker 2: was absolutely consuming my ability to articulate anything, that it

1084
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:38,440
Speaker 2: was a fellow mum who I came to the table with,

1085
00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:42,760
Speaker 2: and you was so not only so understanding and empathizing,

1086
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:47,239
Speaker 2: but also so good at having amazing answers regardless of

1087
00:49:47,280 --> 00:49:49,839
Speaker 2: how babbly my questions were. But it's also funny how

1088
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,640
Speaker 2: critical we get of ourselves I actually couldn't listen back

1089
00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:54,960
Speaker 2: to this because I felt like I had done such

1090
00:49:54,960 --> 00:49:55,840
Speaker 2: a messy job.

1091
00:49:56,239 --> 00:49:57,680
Speaker 3: So hopefully you guys.

1092
00:49:57,400 --> 00:49:59,680
Speaker 2: Did manage to pull out something amazing, because I felt

1093
00:49:59,719 --> 00:50:02,399
Speaker 2: like I had just pulled out so much wisdom from

1094
00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:05,480
Speaker 2: everything she said regardless, and I hope that it was

1095
00:50:05,520 --> 00:50:08,600
Speaker 2: the same for you guys as always if you did enjoy.

1096
00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:11,240
Speaker 2: We are so grateful to have had some of Ellie's

1097
00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:13,840
Speaker 2: time in amongst all the things that she's doing, particularly

1098
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:15,920
Speaker 2: the week that she launches her book, but also of

1099
00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:18,359
Speaker 2: course being a mum, so to thank her for her

1100
00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:22,480
Speaker 2: time and wisdom, Please do share the episode, tagging at Ellie,

1101
00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:25,480
Speaker 2: Coleswim and us. It really does make a difference and

1102
00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:27,440
Speaker 2: mean a lot. To thank our guests for their time

1103
00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:29,680
Speaker 2: and also just spread at the yighborhood as far and

1104
00:50:29,719 --> 00:50:32,640
Speaker 2: wide as possible. And if you do get a copy

1105
00:50:32,680 --> 00:50:36,000
Speaker 2: of Felix and He's fantastic friends, of course share that

1106
00:50:36,080 --> 00:50:37,879
Speaker 2: as well. I'm sure it means the world to Ellie

1107
00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:40,440
Speaker 2: to see where the book is landing and how you

1108
00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:42,759
Speaker 2: are sharing it with your beautiful little ones. I will

1109
00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:44,960
Speaker 2: pop the link to the show notes. Pop the link

1110
00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:48,400
Speaker 2: in the show notes if I've no more eloquent today.

1111
00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:50,920
Speaker 2: I'll pop the link in the show notes for you all.

1112
00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:52,880
Speaker 2: If you haven't got a copy, I highly recommend it.

1113
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:55,480
Speaker 2: It's absolutely beautiful, and in the meantime, I hope you're

1114
00:50:55,480 --> 00:51:04,120
Speaker 2: having a wonderful week and seizing your yea.

1115
00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:08,960
Speaker 1: A regent at ver moment, removed forever in