Speaker 1: I think the thing that really kept me going being
Speaker 1: a paralympian was people telling me that I couldn't do it,
Speaker 1: and that's that was the big motivation. I just get
Speaker 1: really excited throughout my life by really challenging situations or
Speaker 1: really challenging moments, and being bad at something is the
Speaker 1: most challenging thing we can face at times, So I
Speaker 1: love being bad at things.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the sees the Yay Podcast. Busy and happy
Speaker 2: are not the same thing. We too rarely question what
Speaker 2: makes the heart seeing. We work, then we rest, but
Speaker 2: rarely we play and often don't realize there's more than
Speaker 2: one way. So this is a platform to hear and
Speaker 2: explore the stories of those who found lives They adore
Speaker 2: the good.
Speaker 3: Bad and ugly.
Speaker 2: The best and worst day will bear all the facets
Speaker 2: of seizing your yay. I'm Sarah Davidson or Spoonful of Sarah,
Speaker 2: a lawyer turned fu entrepreneur whos wapped the suits and
Speaker 2: heels to co found Matcham Maiden and Matcham Milk. Bark
Speaker 2: Czya is a series of conversations on finding a life
Speaker 2: you love and exploring the self doubt, challenge, joy and
Speaker 2: fulfillment along the way lovely neighborhood. I am so excited
Speaker 2: about our guests this week. I know I say it
Speaker 2: about every single guest, but it truly is a privilege
Speaker 2: to get to sit down with such incredible people. I'm
Speaker 2: just especially excited about this person because We've been trying
Speaker 2: to line it up for such a long time, and
Speaker 2: I've been fangirling over her for even longer than that.
Speaker 2: But as always, the Universe, in its infinite wisdom, worked
Speaker 2: out the perfect timing for us in the end, so
Speaker 2: that this chat would come out the very same week
Speaker 2: as her first incredible book. Most of you will already
Speaker 2: know Ellie Cole as one of many things, our most
Speaker 2: decorated Australian female Paralympian of all time, a sought after
Speaker 2: public speaker, a talented TV presenter, and for around the
Speaker 2: same time as me, actually a boy mum, which I've
Speaker 2: loved bonding over with her over the past year or so.
Speaker 2: But as of this week, she can now add published
Speaker 2: author to the lineup, releasing her beauty full book Felix
Speaker 2: and His Fantastic Friends into the world, with the main
Speaker 2: character based on her son Felix. The book was born
Speaker 2: out of Ellie's passion to change the way we think
Speaker 2: about difference and to do so from a young age.
Speaker 2: So it follows able bodied Felix through the playground, teaching
Speaker 2: him how to make playtime magical with all kinds of
Speaker 2: different friends who have all kinds of differences. It's such
Speaker 2: a heartwarming, powerful extension of Ellie's already passionate advocacy. And
Speaker 2: of course you'll hear more about how it came about
Speaker 2: and why she's excited in the episode. But I got
Speaker 2: mine or Teddy's copy this morning, just before I recorded
Speaker 2: this intro, and it was so special to pour over
Speaker 2: the beautiful, colorful pages. It's illustrated by Carolyn Keyes, and
Speaker 2: the pages are just filled with color and joy. But
Speaker 2: to pour over those pages having just had this chat
Speaker 2: was really special. And of course Teddy isn't reading just yet,
Speaker 2: but to have this tool to introduce him to kinds
Speaker 2: of differences with the right language and with the right
Speaker 2: magic is I'm just so grateful to Ellie and so
Speaker 2: excited for this book to come into the world. I
Speaker 2: also love that instead of recording this during her decorated
Speaker 2: swimming career, which was when we first started talking about
Speaker 2: the podcast, we ended up chatting after her retirement turned reinvention,
Speaker 2: which touches on all the themes we love on this
Speaker 2: show about identity, definitions of success, and finding new happiness.
Speaker 2: I had about two hours sleep though the night before,
Speaker 2: and you'll hear me apologize to her multiple times but
Speaker 2: not doing what I felt didn't do her justice. But
Speaker 2: luckily she's as eloquent as she is talented, so my
Speaker 2: terrible questions were no obstacle to her sharing so many
Speaker 2: pearls of wisdom. It was such a great episode, and
Speaker 2: I hope you guys enjoy as much as I did.
Speaker 2: Ellie Cole Welcome to Ceza.
Speaker 4: Oh yay. I actually did that ironically quite naturally.
Speaker 3: It's so on brand.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited for this. This has been years in waiting.
Speaker 2: It has, but I also feel like our relationship has
Speaker 2: kind of been like years in development, Like we followed
Speaker 2: each other for ages on social media before we met
Speaker 2: one day at that event, and it was just so
Speaker 2: nice because I gave you a big hug and I
Speaker 2: felt like we'd known each other for ages, and I've
Speaker 2: still kept following from afar.
Speaker 1: I know, you know what I love about going to
Speaker 1: social events now in twenty twenty five is you're surrounded
Speaker 1: by usually a lot of people that you don't know,
Speaker 1: but thanks to social media a lot of the time,
Speaker 1: you do follow quite a lot of people who might
Speaker 1: be in the same room as you, so you've got
Speaker 1: a lot of conversation starters.
Speaker 2: I know, and I'm that person who's like, I just
Speaker 2: met someone I've never met them before. But how is
Speaker 2: your dog's bet appointment two days ago that I.
Speaker 3: Know all about?
Speaker 2: Because I'll just out myself for being a stalker, which
Speaker 2: is kind of creepy, but I actually really like it
Speaker 2: because I think you know, with us, for example, we
Speaker 2: both became mums at the same time, and even though
Speaker 2: we don't live close together, we've been able to share
Speaker 2: that chapter kind of following each other's journeys online.
Speaker 1: I know, I think I've related hard to all of
Speaker 1: your social media content.
Speaker 4: You're not getting any sleep.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I feel like I was at Teddy's
Speaker 1: first birthday party, even though I wasn't.
Speaker 4: But I'm definitely riding the journey with you. Oh my god.
Speaker 3: You guys were there in spirit and it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, has been really nice to have this motherhood journey
Speaker 2: in common with you. But one thing we don't have
Speaker 2: in common is that I would call myself the opposite
Speaker 2: of an elite athlete these days, and yet you are
Speaker 2: the most decorated Australian female paralympian of all time and
Speaker 2: it has been a joy to follow your career. Congratulations
Speaker 2: on everything that you've achieved. We're so lucky to have you.
Speaker 4: Thank you. It's strange.
Speaker 1: I retired about two years ago and I reflect on
Speaker 1: my career now and you know, I hear things like
Speaker 1: what you've just said, and I feel like a completely
Speaker 1: different person, Like my whole swimming career never even really happened.
Speaker 1: But it's nice because you know, I've got my metals framed.
Speaker 1: They're hanging up in my gym. They look pretty impressive
Speaker 1: obviously on my wall, and it is a nice reminder
Speaker 1: of what I once was. I don't know, just even
Speaker 1: just after tears for like a completely different person and
Speaker 1: gives you a bit of perspective I think on just
Speaker 1: how people can really reinvent themselves and change so much
Speaker 1: based on you know, where they tie their identity to now.
Speaker 1: Obviously uptime, my identity very closely to being Felix's mum
Speaker 1: and working in the media now, and I suppose Yet,
Speaker 1: like I said, when I look back at my career,
Speaker 1: I'm just like, that doesn't feel like that was me
Speaker 1: doing all of those things. Like I watch videos of
Speaker 1: my racism, like that's not me, but it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so fascinating.
Speaker 2: I kind of had the same even a couple of
Speaker 2: weeks after Teddy, that I didn't remember the person I
Speaker 2: was before or the life that I had before, even
Speaker 2: though that'd be my whole life up into that time.
Speaker 2: And for you, it's not just motherhood but also retiring
Speaker 2: from a career that had been your whole life up
Speaker 2: into that point.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now I just kind of watch sport as a
Speaker 1: fan the same as everybody else does. But I, yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely have an understanding of the hard work and effort
Speaker 1: and sleep deprivation and exhaustion and pressure that you put
Speaker 1: on yourself when you go through that experience. But definitely
Speaker 1: still in my honeymoon phase like two years after. Although
Speaker 1: I still wake up quite early with Felix, I'm not
Speaker 1: waking up at four o'clock in the morning anymore.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 1: I think being an athlete for like almost twenty years
Speaker 1: prepared me so well for being a mum, because like
Speaker 1: being a mumm is exhausting, it's very similar to actually
Speaker 1: being an athlete. And I feel like, you know, if
Speaker 1: you've gone through all of the experiences of training for
Speaker 1: a Paralympics or training for an Olympics, and you know,
Speaker 1: being so exhausted but having to pull yourself out of
Speaker 1: bed and getting the job done anyway, that's exactly what
Speaker 1: being a mum is.
Speaker 2: It's a perfect training ground. Well, I'm actually really glad
Speaker 2: that it ended up taking us so long to record
Speaker 2: this because when we first started talking, you were still
Speaker 2: an elite athlete in the heights of your career, and
Speaker 2: that would have been amazing to catch you in the
Speaker 2: moment for many reasons. But I actually think it's more
Speaker 2: powerful to talk to you now when you're a couple
Speaker 2: of years into a whole new chapter, because what comes
Speaker 2: up the most on CZA is the idea that our
Speaker 2: life and our ya unravels in multiple chapters. You can
Speaker 2: spend your whole life in one mindset, but often life
Speaker 2: will lead you into something else completely where you have
Speaker 2: to let go of an old identity and form a
Speaker 2: new one, and let go of old ways of looking
Speaker 2: at success and joy and fulfillment and metrics for measuring
Speaker 2: your life to find new ones. But that transition can
Speaker 2: be so difficult. So I'm so grateful that we've caught
Speaker 2: you at this particular time in your life. But the
Speaker 2: other thing we look at is the flip side who
Speaker 2: you were before that, who you were leading up to
Speaker 2: that moment, because we can walk into your life at
Speaker 2: this chapter, and all the dots make sense looking backwards,
Speaker 2: of course they do, but I'm sure there were many
Speaker 2: times going forwards that you had no idea where you
Speaker 2: would end up. So I like to go all the
Speaker 2: way back to childhood earlywhere it all began. But particularly
Speaker 2: for you being diagnosed with a neurosarcoma at two years
Speaker 2: old and having a part of your leg amputated at
Speaker 2: such a young age, I would love to start there.
Speaker 2: Your childhood in the Lilyddale and Howard all unraveled.
Speaker 4: Yeah, lily Dale.
Speaker 1: So most people probably don't know where lily Dale is,
Speaker 1: but it's in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I grew
Speaker 1: up in this place called Mount Evelyn, rightnear lily Dale,
Speaker 1: and it was in a log cabin that my dad
Speaker 1: had built, and I even slept on these like beds
Speaker 1: that my dad had made out of logs, Like it
Speaker 1: was very rustic, like that experience would go for a
Speaker 1: lot on Red Balloon or Airbnb right now. And I
Speaker 1: even had like stained glass windows and just lived in
Speaker 1: this beautiful hills of Melbourne.
Speaker 4: But it was kind of pretty idyllic.
Speaker 1: However, I suppose the experience of being diagnosed with cancer
Speaker 1: when I was too maybe wasn't as idyllic as the
Speaker 1: kind of environment that I was growing up in. So
Speaker 1: my childhood did start off pretty rough with a cancer diagnosis.
Speaker 1: I underwent a whole year of chemotherapy. But at the
Speaker 1: age of two when this all happened, I wasn't really
Speaker 1: sure what was happening at the time. Like I knew
Speaker 1: that I was sick and there was something wrong, but
Speaker 1: I didn't really understand the gravity of a cancer diagnosis
Speaker 1: at the age of two. And I feel for my parents,
Speaker 1: especially now that I am one looking back, you know
Speaker 1: how they supported not only me going through that, but
Speaker 1: my other siblings. When I had three other siblings back
Speaker 1: at home. That whole journey of my family's life being
Speaker 1: turned upside down must have been awful for them to
Speaker 1: go through and then yeah, I woke up one day
Speaker 1: and my parents were told that I would need to
Speaker 1: have my leg amputated. This is when I was just
Speaker 1: turned three years old and went into the operating theater
Speaker 1: and came out and all of a sudden had a
Speaker 1: disability and was devastating for my parents because they didn't
Speaker 1: know anybody that had a disability.
Speaker 4: This was in nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1: You didn't see anyone with a disability on television or
Speaker 1: really in the communities, being successful in the workplace or
Speaker 1: anything like that.
Speaker 4: And I think that was the thing that.
Speaker 1: Really scared my parents is that I was this young
Speaker 1: three year old girl who was going to go through
Speaker 1: my whole life and against all of the odds all
Speaker 1: of the time, and not really have any opportunities. But
Speaker 1: I was really fortunate that I have a twin sister.
Speaker 1: Her name's Britney.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 4: I do have a twin. Say.
Speaker 1: She was amazing for my recovery. You know, she taught
Speaker 1: me how to walk again. There's like these really cute
Speaker 1: FAMS videos where I'm wearing my prosthetic and I have
Speaker 1: to learn how to walk again. There's a video of
Speaker 1: her like when I'm falling over, she picks me up,
Speaker 1: gives me a cuddle, and encourages me to keep going.
Speaker 1: Oh Early, I think back to those like those videos
Speaker 1: and the support that I had around me, and I know,
Speaker 1: for me, I just had my family there, and it
Speaker 1: was my family who were picking me up literally every
Speaker 1: single time that I fell over, teaching me that I
Speaker 1: could do or be anything that I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: And so I was really fortunate to have a really
Speaker 1: good family support network there. And then my sister and
Speaker 1: I we just went exploring, you know, we went out
Speaker 1: into the big wide world. I was a little bit
Speaker 1: different obviously than I had been before, but we rode
Speaker 1: our bikes, we jumped off you know cliff faces. We
Speaker 1: went out into the world and didn't come back until
Speaker 1: dinner time. And as far as I was concerned, I
Speaker 1: was exactly the same as every other kid. I didn't
Speaker 1: really understand the social stigma around disability because I was
Speaker 1: in my bubble of my family and it wasn't really
Speaker 1: until I went to school. The kids were great at
Speaker 1: my school. Like when you introduced disability to a child
Speaker 1: and you explain it to them, they get over it
Speaker 1: and move on.
Speaker 4: Very quickly.
Speaker 1: It was actually more the teachers that were probably a
Speaker 1: bit cautious about letting me do things that other kids
Speaker 1: were doing that they perceived could have maybe hurt me,
Speaker 1: or you know, I think they were scared about putting
Speaker 1: me in an environment where I was most likely going
Speaker 1: to fail because of my disability. And it's almost like
Speaker 1: the teachers had this preconceived idea of what I could
Speaker 1: or couldn't do, and that was probably the thing that
Speaker 1: damaged my confidence the most. But then I always had
Speaker 1: my family to come back to. So yeah, it was
Speaker 1: certainly a really interesting time to grow up with a disability.
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety four, we were kind of on the
Speaker 1: brink of people even knowing that people with disabilities existed.
Speaker 1: But I was really fortunate, actually to lose my leg
Speaker 1: at a young age and to not know any differently,
Speaker 1: and to grow up probably learning the lesson about adaptability
Speaker 1: and really being agile and being really creative with problem solving.
Speaker 1: I think learning that from a really young age set
Speaker 1: me up really well for the rest.
Speaker 4: Of my life.
Speaker 1: So I've always seen my disability as a real blessing,
Speaker 1: and I know that that can be really confusing for
Speaker 1: people who have just nearly acquired a disability. But from
Speaker 1: every paralympian that I've ever met, or anybody that I've
Speaker 1: known that has had a disability for a really long time,
Speaker 1: they are the most resilient, creative, impressive people that I know.
Speaker 1: And that's because we have had to overcome a lot
Speaker 1: of hardship, and we have had to be so self
Speaker 1: confident in what we can achieve, and we put ourselves
Speaker 1: in positions that not many people go through in their
Speaker 1: whole life, and so I've really been blessed with it
Speaker 1: in the end, my hips not so much, in my
Speaker 1: back not so much. But I look back at the
Speaker 1: success that I had in my swimming career and wonder
Speaker 1: if I would have achieved that being an able bodied athlete,
Speaker 1: and probably not. I probably would have given up when
Speaker 1: I was like ten years old, because I think the
Speaker 1: thing that really kept me going being a paralympian was
Speaker 1: people telling me that I couldn't do it, and that
Speaker 1: was the big motivation.
Speaker 2: Well, you have well and truly proven anyone wrong who's
Speaker 2: ever doubted you even for a moment, with your incredible achievements.
Speaker 2: I was reading your Wikipedia trying to put together the
Speaker 2: buyer for this episode, and I mean it'd fill an
Speaker 2: entire episode. You've not just been a retired Paralympic, you've
Speaker 2: been a wheelchair basketball player as well, So talk about
Speaker 2: multi talented, but I mean in the Paralympics alone, seventeen medals,
Speaker 2: six gold, five silver, six bronze from four different Paralympic games.
Speaker 2: Such an incredible career and an amazing example as well
Speaker 2: that so much of our confidence and our belief, even
Speaker 2: what we will attempt to try in our lives, can
Speaker 2: be shaped by what other people perceive to be possible.
Speaker 2: So interesting what you said about your teachers, that them
Speaker 2: trying to stop you trying things because they thought you
Speaker 2: couldn't did really affect your confidence. But then on the
Speaker 2: flip side, have such amazing family support and your twin
Speaker 2: just believing you could do anything and letting you try.
Speaker 2: How powerful that can be. And I think outside of
Speaker 2: disability extrapolating for anyone in anything they attempt to do
Speaker 2: that other people's beliefs can be so limiting, but they
Speaker 2: can also be full of possibility. And I think I
Speaker 2: was reading that, you know, after your amputation, they said
Speaker 2: it would take a year to regain certain types of movement,
Speaker 2: but that you were back in the swimming pool eight
Speaker 2: weeks later.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it wasn't anything to do with my parents being like, right,
Speaker 1: let's make her a Paralympian straightaway. No, the swimming lessons
Speaker 1: all started because of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation happens a lot through
Speaker 1: swimming because it's an environment, aquatic environments, you know, they
Speaker 1: take the pressure off all of the joints and you
Speaker 1: learn how to use your body again without having to
Speaker 1: fight with gravity so much so, a lot of our
Speaker 1: Paralympic swimming superstars actually all started in rehabilitation pools, which
Speaker 1: is pretty incredible. It's probably very insensitive for me to
Speaker 1: go down to a rehabilitation pull and find our next
Speaker 1: paralymic superstar, but yeah, it's fascinating that, you know, I
Speaker 1: was thrown into the pool for rehabilitation, and never would
Speaker 1: I have imagined in those moments that it was going
Speaker 1: to open up all of the opportunities for me that
Speaker 1: my parents were scared that I was never going to have.
Speaker 4: It was amazing. I did go around in circles for
Speaker 4: a while.
Speaker 1: I related very heavily to finding Nemo when it came out,
Speaker 1: But that's so cute, but yeah, it took me I
Speaker 1: think six or seven weeks of swimming a straight line.
Speaker 3: Wow, that's fast.
Speaker 1: It is fast, And I think the big reason being
Speaker 1: is because I was chasing my twin sister. You know,
Speaker 1: she was thrown in there with me actually for a
Speaker 1: bit of support. Then I went through the normal learned
Speaker 1: to swim program that all able bodied kids go through,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I was kind of just integrated into able
Speaker 1: bodied land, which now I guess in a way, I'm
Speaker 1: fortunate that I have a type of disability where I
Speaker 1: can do a lot of things that able body people
Speaker 1: can do.
Speaker 4: I don't have.
Speaker 1: I'm not higher needs. So I did just kind of
Speaker 1: fall into that mainstream able bodied swimming and was very competitive.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to be as fast as all of
Speaker 1: the kids that had two arms and two legs. And
Speaker 1: I think even things like when I was just doing
Speaker 1: kick so only using legs, it's like a drill that
Speaker 1: we do in swimming, I wanted to be the fastest
Speaker 1: and I knew that I had like fifty percent less
Speaker 1: power than they did, but I managed to be like
Speaker 1: the fastest kicker in my program.
Speaker 4: With one leg.
Speaker 1: No way, little things like that really set me up
Speaker 1: to be really successful in the Paralympics. I never imagined
Speaker 1: the Paralympics when I first started swimming, because I didn't
Speaker 1: know about the Paralympics.
Speaker 4: All I wanted to.
Speaker 1: Do was just be the fastest kid in the pool,
Speaker 1: and it just opened up all of these doors.
Speaker 2: It is so crazy that you barely knew about the
Speaker 2: Paralympics and then went on to become our most successful
Speaker 2: female Paralympian in history. And it gives me goosebumps to
Speaker 2: think just the importance of visibility and how little Ellie
Speaker 2: couldn't aim to be a Paralympian if she'd never seen
Speaker 2: anyone do that or didn't know they existed. And there
Speaker 2: might have been other young people who grew up at
Speaker 2: the same time who didn't aim for greatness like you
Speaker 2: have because they didn't think they could. I love that
Speaker 2: your family, and especially having a twin sister, who just
Speaker 2: didn't sort of allow it to be a limit, just
Speaker 2: let you go and try and see what you could achieve.
Speaker 2: I love that that meant you weren't hampered in the
Speaker 2: way that other people might have assumed you were. And
Speaker 2: I also love thinking that there are young people who
Speaker 2: have followed your career in this day and age and
Speaker 2: started forming their dreams and sense of possibility for themselves,
Speaker 2: which I know has become a passion in this next
Speaker 2: chapter of your life as well, which will come to
Speaker 2: But just that importance of visibility and trying and seeing
Speaker 2: what you can do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think I love that definitely does come
Speaker 1: down to mindset. And it's something that you know everybody
Speaker 1: struggles with, is not being good at something. No one
Speaker 1: likes to pursue any kind of hobby or any kind
Speaker 1: of skill if they're not that good at it, because
Speaker 1: we've been reinforced for our whole life that if we're
Speaker 1: not good at something, we maybe shouldn't fee so good
Speaker 1: about ourselves.
Speaker 4: But for me, I think.
Speaker 1: Being an athlete and then also having a disability as well,
Speaker 1: I really craved the opportunities for the self improvement. You know,
Speaker 1: when you're an athlete, you change something within your technical abilities,
Speaker 1: or you change something within your physiological makeup if you
Speaker 1: can to try and get that zero point zero one
Speaker 1: percent faster, and that could be the difference between winning
Speaker 1: a gold medal or not. I think most people look
Speaker 1: at elite athletes and look at particularly ones that have
Speaker 1: been really successful in their careers and think, wow, like
Speaker 1: all of this success has been amazing. But if I
Speaker 1: reflect on my career, out of the thousands and thousands
Speaker 1: and thousands of races that I swam thousands, I would
Speaker 1: say that only two of them I would have considered
Speaker 1: to be perfect, if not close to perfect.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: We want to try and be the very very best
Speaker 1: versions of ourselves and in terms of athlete, and then
Speaker 1: when we see data that says this is an area
Speaker 1: that you can improve on, we like through everything that
Speaker 1: we can at that. And it was it's amazing to
Speaker 1: see the way that my idea of success shifted over
Speaker 1: my time being an athlete, and that was an area
Speaker 1: that was one of them.
Speaker 4: It wasn't necessarily about the outcome.
Speaker 1: It was more about the process and the approach of
Speaker 1: being an athlete that I really fell in love with
Speaker 1: towards the end. But it's kind of translated into everyday
Speaker 1: life for me as well, where I actually really enjoy
Speaker 1: being bad at something because the idea of improvement is
Speaker 1: like so exciting to me. And I knew, you know,
Speaker 1: when I started in media there were some small things
Speaker 1: that I could improve on and my partner, Sylvia, watches
Speaker 1: all of my interviews and gives me like the smallest
Speaker 1: zero point five percent of feedback, like even the way
Speaker 1: that I'm leaning into someone or leaning away from someone,
Speaker 1: like the smallest things. And I crave that and I
Speaker 1: love it because it's exciting to be to put that
Speaker 1: in action for next time. So that mindset is so important,
Speaker 1: that to lean into things that you might not necessarily
Speaker 1: be so good at, and then to start teaching yourself
Speaker 1: to really embrace that challenge and embrace the excitement of
Speaker 1: getting better at something. I think being good at something
Speaker 1: that's boring.
Speaker 2: I mean, says the person who was literally the best
Speaker 2: in history at what she does.
Speaker 1: It was a big part of the reason why I
Speaker 1: did retire, because I had pulled everything out of assuming
Speaker 1: that I had wanted to, and I wanted to be
Speaker 1: challenged in a whole new way. Like the whole reason
Speaker 1: why I went into the jungle from a celebrity to
Speaker 1: get me out of here last year is because I
Speaker 1: really wanted to be challenged.
Speaker 4: I knew that being I'm actually quite an introvert.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't believe me when I say that,
Speaker 1: but being in an environment with twelve people twenty four
Speaker 1: hours a day was going to make me extremely uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: I just get really excited throughout my life by really
Speaker 1: challenging situations or really challenging moments, and being bad at
Speaker 1: something is the most challenging thing we can face at times.
Speaker 1: So I love being bad at things.
Speaker 3: I wouldn't say I love it.
Speaker 2: I'm still pretty a type, but I am trying to
Speaker 2: embrace that mentality more because, similar to being an athlete,
Speaker 2: my first career was as a ballerina, and that's the
Speaker 2: pinnacle of perfectionism and not feeling worthy unless everything is
Speaker 2: absolutely perfect. But I've tried to let go of that
Speaker 2: and learn to enjoy the process more because there is
Speaker 2: so much beauty in being a beginner. I think there
Speaker 2: is a lot of pressure in society on success looking
Speaker 2: a perfect way, or success looking a certain way and
Speaker 2: being perfect and being these metrics of a certain wage
Speaker 2: or a certain job or a title or a house
Speaker 2: or whatever. And the problem with goal setting that way
Speaker 2: is then when you do arrive at that so called
Speaker 2: perfection or success, what else is there? Where else do
Speaker 2: you go from there? That's why there are so many
Speaker 2: chronically unhappy, wealthy people or famous people, because if you
Speaker 2: don't learn to enjoy the journey, what else is there.
Speaker 2: But I'm so glad that mentality led you to the
Speaker 2: Jungle because that is actually where my love affair with
Speaker 2: Ellie Cole started. Do you know this how intimately involved
Speaker 2: I got with that season. For those who don't know,
Speaker 2: I did. Khan't social media while he was in the
Speaker 2: jungle from the hospital bed because Teddy arrived early, so
Speaker 2: I was literally lying on my back recovering from giving birth.
Speaker 3: I couldn't do anything except.
Speaker 2: Watch I have a salop, get me out of here,
Speaker 2: and get intimately acquainted with everyone in the jungle.
Speaker 3: It was an amazing time.
Speaker 1: I was super excited, actually because obviously with Cann I
Speaker 1: became very close with him in the jungle, and we
Speaker 1: did speak about you a few times, and.
Speaker 4: We'd always be like, I wonder if she's had.
Speaker 1: The baby yet, because I was following your life so
Speaker 1: close to your social media and we didn't know, like
Speaker 1: we get told nothing in the jungle. We didn't even know,
Speaker 1: you know, about the Bondai shootings. We didn't know about
Speaker 1: Princess Kate having cancer, like there were just so many
Speaker 1: big news stories that happened that we were not aware of.
Speaker 1: And another big news story was whether you had given
Speaker 1: birth or not according to Karen and I, And when
Speaker 1: we received.
Speaker 4: Those letters from home, it was so exciting, and yeah.
Speaker 1: It's just you know, that's what I mean when I
Speaker 1: was going back before about how you feel like you
Speaker 1: get to know someone through social media or following somebody's story,
Speaker 1: and you did get so invested into people.
Speaker 4: So it was a nice moment Teddy had her eye.
Speaker 3: I was so glad. It was such a big highlight
Speaker 3: for everyone.
Speaker 2: You guys, when I'm in the jungle, it was I
Speaker 2: guess that was the time where I became a big fangirl.
Speaker 2: And that has continued so much to the point today
Speaker 2: where I've been so engrossed in your eloquence and your
Speaker 2: incredible pearls of wisdom that I have not actually made
Speaker 2: it to have the questions I had for this part
Speaker 2: of your life. What it was like to get a
Speaker 2: prosthetic as a child, when you realize that swimming was
Speaker 2: a career that you wanted to have, How you made
Speaker 2: it to the Paralympic because I'm lucky. I guess that
Speaker 2: a lot of that's been documented elsewhere so I'm sorry
Speaker 2: for having overlooked all those questions, but I do want
Speaker 2: to move on at this point to the part that
Speaker 2: I think is so powerful, and as I mentioned, that
Speaker 2: is your reinvention the new chapter. In the past couple
Speaker 2: of years post swimming, of finding a new identity, of
Speaker 2: having little Felix, becoming a mum, embracing a new juggle,
Speaker 2: and of course Felix and his fantastic friends. This beautiful
Speaker 2: first book of yours that comes out next week.
Speaker 3: Tell us all about this latest chapter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, so Felix is very very similar age to Teddy.
Speaker 4: He just turned one in February. He was only five weeks.
Speaker 1: Old when I went into the jungle. So I kind
Speaker 1: of agreed to do this, the whole jungle thing. I
Speaker 1: think it was at the very beginning of the pregnancy,
Speaker 1: and it was one of those moments where I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: say yes to it. I'll deal with it when I
Speaker 1: get there. Yeah, that's a later Ellie problem.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I did the.
Speaker 1: Whole that's a later Elie problem thing. And then Felix
Speaker 1: ended up actually coming a month early. I actually did
Speaker 1: not time that well, like high risk, I could have
Speaker 1: missed the bath.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oh my god.
Speaker 1: I honestly have only just realized this right now. So
Speaker 1: he ended up being only five weeks old when I left.
Speaker 1: Being a mum was amazing for me because throughout this
Speaker 1: whole process of I'm in a same sex relationship. So
Speaker 1: my partner, Sylvia, carried the baby. She's always wanted to
Speaker 1: be a mom ever since we met her. We've been
Speaker 1: together for twelve years, and I knew that I would
Speaker 1: enjoy being a mum, but it's not something that I
Speaker 1: ever pined for in like personally speaking, but I knew
Speaker 1: that I would really embrace being a mum and would
Speaker 1: love being a mum and everything. So when she became
Speaker 1: pregnant with Felix, it was a really exciting moment for me,
Speaker 1: but I almost had the role of being a dad
Speaker 1: where I wasn't going through, you know, the attachment to
Speaker 1: this baby that was growing inside of Sylvia. Like I
Speaker 1: was excited for him to come, but it was a
Speaker 1: very different feeling than what Sylvia was feeling. And then
Speaker 1: the moment that he was born, it was incredible. We
Speaker 1: had an emergency sea section, and the morning that Silver
Speaker 1: went into labor, I told her that she just had
Speaker 1: Braxton Hicks and to go back to bed.
Speaker 3: So I'm supportive.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I really supported.
Speaker 1: Well, well, we were so early and she had never
Speaker 1: even had Braxon Hicks before, so I'm like, God, I
Speaker 1: must be Braxon Hicks because I was like, there's no
Speaker 1: way he's coming now, and we're holding him like three
Speaker 1: hours later. It was crazy, but yeah, to have the
Speaker 1: sea section, I'll never ever forget. The next morning, I
Speaker 1: was like sleeping on this trundle bed in the hospital
Speaker 1: room and I woke up and I peeked up, my
Speaker 1: head up and I saw Sylvia laying in a hospital bed,
Speaker 1: and I looked over at the bascinet where Felix should
Speaker 1: have been, and he wasn't there.
Speaker 4: And then so I stood up and he was.
Speaker 1: Cuddled into Silvia and they were both asleep, and it
Speaker 1: was like that, you know, the mental snapshot you take
Speaker 1: in life, like those little mental that was one of them.
Speaker 1: It was like the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: And then since that day, he's just been everything to me.
Speaker 1: So having to leave him, going to the jungle at
Speaker 1: five weeks old was so hard. And one of the
Speaker 1: hardest moments that I had in the jungle was I
Speaker 1: was trying to remember what his face looks like.
Speaker 4: But when you have a young one month old.
Speaker 1: Their faces changed so quickly that I didn't have an
Speaker 1: exact idea of what he looked like, and I actually
Speaker 1: forgot what my own son looked like. I could remember
Speaker 1: his eyes, I could remember his nose, what his lips
Speaker 1: looked like, but I couldn't remember his face as a whole.
Speaker 1: And that broke my heart, like it broke my heart
Speaker 1: so much. I'm so happy that I had Cahn in
Speaker 1: the jungle. And then Sandra Sally did her messages from
Speaker 1: home and I got to see him. He had learned
Speaker 1: how to smile since I'd been in there, and I.
Speaker 4: Could see his face again.
Speaker 1: He looks so different, and I was like, I have
Speaker 1: to get out of here, like I have to leave.
Speaker 1: But the thing about the jungle is if you say
Speaker 1: to the television cameras, stop voting me in, like I
Speaker 1: don't want to be here anymore, stop voting me in,
Speaker 1: then they don't play it.
Speaker 4: To the DV.
Speaker 1: So Australia kept voting me in because I decided to
Speaker 1: teach this adult who couldn't swim how to swim, and
Speaker 1: apparently Australia loved that, and I kept getting voted in,
Speaker 1: so I was there for a lot longer than I
Speaker 1: thought that I was going to be, but.
Speaker 4: Coming home and seeing him was amazing. But the idea
Speaker 4: of this book.
Speaker 1: That I I've just written actually came about in the
Speaker 1: jungle because I was speaking to Britt Hockley while I
Speaker 1: was in there about how Felix will one day grow up.
Speaker 4: He'll go to school.
Speaker 1: And someone one of his classmates is going to point
Speaker 1: out that his mum is different.
Speaker 4: And I always approached that idea.
Speaker 1: And that conversation that he was going to have with
Speaker 1: one of his classmates, it was going to be a
Speaker 1: negative conversation. But then I started thinking, and you have
Speaker 1: a lot of time in the jungle, I started thinking,
Speaker 1: maybe it doesn't have to be like a negative conversation
Speaker 1: that he has to have with his classmate that his
Speaker 1: mum's different. Maybe that being different is actually really cool
Speaker 1: and it's amazing and it's so unique. And I really
Speaker 1: want Felix to grow up meeting all of my paralympic
Speaker 1: friends and really embracing people that are different to him.
Speaker 1: And so I thought, why not write a book about
Speaker 1: this for kids? Because from what I've seen being a Paralympian.
Speaker 1: Kids are so pliable with their world and how they
Speaker 1: see their world, and watching the Paralympic Games in particular,
Speaker 1: they see people they have disabilities that are world champions.
Speaker 4: And I never had that when I was young.
Speaker 1: And the way that kids are growing up perceiving people
Speaker 1: who are different to them that you can have a disability,
Speaker 1: you can still be a champion.
Speaker 4: It was so different.
Speaker 1: And if my parents had that message when I was
Speaker 1: losing my leg, they would have approached my whole disability
Speaker 1: journey very differently. So I wanted to be able to
Speaker 1: target kids who are going to school. They're going to
Speaker 1: be in the playground with people who are different to them,
Speaker 1: and I want them to be equipped with the skills
Speaker 1: and the knowledge to be able to go up to
Speaker 1: someone who is different to them and to just invite
Speaker 1: them to play. And that is the whole idea of
Speaker 1: my book is My main character is Felix. He's able bodied.
Speaker 1: A lot of books around disabilities that main character's disabled,
Speaker 1: but he's an able bodied kid that goes to school.
Speaker 1: He comes across six different types of disabilities and he
Speaker 1: learns to communicate with each of them. In a very
Speaker 1: different way, but the end story is always the same,
Speaker 1: is that he ends up playing with them and learning
Speaker 1: something from them, and he goes back home to Sylvia
Speaker 1: and I and he teaches us about all of the
Speaker 1: things that he learned about his new friends. And so
Speaker 1: that was the whole idea of the book, is that
Speaker 1: I wanted able bodied kids who are going to school
Speaker 1: to be able to embrace differences, because that's where they're
Speaker 1: going to, you know, be in their first team environments.
Speaker 1: It's where the kids are going to learn and to share,
Speaker 1: to play, and to support one another. And I want
Speaker 1: them to be able to embrace and lean into those differences.
Speaker 1: So that's why the book was written.
Speaker 3: Oh Ellie, that's so beautiful. It makes me want to
Speaker 3: cry well.
Speaker 2: An incredible culmination of your experience and dedication to Felix
Speaker 2: and the world that he will grow up in. It's
Speaker 2: so true that children are They just are so pure
Speaker 2: the way they see the world. They perceive a difference
Speaker 2: in such a non judgmental way compared to adults and
Speaker 2: the sort of value judgments that we bring to our relationships.
Speaker 2: And I love that you've captured that in a book
Speaker 2: that will guide so many young people. It just really
Speaker 2: I can't wait to get a copy for Teddy.
Speaker 1: I have put a lot of pressure on Felix that
Speaker 1: when he goes to school, he's going to have to
Speaker 1: be really nice to everybody.
Speaker 4: I think, I don't think that's a bad thing.
Speaker 1: Also really inspired by my niece to write this book
Speaker 1: because she's ten now, but when she was growing up,
Speaker 1: when she was about five or six years old, she
Speaker 1: really started to notice my prosthetic, Like it's a leg
Speaker 1: that's made of metal and it's all black and plastic,
Speaker 1: so of course she's going to noticed it's a little
Speaker 1: bit different. But you know, over the relationship that I
Speaker 1: had with her, I'll never forget the time I was
Speaker 1: standing out in my my parents have a sheep farm.
Speaker 1: I was standing out in the middle of a paddock
Speaker 1: and she bought out my leg charger and tried to
Speaker 1: like charge my leg in the middle of a paddock,
Speaker 1: like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Speaker 1: And I was just thinking, like, this is the way
Speaker 1: the world should be. Like she's been exposed to this
Speaker 1: disability at a really young age, and she's been exposed
Speaker 1: to a lot of disabilities because of a lot of
Speaker 1: my friends are paralympians, and she just knows how to
Speaker 1: talk to people with disabilities, what terminology to use. She's
Speaker 1: really comfortable about it. And because she's comfortable around the
Speaker 1: topics and people that are different to her, she just
Speaker 1: engages really well. And that's what I want every kid
Speaker 1: to be able to do. So it's a big inspiration
Speaker 1: behind writing the book.
Speaker 2: It's interesting that you mentioned the word normal, that your
Speaker 2: niece found your disability so normal, and I think normalizing difference,
Speaker 2: and you know, disabilities or any other kind of difference,
Speaker 2: is what's so important to help alleviate the fear and
Speaker 2: anxiety a lot of people have when they broach a subject,
Speaker 2: or meet a person, or have to enter a situation
Speaker 2: that they're less familiar with. Is there anything that you
Speaker 2: could offer as advice, perhaps to anyone listening who doesn't
Speaker 2: feel as comfortable or hasn't grown up around a disability
Speaker 2: when they have questions or when they're out and about
Speaker 2: in society. Is there anything that you find adults do
Speaker 2: that is particularly unuseful or things that is done really well.
Speaker 1: I think when it comes to just interacting with somebody
Speaker 1: who's different to you, it's coming from my own experience
Speaker 1: having a disability, A lot of people who want to.
Speaker 4: Come up and maybe ask questions.
Speaker 1: Or if I'm at a dinner or something and people
Speaker 1: want to talk about what my experiences have been like,
Speaker 1: you can see that they're nervous, and I can see
Speaker 1: that they can be nervous as well.
Speaker 4: So I think, firstly, there is no silly.
Speaker 1: Question, and I think going into a conversation knowing that
Speaker 1: there is no silly question is really important. I am
Speaker 1: very very patient with people who show, like, genuinely show
Speaker 1: good intentions towards wanting to have a conversation. You can
Speaker 1: tell if someone's being genuine or not, and that alone
Speaker 1: is enough for me. You can ask anything that you
Speaker 1: want to And I think a huge thing that really
Speaker 1: addresses the elephant in the room is if you do
Speaker 1: go up to someone who's different to you and want
Speaker 1: to have a conversation about their differences, you just say, Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm not really familiar with this or X or y
Speaker 1: or z, but I want to know more. Can you
Speaker 1: tell me more? And just start the conversation off like that,
Speaker 1: And then usually I would say, well, what do you
Speaker 1: want to know? And it just opens the door up
Speaker 1: for so many questions and things that you might be
Speaker 1: really curious about. I have seen a lot of conversation
Speaker 1: change because of the Paralympic movement. You know, when I
Speaker 1: first joined the team in two thousand and six, children
Speaker 1: especially point to me on the street and say, Mum,
Speaker 1: she's got a metal leg, or Mum, she's a pirate,
Speaker 1: or she's different to you know, and they notice the differences.
Speaker 1: And back in two thousand and eight, the children usually
Speaker 1: got hushed by their parents or you know, the parent
Speaker 1: grabbed them by the arm pull them out of that
Speaker 1: situation because they felt uncomfortable. But now, since the our
Speaker 1: Olympic Games is becoming more and more exposed on mainstream television,
Speaker 1: parents are more inclined now to lean into the questions
Speaker 1: and to get down to their child's level and to
Speaker 1: talk to them about it, and sometimes even approach me
Speaker 1: and say, Hi, my daughter or my son is really
Speaker 1: interested in your prosthetic.
Speaker 4: Do you mind talking to them about it? And I
Speaker 4: love that.
Speaker 1: I love curiosity, regardless of whether you're an adult or
Speaker 1: whether you're a child. Curiosity is so important. There is
Speaker 1: no silly question, and if you can show genuine intentions,
Speaker 1: then can I really ask whatever you want to. I
Speaker 1: have a very similar uncomfortable feeling when I'm speaking to people,
Speaker 1: you know, from different cultural backgrounds, because I'm not sure
Speaker 1: what the terminology is and I'm not sure if I'm
Speaker 1: going to say something that might offend. And it's exactly
Speaker 1: the same regardless of what minority group you're talking to
Speaker 1: or what difference a group of differences you're talking to.
Speaker 1: It's just very common and natural to feel that way.
Speaker 1: But if you can show good intentions, then that's the
Speaker 1: best thing you can do.
Speaker 3: Yeah's such great advice.
Speaker 2: I think people often do want to learn more and
Speaker 2: they scared to say the wrong thing or to offend.
Speaker 2: And it's great that you're so patient when people do
Speaker 2: have a curiosity and want to learn more, because, yeah,
Speaker 2: conversation is I guess, the best way for people to
Speaker 2: become more familiar with something they're unfamiliar with. And I
Speaker 2: love how much advocacy work that you are doing now.
Speaker 2: I think one of the other roles that you have
Speaker 2: is being on the board of the Paralympics Committee, and
Speaker 2: that that's a really great outlet for your passion for
Speaker 2: harnessing the power of the Paralympics.
Speaker 3: As we've spoken.
Speaker 2: About So what does your day look like now that
Speaker 2: you have so many different roles in this new chapter
Speaker 2: kind of how do you spend your time and how
Speaker 2: are you managing the juggle? Tell us all about this chapter.
Speaker 1: It's certainly very different too when I was an athlete
Speaker 1: my day. So I've been doing a few different projects
Speaker 1: since I have retired. Obviously one of them was the
Speaker 1: reality television show. But yeah, since then, I've been doing
Speaker 1: a couple of different things. So I actually sit on
Speaker 1: a council. It's called the Counselor of the Order of Australia, do.
Speaker 4: You Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: So we provide recommendations to the Governor General on the
Speaker 1: Australian Honors system. And I love it because We've received
Speaker 1: so many applications for Australians who are doing incredible things
Speaker 1: and I'm really fortunate to be able to read through
Speaker 1: all of these amazing things that Australians are doing and
Speaker 1: to make sure that they're recognized for that.
Speaker 4: And I love that role so much.
Speaker 1: Because it is bringing a group of about twelve people
Speaker 1: who are so different from very different backgrounds together and
Speaker 1: discussing what we want our Australia to look like in
Speaker 1: terms of the people who are contributing to it.
Speaker 4: So I love that.
Speaker 1: I also sit on the board of Paralympics Australia. And
Speaker 1: the reason why I really enjoy that role as well
Speaker 1: is because when I was an athlete, I mentioned before
Speaker 1: that my idea of success always looks so different as
Speaker 1: I progress through my career. Towards the back end of
Speaker 1: my career, in the last four or five years, I
Speaker 1: really lean into embracing the impact that the Paralympic movement
Speaker 1: can have in changing stigmas, changing stereotypes, perceptions of people
Speaker 1: have disabilities. I absolutely love that whole aspect it. And
Speaker 1: I didn't race that well in Tokyo, Like my times
Speaker 1: were pretty good, but I won a silver and a
Speaker 1: bronze with two bronzes, which a lot of people would
Speaker 1: say is a great result.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm like, that's awesome coming from.
Speaker 1: I think my six gold Prior to that, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people were expecting maybe a little bit
Speaker 1: more from me, but I was like thirty as well.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I kind of lend more into the advocacy.
Speaker 1: Role in the last four years and you know, really
Speaker 1: uplifting the people that were in my Paralympic team to
Speaker 1: make sure that everyone was seen in the same way,
Speaker 1: regardless of whether they were a seventeen time Paralympic medalist
Speaker 1: or had been to their first Paralympics, and it was
Speaker 1: a huge part of me wanting the athlete to feel
Speaker 1: like they were being seen as a person as well.
Speaker 1: So that was a big focus of me in the
Speaker 1: last part of my career. Now that I sit on
Speaker 1: the board of Paralympics Australia, I could still do that,
Speaker 1: which has been amazing for my own transition into retirement
Speaker 1: because I haven't lost my identity of what I loved
Speaker 1: to do when I was an athlete. I'm still doing that.
Speaker 1: I just get to sleep in until six am now
Speaker 1: instead of four because of feelings, but I'm still doing
Speaker 1: what I love to do when I was an athlete.
Speaker 4: So the Paralympics Australia board has been great for me.
Speaker 4: I do a lot of.
Speaker 1: Keynotes speaking as well, and I enjoy that because I
Speaker 1: do love meeting people who are different to me, and
Speaker 1: I work in so many different industries doing that and
Speaker 1: so many different organizations and companies not for profits, and
Speaker 1: just meeting incredible Australians who then I receive a lot
Speaker 1: of applications for in the Council of the Order of Australia,
Speaker 1: so yeah, a lot of keynotes speaking, I've worked do
Speaker 1: a bit of work with Channel nine on wild water sports,
Speaker 1: the Council and Paralympics Australia Board, so a little bit
Speaker 1: of everything. And now a children's book author.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, you.
Speaker 4: Can pass a lot of time being a mum as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Did you feel I mean, especially for anyone who has
Speaker 2: had a career, I think there are a lot of
Speaker 2: a lot of careers like sport that are you know,
Speaker 2: for a time, they're short lived. You can't do them
Speaker 2: past a particular age, and it is really overwhelming when
Speaker 2: you do a approach that time to re craft your
Speaker 2: identity and to make a pivot. And it's amazing that
Speaker 2: you've been able to stay in and around the industry.
Speaker 2: Did you find it overwhelming? Did you feel like you
Speaker 2: were starting from the beginning and did sort of imposter
Speaker 2: syndrome ever creep in because you had been doing something
Speaker 2: that you were so good at and so familiar with,
Speaker 2: and then suddenly you know, one day you wake up
Speaker 2: and that's not your every day. Did you find it
Speaker 2: really difficult to transition or was it just this natural
Speaker 2: How did your mindset kind of carry you through that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good question because a lot of people
Speaker 1: do transition into different careers now or even you know,
Speaker 1: going on maternity leave and then going back into the
Speaker 1: workplace can be a completely different transition to prior to
Speaker 1: having a baby and everything. So a lot of people
Speaker 1: will experience something like this. And from what I've seen
Speaker 1: from athletes, athletes do not transition well because they do
Speaker 1: tie up their identity and being an athlete, but they
Speaker 1: also really heavily perceive their self worth on whether they
Speaker 1: win a gold medal or not, and that's just the
Speaker 1: way that being an athlete is. I've got a lot
Speaker 1: of joyment out of as I mentioned before, lifting up
Speaker 1: the Paralympic movement and fighting for things like pay parody
Speaker 1: for Paralympians and doing a lot of advocating for paralympians,
Speaker 1: and so the transition out of sport wasn't too difficult
Speaker 1: for me because my focus had shifted so much in
Speaker 1: the back end of my career. I also was really
Speaker 1: fortunate to have been studying when I was an athlete.
Speaker 1: In I did a degree in health and exercise science,
Speaker 1: which I actually have not used at all, but it
Speaker 1: always did give me a fallback plan, and I always,
Speaker 1: when I was an athlete, made sure that I was
Speaker 1: doing work opportunities or collaborating with people or networking with
Speaker 1: people who may be able to help me once I
Speaker 1: did finish sport. And one of those people were the
Speaker 1: ones that work within Channel nine. So I already had
Speaker 1: a role waiting for me pretty much as soon as
Speaker 1: I finished, and.
Speaker 4: So that made things a lot easier. In terms of
Speaker 4: the mental shift.
Speaker 1: That was a little bit challenging because I was training
Speaker 1: six hours a day and I found that really hard
Speaker 1: to let go of.
Speaker 4: I was still training a lot. When I've retired, I
Speaker 4: was still doing like two hours.
Speaker 1: Of exercise a date home was just nuts and I
Speaker 1: had to let go of that a little bit, and
Speaker 1: I found that hard. But now I am finding it
Speaker 1: hard to do half an hour a day.
Speaker 4: It's God, I've gone too far the other way.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the transition for me was just planned meticulously,
Speaker 1: but also allowing enough flexibility that maybe I might go
Speaker 1: off in this direction or that direction, because you just
Speaker 1: don't know, so I think whenever you're stepping into a
Speaker 1: new era of your life. Just be really open minded
Speaker 1: in terms of the imposter syndrome. I've never really felt
Speaker 1: that because I've always had to fight really hard to
Speaker 1: get to where I have been in sport. As a
Speaker 1: paralympian who received no funding at the beginning, athlete with
Speaker 1: a disability, who got told that I was an inspiration
Speaker 1: just for showing up to a competition, I had to
Speaker 1: fight very, very hard to be able to show people
Speaker 1: how strong and fierce and everything that being an athlete was.
Speaker 1: I had to show people that I was that as well.
Speaker 1: So I know that in any industry that I step into,
Speaker 1: I know that I'm going to deserve to be there,
Speaker 1: maybe not at the very beginning, but I'm going to
Speaker 1: work so hard to make sure that I do. And
Speaker 1: I think that's the big thing about imposter syndrome is
Speaker 1: we're all going to feel it at some time. We
Speaker 1: all have to be really patient with ourselves and be
Speaker 1: really committed to being the best that we can be
Speaker 1: in that particular role. And if you are committed to that,
Speaker 1: you're never really going to feel that imposter syndrome.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's such good advice. You are so incredibly well adjusted,
Speaker 2: and I have such good advice for everyone listening. What an
Speaker 2: amazing episode. What about the transition then to motherhood and
Speaker 2: the juggle? I personally have found that, especially when you
Speaker 2: do come from a career like being an elite athlete
Speaker 2: in an individual sport where all of your time and
Speaker 2: energy can be dedicated to your pursuit and what you
Speaker 2: want to do, it's a really big adjustment to become
Speaker 2: a mum and try and have a career and be
Speaker 2: split in lots of different directions. Just listen to a
Speaker 2: snippet from.
Speaker 3: Call Her Daddy. That podcast they.
Speaker 2: Had Ellen Pompeio from Grey's Anatomy on, and it was
Speaker 2: just her sort of calling it and saying, if you're
Speaker 2: a working mum, you'll never really be one hundred percent
Speaker 2: there while your child you know, exists, but you know
Speaker 2: you'll be split. Your identity will be split in so
Speaker 2: many different directions. But that that's okay. It's of course
Speaker 2: parenthood involves sacrifice, but that's part of it, and the
Speaker 2: person you lose gets replaced by someone you gain. You
Speaker 2: gain so much richness in your life, so much deeper emotion,
Speaker 2: and so much love. How do you manage the juggle.
Speaker 2: Does it feel like a split to you?
Speaker 1: It certainly it's trying times, you know, trying to get
Speaker 1: work done and trying to fly all over the country
Speaker 1: while having a baby at home. Firstly, Sylvia has been
Speaker 1: super sip supportive of my career, which certainly does help.
Speaker 1: But I know that there are a lot of single
Speaker 1: moms out there who have to rely on their communities
Speaker 1: or the ability to be able to put their child
Speaker 1: into childcare. I was super ambitious obviously as an athlete,
Speaker 1: and I thought that I was going to be super
Speaker 1: ambitious in my career as.
Speaker 4: Well, and I am.
Speaker 1: But I know that there is only so much that
Speaker 1: your cup can hold, and I just go towards whatever
Speaker 1: makes me.
Speaker 4: Happy, and being at home, being with Felix.
Speaker 1: And seeing the way that he grows, like he took
Speaker 1: his first steps a few days ago, which I still
Speaker 1: I've watched that video like I swear to God one
Speaker 1: thousand times.
Speaker 3: You need to send it to me.
Speaker 4: I will, I will, But you know, those.
Speaker 1: Are the moments that make me really really happy, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to miss them. Being in the jungle
Speaker 1: and missing his first smile killed me, and I don't
Speaker 1: want to have to miss all of these amazing milestones
Speaker 1: with him while he's still so young. And so I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: work is incredibly important, but my priorities have changed, and
Speaker 1: I think being a working mum and being comfortable with
Speaker 1: the fact that your priorities are changing or do have
Speaker 1: to change. Sometimes they have to change a bit more
Speaker 1: towards work as well, but being comfortable with that knowing
Speaker 1: that you're providing the best home or best environment that
Speaker 1: you can be your child at that time. Sometimes you
Speaker 1: will have to work to be able to do that.
Speaker 1: That being comfortable with that is really really important. And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of mums aren't comfortable in that
Speaker 1: environment because there is a lot of judgment out there
Speaker 1: about the ways that people are parenting. But guess what
Speaker 1: we're in twenty twenty five now. The world is looking
Speaker 1: more and more different every single year. You can be
Speaker 1: a working mum. You can be so ambitious and so
Speaker 1: successful in your role and still be a mum at home.
Speaker 1: And yes, you are going to have people that are
Speaker 1: going to comment on that, but you need to put
Speaker 1: the blinkers up and focus on your job, and focus
Speaker 1: on your family, and focus on the things that make
Speaker 1: you happy and fill your cup because the negative comments
Speaker 1: aren't going to so they can go on the bin.
Speaker 3: In my opinion, that's the perfect way to end. Ellie.
Speaker 2: You are one of the most extraordinary human beings. You
Speaker 2: have been so eloquent, articulate, so much wisdom in so
Speaker 2: many areas, And if I thought I loved you before this,
Speaker 2: I love you even more. I apologize for having been
Speaker 2: so oh so like my brain.
Speaker 3: I don't even know.
Speaker 2: You've been so articulate the entire time, and I've just
Speaker 2: been like so you No listening to is one of
Speaker 2: the worst interviews I've done, But you're.
Speaker 4: Incredibly high expectations.
Speaker 3: Oh so bad?
Speaker 4: Are you serious?
Speaker 1: Well, it makes you feel any better, It's one of
Speaker 1: the best ones I've done.
Speaker 3: Like you are one of my favorite guests of all time.
Speaker 2: Every single thing you have said has been just like
Speaker 2: you usually get a couple of nuggets of wisdom, but
Speaker 2: you have just been like banger after banger of things
Speaker 2: that just apply to everyone's life, Like, no matter what
Speaker 2: journey you're on, you have said so much that I
Speaker 2: think is so valuable. And yeah, like I said, if
Speaker 2: my love affair with Ellie Cole was deep before, it's
Speaker 2: now like a thousandfold. I cannot wait for the book.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited. April first, which is at the time
Speaker 2: of recording. It'll be next week. So we'll put the
Speaker 2: links in the show notes and all the information there
Speaker 2: for everyone of where they can follow you, where they
Speaker 2: can watch you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, thank you, And I am going
Speaker 1: to go back to what you said before about you
Speaker 1: thinking that you're not eloquent, but you said that there's
Speaker 1: a lot of nuggets that I have and we never
Speaker 1: would have gotten there if you didn't ask the right questions.
Speaker 4: So you did a great job.
Speaker 2: Oh that is so kind of you that it's true.
Speaker 2: My only excuse is that, as we mentioned before, we
Speaker 2: sarted recording Teddy's twelve month sleep progression. I was in
Speaker 2: his court six times last night. I've been like sleep
Speaker 2: deprived from maybe into the cot, like I don't fit
Speaker 2: in it, but I have to. And I think it's
Speaker 2: been maybe eighteen days or something of like not having
Speaker 2: more than two hours sleep, So my brain I thought
Speaker 2: it could hold itself together. But I got to minute
Speaker 2: I reckon minute twelve of this interview, and I was like, oh, dear,
Speaker 2: I am not doing her justice.
Speaker 3: I was so good at bringing it around yourself.
Speaker 1: You know what. The great thing you just spoke about
Speaker 1: not fitting the cot, about being a leg amputee, is
Speaker 1: he like squeeze into really tiny places.
Speaker 4: If you just take your leg off.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, always finny a silver lining.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so good, like you able bodied, You must
Speaker 1: feel like octopus.
Speaker 4: You just have it so hard. Oh yeah, so many
Speaker 4: limbs to get tangled, so many limbs.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, always one to find a civilizing You
Speaker 2: have been absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for joining us, Ellie,
Speaker 2: and I can't wait to chat again, sir.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Firstly, how incredible is Ellie Cole? I mean, what a woman.
Speaker 2: I was just absolutely in awe of her before this
Speaker 2: episode and even more so afterwards. And secondly, I'm so
Speaker 2: grateful that on a day when the twelve month regression
Speaker 2: was absolutely consuming my ability to articulate anything, that it
Speaker 2: was a fellow mum who I came to the table with,
Speaker 2: and you was so not only so understanding and empathizing,
Speaker 2: but also so good at having amazing answers regardless of
Speaker 2: how babbly my questions were. But it's also funny how
Speaker 2: critical we get of ourselves I actually couldn't listen back
Speaker 2: to this because I felt like I had done such
Speaker 2: a messy job.
Speaker 3: So hopefully you guys.
Speaker 2: Did manage to pull out something amazing, because I felt
Speaker 2: like I had just pulled out so much wisdom from
Speaker 2: everything she said regardless, and I hope that it was
Speaker 2: the same for you guys as always if you did enjoy.
Speaker 2: We are so grateful to have had some of Ellie's
Speaker 2: time in amongst all the things that she's doing, particularly
Speaker 2: the week that she launches her book, but also of
Speaker 2: course being a mum, so to thank her for her
Speaker 2: time and wisdom, Please do share the episode, tagging at Ellie,
Speaker 2: Coleswim and us. It really does make a difference and
Speaker 2: mean a lot. To thank our guests for their time
Speaker 2: and also just spread at the yighborhood as far and
Speaker 2: wide as possible. And if you do get a copy
Speaker 2: of Felix and He's fantastic friends, of course share that
Speaker 2: as well. I'm sure it means the world to Ellie
Speaker 2: to see where the book is landing and how you
Speaker 2: are sharing it with your beautiful little ones. I will
Speaker 2: pop the link to the show notes. Pop the link
Speaker 2: in the show notes if I've no more eloquent today.
Speaker 2: I'll pop the link in the show notes for you all.
Speaker 2: If you haven't got a copy, I highly recommend it.
Speaker 2: It's absolutely beautiful, and in the meantime, I hope you're
Speaker 2: having a wonderful week and seizing your yea.
Speaker 1: A regent at ver moment, removed forever in