Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we're screaming
Speaker 1: congrats to our girl, Kate Scott, who is just named
Speaker 1: the lead play by play voice for USA Network's WNBA
Speaker 1: coverage next summer, The Most Deserving. It's Thursday, October ninth,
Speaker 1: and on today's show, we'll be skipping the need to
Speaker 1: know and getting right to my conversation with retired swimmer
Speaker 1: and ten time Olympic medallist Alison Schmidt. Tomorrow is World
Speaker 1: Mental Health Day, so I caught up with Alison to
Speaker 1: talk about her experience seeking help for mental health, how
Speaker 1: her advocacy work has reshaped her own identity, why it's
Speaker 1: important to include vulnerability as a sign of strength, and
Speaker 1: redefining what self care actually means. I so appreciated Allison's
Speaker 1: willingness to speak so openly about her own struggles and challenges,
Speaker 1: and it's really clear that her advocacy on this topic
Speaker 1: has already had a huge impact on making sure conversations
Speaker 1: like these are no longer held only in private. So
Speaker 1: this is a good one. Stay tuned slices. Also, I
Speaker 1: was in New York City hosting a WNBA final celebration
Speaker 1: for iHeart on Wednesday night and watching Game three of
Speaker 1: the finals with a big old crew of hoopeads. So
Speaker 1: no Game three reaction today, but don't worry. You'll get
Speaker 1: that analysis plus a look ahead.
Speaker 2: To Game four in tomorrow's show. All Right, My interview
Speaker 2: with Alison's coming up right after this.
Speaker 1: Joining US now, she's the former captain of the US
Speaker 1: Olympic swim team, a four time Olympian, ten time Olympic medalist,
Speaker 1: and twenty five time medallist in major international competitions. A
Speaker 1: four time NCAA national champion, she helped her Georgia Bulldogs
Speaker 1: win the NCAA team title in twenty thirteen. She was
Speaker 1: born in Pittsburgh but raised in Canton, Michigan, and she
Speaker 1: was inducted into the Michigan.
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 1: A leading voice and mental health advocacy, she graduated with
Speaker 1: her master's degree in social work from Arizona State University
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. A former longtime training partner of
Speaker 1: Michael Phelps under famed coach Bob Bowman, her fiance proposed
Speaker 1: to her using phelps four kids as assistants wearing T
Speaker 1: shirts at Red Wind.
Speaker 2: Will you marry?
Speaker 3: Me.
Speaker 2: It's Alison Schmidt.
Speaker 3: Hi, Alison, Hi, nice to talk with you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when's the wedding. Has it happened yet?
Speaker 3: It has not happened yet, but by the end of
Speaker 3: the year. So I'm a little bit different though, because
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm the girl that never really thought
Speaker 3: about weddings or marriage and so I'm very nonchalant about it,
Speaker 3: and so is he. But I've always dreamed about kids
Speaker 3: and having twins, so I'm manifesting that right now.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we're skipping the wedding straight to the pro creating.
Speaker 2: Will Will Phelps.
Speaker 1: And company and family and kiddos be a part of
Speaker 1: the wedding as well.
Speaker 3: Of course. Yes, there's such a big part of my.
Speaker 2: Life, ring bears and flower girls and such.
Speaker 3: Like I said, we have been so nonchalant. We don't
Speaker 3: have the details yeah yet, And I mean all the
Speaker 3: type eight people might be like, wait, this is not okay,
Speaker 3: but I'm being this. I'm type being this, so you're.
Speaker 2: Fine with it.
Speaker 1: There are some good qualities about laid back, nonchalant people.
Speaker 1: I don't have any of those qualities, but I respect
Speaker 1: them and others. So in your intro, I listed off
Speaker 1: all your incredible accomplishments in the pool.
Speaker 2: What kind of competitor were you?
Speaker 1: Were you the sort of slow and steady worker, We'll
Speaker 1: see what happens. Were you pushed by compliments? Where you
Speaker 1: pushed by criticism, responsive to yelling, more responsive to support?
Speaker 3: What was it like all the above? I ultimately got
Speaker 3: into sport because of the fun, like having the teammates,
Speaker 3: the camaraderie. And I definitely was pushed by the encouragement
Speaker 3: in A that is the affirmations, but B that's a
Speaker 3: little bit of the yelling as well. And so that's
Speaker 3: why I say all of the above.
Speaker 2: So were you type B in the pool as well?
Speaker 1: It feels like you'd need to have some sort of
Speaker 1: aggression and type A personality to be such a winner.
Speaker 3: I think that my personality is type B A, so
Speaker 3: I still have that a personality, and so in the
Speaker 3: pool and in competing, I had that, But in other
Speaker 3: parts of my life I'm the B. But I also
Speaker 3: know my coach was very, very very type A, so
Speaker 3: I think he took over for that aspect of it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he projected onto you the necessary qualities to make
Speaker 1: it happen. Make it work, Okay, I want you to
Speaker 1: picture one of your biggest races.
Speaker 2: Which one first came to mind.
Speaker 3: The two hundred free in London twenty twelve Olympics. Why
Speaker 3: I think that it's the biggest race. Obviously because of
Speaker 3: media it's the biggest race first individual gold medal, But
Speaker 3: for me it was a big race because Stania and
Speaker 3: that podium at the end of when we get our medals,
Speaker 3: I looked on one side and saw my family cheering,
Speaker 3: looked on the other side, saw ten USA cheering, and
Speaker 3: in front of me, it's the national anthem in the
Speaker 3: flag being raised, and that just represents everyone back home
Speaker 3: that has supported and cheered me to the top of
Speaker 3: the podium. And in that moment and in that I
Speaker 3: realized that yes, I was the one that put in
Speaker 3: the work and did the work, but at the end
Speaker 3: of the day, it was all the support and all
Speaker 3: the help that I had that got me there.
Speaker 2: Wow. And it's the one that stands out still was
Speaker 2: the first.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, they all have meaning, they all have different meanings,
Speaker 3: but that one when you had me picture, it is
Speaker 3: the one that came to mind.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how often are you swimming these days?
Speaker 3: I got in the pool on yesterday or two days ago,
Speaker 3: So I really like to do it for fitness and
Speaker 3: forget ant Hanne and if my friends are doing it,
Speaker 3: So it's definitely that social aspect, but I understand I
Speaker 3: am better at that than being on land, so I'm
Speaker 3: more If someone calls me up and says, hey, let's
Speaker 3: go do a swim, I'm like, okay, let's go.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Is it a calm and meditative space for you now
Speaker 1: that you're not competing or when you get back in,
Speaker 1: does your body sort of inhabit the feelings that you
Speaker 1: had when you used to get in to compete.
Speaker 3: The pool is home and it is calming because I'm
Speaker 3: not getting yelled at and I don't have a specific workout.
Speaker 3: But at the same time, it's just no matter if
Speaker 3: I was competing or if I get in. Now is
Speaker 3: just a very familiar space, in a comfortable space.
Speaker 1: You have become super active in mental health advocacy, and
Speaker 1: it's actually a cause that's been important to you dating
Speaker 1: back many years. You mentioned London, and it was at
Speaker 1: the London Olympics that you came home successful, a winner,
Speaker 1: a gold medalist, but found that you were suffering from depression.
Speaker 1: You eventually decided to talk to Michael Phelps, to talk
Speaker 1: to your coach Bob Bowman in early twenty fifteen. What
Speaker 1: was it like that time coming back, getting celebrated, getting
Speaker 1: heralded for your success, and maybe not feeling like how
Speaker 1: you were feeling matched what everyone else felt about your
Speaker 1: time in London?
Speaker 3: Terrifying, absolutely terrified and every aspect. I didn't really understand
Speaker 3: what I was and there wasn't I mean, this is
Speaker 3: twenty twelve. There wasn't really much information about it, and
Speaker 3: I kind of dug myself into a deeper hole with comparison.
Speaker 3: Like they say now, and as I understand now, comparison
Speaker 3: is a theft of joy, and that comparison wasn't really
Speaker 3: recognizing that I was not feeling okay. It was more
Speaker 3: of comparing I have all of these great aspects of
Speaker 3: my life. What do I have to complain about? And
Speaker 3: now as I've gotten older and I've experienced more and
Speaker 3: talking at other people, I describe it as what you
Speaker 3: know in that part of your life is all you know. So,
Speaker 3: for instance, when a five year old drops or ice
Speaker 3: cream cone and it is the end of the world,
Speaker 3: it's the end of their world. As an adult, you'll
Speaker 3: understand and be like, we can just go get another
Speaker 3: ice cream, but they are not able to process that
Speaker 3: they can go get another ice cream in the joy
Speaker 3: that they're holding was just dropped.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you come back, it's twenty twelve. Everyone wants
Speaker 1: to celebrate you. Did you feel like it might be
Speaker 1: the standard Olympic letdown? Had you heard about the Olympic
Speaker 1: letdown that so many talk about and did you chalk
Speaker 1: it up to just that at first and then think
Speaker 1: it was something beyond that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Again, that wasn't really talked about back then. It was
Speaker 3: still a taboo subject and I didn't really experience it
Speaker 3: too much after two thousand and eight because I went.
Speaker 3: I was thrown into a whole new experience. I went
Speaker 3: to college and new friends, new living on your own
Speaker 3: for the first time, new environment, new state, new place,
Speaker 3: all of that. So when I came back from twenty twelve,
Speaker 3: I really had no idea what to expect. It was
Speaker 3: not prepped in any way what to expect, And as
Speaker 3: I was getting celebrated, I was very, very very grateful
Speaker 3: for getting celebrated. And I remember one time I excuse
Speaker 3: myself to the bathroom because I didn't want to cry
Speaker 3: in front of people. And at that moment is when
Speaker 3: I really realized that something was wrong.
Speaker 1: Right, So you didn't talk to your family at first.
Speaker 1: You told Michael and Bob, your coach, and there was
Speaker 1: an incident that happened in your family that made you think,
Speaker 1: I really need to speak out more about this and
Speaker 1: talk about it, not only to the people close to me,
Speaker 1: but maybe even publicly.
Speaker 2: Can you tell us about that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So again, that took two and a half years
Speaker 3: until I even spoke about it. So it took a
Speaker 3: long time to speak about it. In speaking about it, it
Speaker 3: was scary, but it was also it was my explosion.
Speaker 3: So if you think about a rice cooker and if
Speaker 3: you don't take the top off and you explode, that
Speaker 3: was me at that moment. And so I just happened
Speaker 3: to explode at that moment with Michael and Bob and Keenan,
Speaker 3: and they listened and they really supported me in that,
Speaker 3: and they understood that I needed help and there's help
Speaker 3: out there and they can help me get that help.
Speaker 3: So that's what I did when I came back from
Speaker 3: that meat is I got help right away. I felt
Speaker 3: like there was still just a taboo with asking for help.
Speaker 3: Including myself. I judged myself for asking for help in
Speaker 3: those moments because again, what my life from the an
Speaker 3: outsider looks so perfect? So what could possibly be going
Speaker 3: wrong in my life? Why do I need help? And
Speaker 3: it took until another five months later when my cousin
Speaker 3: committed suicide where I realized this is a much bigger
Speaker 3: problem than just myself or just a few other people.
Speaker 3: And a lot of other people are out there, and
Speaker 3: a lot of other people are chasing perfection, which is
Speaker 3: what I was doing at the Olympic stage, and all
Speaker 3: these people chasing perfection lose track of in everyday reality,
Speaker 3: in the support that we have, and even the feeling
Speaker 3: of being loved. And if I could speak about my
Speaker 3: own experience, I hopefully can save a life out there
Speaker 3: so that someone else can continue living their life. That
Speaker 3: I mean, life is just so beautiful and everyone deserves
Speaker 3: happiness and joy and success, and so for them, for
Speaker 3: that person that survivor, as well as the families that
Speaker 3: have to grieve a loss of their loved ones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you talk about back in twenty twelve, It doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like it's that long ago. But even then, there
Speaker 1: just weren't the same conversations, and so that information is
Speaker 1: so vital for people to recognize whether it is a
Speaker 1: depression or a feeling that comes on due to an event,
Speaker 1: an experience, or whether it's just chemical right that's the
Speaker 1: way their brain operates, and whether or not things are
Speaker 1: going great or poorly. There is a potential to slip
Speaker 1: into those moments, and if you don't talk about it,
Speaker 1: you don't learn about it. It can feel very isolating.
Speaker 1: After talking to Michael and Bob and after telling your family,
Speaker 1: how did you decide to take control of that in
Speaker 1: your career? How did you manage the fact that you
Speaker 1: knew that you now had this to deal with in
Speaker 1: addition to your regular training and preparation for meat.
Speaker 3: I think the first thing is understanding that you can
Speaker 3: take breaks, you can ask for help, and you can
Speaker 3: still be strong. All of that in the same sentence.
Speaker 3: I was able to get the support I needed from
Speaker 3: a professional level by going to talk to a therapist,
Speaker 3: and that was a little bit of weight off my shoulders,
Speaker 3: and I'm sure off the people I love shoulders. If
Speaker 3: I'm so called, I guess dumping something. Yeah, they might
Speaker 3: ask me every day, Hey, how are you doing? How
Speaker 3: are you doing, but talking to a therapist, it was Okay,
Speaker 3: I go see you every week, and then I don't
Speaker 3: see you again for a whole week, and so you
Speaker 3: can't ask me in my everyday life, from every day
Speaker 3: schedule how I'm doing, which honestly is kind of an
Speaker 3: annoying question that I would get a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean people who want to help and mean
Speaker 1: to help. But also there's something about the feeling that
Speaker 1: if you're going to reveal all these emotions, that the
Speaker 1: person you're talking to is trained and educated to help
Speaker 1: you process them in a way that even if your
Speaker 1: family is well meaning, they might not be. So what
Speaker 1: kind of tools did you acquire, if you're willing to share,
Speaker 1: what have you found most useful personally for managing your
Speaker 1: mental health struggles alongside your swimming.
Speaker 3: I would say journaling is one, and for me, journaling
Speaker 3: isn't necessarily just writing everything down, but I also journal
Speaker 3: through pictures, and I love managing that I'm both at
Speaker 3: so going back now and like reading journals and even
Speaker 3: going back and looking at photos that I took and
Speaker 3: screenshots I took of quotes, et cetera. But self care
Speaker 3: is really what a big tool that I took out
Speaker 3: of therapy because I always thought self care was, oh,
Speaker 3: go get your nails done, go bake cookies. And what
Speaker 3: I now understand is self care is so much more
Speaker 3: than that, and it's really listening to yourself and listening
Speaker 3: to your inner self, understand what you need in that moment.
Speaker 3: And if you're able to do that with yourself, then
Speaker 3: when someone else asks you what you need, it's a
Speaker 3: lot easier to ask that than to bottle it up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned this, but how do we sort of
Speaker 1: change the definition of strength to include being able to
Speaker 1: ask for help? That is an incredible strength, to let
Speaker 1: people know you're struggling, to ask for help, to be
Speaker 1: vulnerable in that way, and yet in a lot of places,
Speaker 1: it's still very stigmatized.
Speaker 3: Understanding that life is much bigger than the moment you're in,
Speaker 3: or much bigger than this sport you're in. Understanding yes
Speaker 3: we are chasing perfection, Yes we are working hard, and
Speaker 3: yes we want that perfection, but you don't have to
Speaker 3: be perfect in order to belong. You belong in this
Speaker 3: world for so many other reasons than being perfect. And
Speaker 3: I like to de describe it as you can tell
Speaker 3: maybe through this conversation. I like to use analogies a lot,
Speaker 3: and one of my favorite analogies is a puzzle and
Speaker 3: every puzzle piece is different. But if there's one puzzle
Speaker 3: piece missing, the whole puzzle is done. It's never completed.
Speaker 3: And so if you're able to really understand that you
Speaker 3: don't have to be perfect, and you can be your
Speaker 3: own puzzle piece throughout this game of life, then everything
Speaker 3: else will be complete and everything else will fall into order.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you bring up the word perfect a whole lot,
Speaker 2: and I understand.
Speaker 1: In swimming there are tiny, little minute details that can
Speaker 1: make the difference between a winner or loss, can make
Speaker 1: the difference between a pr and you know, swimming slower
Speaker 1: than previous races. So it's important to pay attention to
Speaker 1: every bit of your body, to every down to the
Speaker 1: tip of your toes. And yet also understanding that perfection
Speaker 1: as a goal in life is impossible. How did you
Speaker 1: find a balance of saying I still want to win
Speaker 1: and I want to do as well as I can,
Speaker 1: but the goal can never truly be perfection.
Speaker 2: It just has to be maybe a little bit better.
Speaker 2: As often as I can.
Speaker 3: Be understanding what goal setting is into me, goal setting
Speaker 3: as a kid. I was not this kid, but this
Speaker 3: is an example is I'm an eleven year old kid
Speaker 3: and I want to make it to Olympics. Okay, so
Speaker 3: you go from here to here? What's all the in between?
Speaker 3: So what's all the steps? And so understanding what the
Speaker 3: journey is in the steps and the processes to those
Speaker 3: big goals and working on those little goals and little
Speaker 3: steps every single day is what gets you to that
Speaker 3: big step. And once you are to that big goal,
Speaker 3: as human beings, as competitors, there's always something next. There's
Speaker 3: always that next goal. You're never satisfied, and so really
Speaker 3: understanding that it's not necessarily about that destination so called,
Speaker 3: but the journey to get that destination.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we hear that a lot in talking to Olympic
Speaker 1: athletes in particular. I mean many athletes who have high
Speaker 1: goals and are high achieving, but those that play every
Speaker 1: single year and have more opportunities to win, I think
Speaker 1: feel it a little less than those that wait four
Speaker 1: years for this crowning achievement of what's been their life's work.
Speaker 1: I think some might ask, you, know, it's easy for
Speaker 1: you to say this because you already won. You already
Speaker 1: won so much so when you go in and give
Speaker 1: people a message life is about more than winning. Do
Speaker 1: you think you personally would have been able to accept
Speaker 1: that message before the medals.
Speaker 3: Yes, because I did. I did in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 3: So in two thousand and eight is kind of what
Speaker 3: got me to the next Olympics two twenty twelve, to
Speaker 3: those medals that I won in twenty twelve. And that's
Speaker 3: because in two thousand and eight, I was knight by
Speaker 3: Woman hundreds, so I did not get to compete in
Speaker 3: finals and then Tunia Freestyle and that's what I used
Speaker 3: as my fuel and as my motivation for those next
Speaker 3: four years. And so I completely understand that we have egos.
Speaker 3: Every single human being, no matter if you're an athlete
Speaker 3: or not, has some type of ego, but really understanding
Speaker 3: how big this life is, because I'm sure there's people
Speaker 3: in the music industry that have never even watched the Olympics,
Speaker 3: and then there's me who doesn't completely understand the music industry.
Speaker 3: Yet we probably have very parallel LIFs that can understand
Speaker 3: each other, and so understanding who you are as a
Speaker 3: from the core and finding those connections rather than sitting
Speaker 3: back and saying well, I've been at the top of
Speaker 3: my sport or I've been at the top of my
Speaker 3: career and I know everything. Because even now, even being
Speaker 3: at the top of my sport, I still don't know everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, when you find that balance between being
Speaker 1: ambitious while also being satisfied, you can kind of be
Speaker 1: in that sweet spot of I know what I want
Speaker 1: and I know the work that it's going to take
Speaker 1: to get there.
Speaker 2: But I also, like you said, it's the journey.
Speaker 1: It's the respecting the everyday processes that can get you there.
Speaker 1: We got to take a quick break more with Alison
Speaker 1: Schmidt right after this. I want to talk about today's
Speaker 1: landscape of youth swimming. How do you think it compares
Speaker 1: to what it was like when you were growing up.
Speaker 3: Youth sports in general is a whole nother pressure, and
Speaker 3: that pressure comes from a lot, I think from social media.
Speaker 3: We can't ignore the advances we have in technology in
Speaker 3: the social media, So how do we educate on that?
Speaker 3: And that's where we're not ignoring the fact that there's
Speaker 3: social media out there and that there might be body
Speaker 3: image issues or muscles don't look cool on TikTok, there
Speaker 3: might be some of those messages out there, But how
Speaker 3: can we educate that being strong is still sexy, being
Speaker 3: vulnerable is sexy, and all of that is still a
Speaker 3: great quality to have while encouraging others to find what
Speaker 3: they're passionate about and not have to mimic or compare
Speaker 3: to another person. But definitely comes back to the pressures
Speaker 3: that are real from social media and other media outlets
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of gift in everything being recorded
Speaker 1: these days. You can go back and watch all your
Speaker 1: swims and see how you did. Your family can go
Speaker 1: watch them later. But it also means that everything is
Speaker 1: watched doubly or multiple times, in a way that I
Speaker 1: think affects even sometimes what sports kids want to get into,
Speaker 1: and that I think is really tough. I've seen stories
Speaker 1: about girls picking their sport based on what the uniform
Speaker 1: looks like, understanding that they're going to be constantly photographed
Speaker 1: and videoed while doing it, which is something we never
Speaker 1: really thought about when I was growing up.
Speaker 2: We just played what we loved.
Speaker 1: What surprises you when you talk to young people about
Speaker 1: mental health these.
Speaker 3: Days, how open they are about it, which is great.
Speaker 3: They're open to talking in When I speak to parents
Speaker 3: or coaches. I say, just listen. That's a piece of
Speaker 3: advice that I love to give the older generations, because
Speaker 3: the younger generations love to talk and they will say anything,
Speaker 3: and they will say the truth. It's just the matter
Speaker 3: if someone's gonna listen to them. And so I really
Speaker 3: love how the younger generation is so open and honest,
Speaker 3: and I would love for them to have that support
Speaker 3: from the older generations to be able to feel supported
Speaker 3: through these tough times of puberty, of their teenage years,
Speaker 3: of middle school years, of the transition of going to
Speaker 3: college and out of college in all of that. But
Speaker 3: how do we support them by what they need? And
Speaker 3: they're telling us what they need.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've actually partnered with Surge by BSN Sports. It's
Speaker 1: a new initiative that's trying to help high school and
Speaker 1: college athletes in a more holistic way where you're looking
Speaker 1: both at performance but also at the community around them,
Speaker 1: emotional wellness, their mental health, like trying to look at
Speaker 1: the athlete as a whole being. How is working with
Speaker 1: SARG been for you and how are you kind of
Speaker 1: being a part of the conversations that they're trying to have.
Speaker 3: I absolutely love our mission to as a holistic approach,
Speaker 3: and the tools that we give these coaches in these athletes,
Speaker 3: I think is so beneficial to help them succeed and
Speaker 3: not only help them succeed in their sport and get
Speaker 3: that metal or get that goal, but help prepare them
Speaker 3: for later in life, give them the confidence to be
Speaker 3: who they are in not having to conform to others
Speaker 3: to fit in. Because again, strength is beauty in confidence
Speaker 3: is beauty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like I think, as you get older, you
Speaker 1: understand that being unique and special and different is the
Speaker 1: thing that sets you apart from everyone and makes you
Speaker 1: actually truly desirable and interesting. But when you're a kid,
Speaker 1: you just want to fit in. You just want to
Speaker 1: be like everyone else. Anything that makes you stand out
Speaker 1: is tough. So it's those conversations of ensuring that kids
Speaker 1: understand that they can be confident in their differences too.
Speaker 2: You know, you went.
Speaker 1: From being at the top of the world to now
Speaker 1: looking to find satisfaction in other places.
Speaker 2: And a lot of really elite.
Speaker 1: Athletes struggle to find a job once they're done with athletics,
Speaker 1: to figure out how to be competitive or compelled to
Speaker 1: work hard in a space that isn't quite the same.
Speaker 1: So how do you go from being the best in
Speaker 1: the world and having all of these skills that made
Speaker 1: you a great swimmer to doing something different?
Speaker 2: And do you have advice for maybe athletes that are.
Speaker 1: Just going to come out of college and that's the
Speaker 1: end for them, or ending their pro career, who are
Speaker 1: figuring out the next step.
Speaker 3: Letting go of that ego, understanding that yes, you may
Speaker 3: have been the best in your sport, but that doesn't
Speaker 3: mean you're the best in every aspect of life. And
Speaker 3: so if you're able to learn something from someone else,
Speaker 3: or if you're able to get have a mentor do that,
Speaker 3: that is so significant and has been a significant part
Speaker 3: of my transition into the real world, I guess everyone
Speaker 3: would say. But there's also a huge grieving period. There's
Speaker 3: a grieving period of not necessarily when I read online
Speaker 3: what grieving period is after this, it's I don't have
Speaker 3: an identity. I don't know who I am outside of sport.
Speaker 3: I never felt that way. It was more of I
Speaker 3: dedicated my life to this for so long, and I
Speaker 3: made all these sacrifices, as well as all these other
Speaker 3: people who made these sacrifices. So now it's almost like
Speaker 3: I have to do more for these other people who
Speaker 3: had these sacrifices. But what I realize now is my
Speaker 3: support system made those sacrifices because they loved me and
Speaker 3: that they wanted to see me succeed. They're not expecting
Speaker 3: anything in return, And so really letting go of that
Speaker 3: guilt that I felt. I don't know if anyone else
Speaker 3: feels that, but that guilt that I not only put
Speaker 3: my whole life on hold, but everyone around me put
Speaker 3: their life on hold for my success. So that was
Speaker 3: a huge grieving process to really get through and understand
Speaker 3: that I have come back to my core and who
Speaker 3: I am and do self core for myself, and then
Speaker 3: I'm able to radiate that love and radiate that hard
Speaker 3: work that the skills that I have learned through sport
Speaker 3: to be successful in any aspect of my life that
Speaker 3: I am now passionate about, which I'm lucky to find
Speaker 3: this team with Surge and really help empower these younger
Speaker 3: generations to continue in sport and learn resilience and learn
Speaker 3: confidence and really be proud of who they are.
Speaker 1: When you have a bad day these days, which I'm
Speaker 1: sure you still do sometimes no matter how much work
Speaker 1: you've done. No matter how robust the toolkit, you're still
Speaker 1: going to have one of those days.
Speaker 2: How do you.
Speaker 1: Handle it and how do you keep from being hard
Speaker 1: on yourself that that still happens.
Speaker 3: I'm still trying to learn, aren't we all. But I
Speaker 3: coming back to my core, and that's coming back to
Speaker 3: self care. Sometimes that's journaling. Sometimes that's going for a walk.
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's going for a swim, going into the gym,
Speaker 3: talking to someone, picking up the phone and calling my mom.
Speaker 3: It changes every day, but really understanding what I need
Speaker 3: and sitting with those feelings and understanding what I need
Speaker 3: in that moment is really what gets me through those
Speaker 3: hard times. And that doesn't mean that I don't cry,
Speaker 3: because sometimes I need that good cry, and I need
Speaker 3: that good cry to then look in the mirror and
Speaker 3: say you got this, You are strong, you are capable,
Speaker 3: and to get back up on my feet and try again.
Speaker 3: I was talking to some kids the other day and
Speaker 3: ask them what they're most proud about, and a lot
Speaker 3: of them said they didn't really know. So I said,
Speaker 3: I'll go first, and I'm proud of myself because I
Speaker 3: am able to stand up after failure and I can
Speaker 3: tell myself. You can do hard things and then I'm
Speaker 3: able to continue on with my day and figure out
Speaker 3: how to get over that hump and to find my successes.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean that's the key to all the work, right,
Speaker 1: is so that when the moment hits you say, I've
Speaker 1: been here before. Here's my set of tools, here's the
Speaker 1: one I need today, and here's how I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: myself out of this and get back on the right
Speaker 1: side of my day. Well, congratulations on your incredible success
Speaker 1: in the pool and now the success outside of it
Speaker 1: and all the work you're doing.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for the time.
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you so much. It's great talking to you.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Alison for taking the time. We got
Speaker 1: to take another break back in a jiff. Welcome back slices.
Speaker 1: We love that you're listening, but we want you to
Speaker 1: get in the game every day too.
Speaker 2: So here's our good game play of the day.
Speaker 1: Follow Allison on social media and follow a couple of
Speaker 1: mental health related orgs we love as well, like to
Speaker 1: write Love on her Arms and No Me the National
Speaker 1: Alliance on Mental Illness.
Speaker 2: We'll link to all three of them in the show notes.
Speaker 1: We always love to hear from you, so hit us
Speaker 1: up on email, good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or
Speaker 1: leave us a voicemail at eight seven two two oh
Speaker 1: four fifty seventy and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review.
Speaker 1: Do it right now, scroll down five stars, tell us
Speaker 1: you love us. It really helps, I promise, and it's
Speaker 1: super easy. Watch Filling your mental health toolbox with tools,
Speaker 1: rating five out of five ways to get right review.
Speaker 1: It's so important to listen to your body and your
Speaker 1: mind and have go to tools for those moments when
Speaker 1: things feel particularly overwhelming or those days when you just
Speaker 1: can't seem to get out of your funk. I've got
Speaker 1: a few go tos when my news watching or news
Speaker 1: scrolling suddenly hits too hard, and they include putting down
Speaker 1: my phone, going on on a long walk with one
Speaker 1: of my dogs, getting out in nature, lying down somewhere quiet,
Speaker 1: and listening to Taylor Swift's Folklore that album just seems
Speaker 1: to do the trick for me, or doing box breaths
Speaker 1: and doing one or all of those right when I
Speaker 1: feel the darkness or overwhelm coming on keeps me from
Speaker 1: syncing into it. So start thinking about your own tricks
Speaker 1: and tools ahead of time, so you've got a plan,
Speaker 1: and remember you can always reach out to friends and family.
Speaker 1: Community and connection are the best way to power through
Speaker 1: those tough times.
Speaker 2: Now it's your turn, rate and review. Thanks for listening, y'all.
Speaker 2: See you tomorrow. Good game, Allison, Good game.
Speaker 1: To all the progress made in destigmatizing mental health.
Speaker 2: Few bad days. You know it's normal to have them,
Speaker 2: but doesn't mean they don't suck.
Speaker 1: Good Game with Sarah Spain is an iHeart women's sports
Speaker 1: production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Production by Wonder Media Network,
Speaker 1: our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones. Our executive
Speaker 1: producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Emily Rutter, Britney Martinez, Grace Lynch, and
Speaker 1: Gianna Palmer.
Speaker 2: Our associate producer is Lucy Jones.
Speaker 1: Production assistance from Avery Loftist and I'm Your Host Sarah
Speaker 1: Spain