Speaker 1: Welcome back, everybody to another episode of Comeback Stories with
Speaker 1: my man Donnie. As always always, I always want to
Speaker 1: show you love off the top. We have an amazing
Speaker 1: guest with us today. She is a w NBA All
Speaker 1: Star two times. As a matter of fact, played for
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Links, was a Rookie of the Year All
Speaker 1: American in college at Yukon Olympic gold medalists. I mean,
Speaker 1: we could go all day with her accolades. We're decided
Speaker 1: to have the FISA Collier today and the FISA welcome. Hey,
Speaker 1: thanks guys. Now, it's really dope to have you here
Speaker 1: here on Comeback Stories. We love to dive into your
Speaker 1: entire journey and start from the beginning, so we want
Speaker 1: to know what was growing up for you. Like, oh man,
Speaker 1: we're getting deep early, Yes, growing up. I grew up
Speaker 1: in a small town in Missouri. So actually it's really
Speaker 1: hard for media into basketball. I played a bunch of
Speaker 1: sports before even going in that. I tried to join
Speaker 1: a basketball team kind of late for you know, the town.
Speaker 1: When I was in I was in fourth grade and
Speaker 1: in the beginning, no one wanted me on their team.
Speaker 1: They already had like their clicks in the city again
Speaker 1: kind of that small town vibe, and so we just
Speaker 1: create our own team. We got a bunch of girls
Speaker 1: from like the surrounding towns and we killed it. Of Course,
Speaker 1: those teams later on asked if I could be on
Speaker 1: their team, but it was too late. We already had
Speaker 1: like a championship team. We're traveling all over the place,
Speaker 1: winning tournaments, going to nationals, things like that. And then
Speaker 1: I moved to Saint Louis. When I was sixteen, I
Speaker 1: joined Incarnate Word. We won three state championships. That's where
Speaker 1: Yukon sawmy was playing with them. Went to Yukon, got
Speaker 1: recruited thereon one tip my freshman year and then lost
Speaker 1: three restart years in a row in the final four,
Speaker 1: which is tough. And then yeah, I got drafted to
Speaker 1: Minnesota at six one workie of the year. It was, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was tough. I mean all like transitioning from college
Speaker 1: to I mean high school to college was really tough.
Speaker 1: My freshman year was definitely like the hardest thing I've
Speaker 1: had to go through basketball wise. Just mentally, it's so hard,
Speaker 1: especially at Yukon. You just like everyone going there is
Speaker 1: the best from where they could come from, and so
Speaker 1: I knew it would be really hard physically, but just mentally,
Speaker 1: it was a whole different game the way that he
Speaker 1: prepares you. And it's the reason why there's so many
Speaker 1: good Yukon players in the league, and there have been,
Speaker 1: it's because you know, he takes you in the trenches first,
Speaker 1: like build up that mental stamina to make you strong,
Speaker 1: and freshman year is like when it really hits you.
Speaker 1: So it was tough, but getting through that it was
Speaker 1: a It was a roller coaster. I had started, I
Speaker 1: lost my starting spot, I played horrible the whole year,
Speaker 1: and then finally it kind of just clicked my when
Speaker 1: we got to the tournament and then you know, I
Speaker 1: had a good three years after that, and coming into
Speaker 1: the league, I kind of felt that slump again like
Speaker 1: I had my freshman year, but thankfully I was able
Speaker 1: to like kind of recognize that a lot earlier than before,
Speaker 1: and I again just flipped that switch, and then you know,
Speaker 1: the rest is history. I got Rookie of the Year,
Speaker 1: I got I was an All Star that year. Never
Speaker 1: looked back well, I mean, in order to write a
Speaker 1: comeback story, it sounds like you've bounced back from multiple
Speaker 1: adversities just from what you've described so far, Like, what
Speaker 1: do you accredit that to? Do you credit that to
Speaker 1: certain principles? Do you credit that to just gaining experience
Speaker 1: and those those failures being valuable? What do you your resilience?
Speaker 1: What do you attribute that to? H I think just competitiveness.
Speaker 1: I mean, as athletes were so competitive and that drive
Speaker 1: to win is so like fierce and ingrained in you.
Speaker 1: So I don't know where it came from. Both my
Speaker 1: parents are competitive, so I don't know if it was
Speaker 1: bread into me or like nature and nurture. It was
Speaker 1: both because they're competitive, and then just everything we did
Speaker 1: it was like you had to win at it. And
Speaker 1: so I think when you get through those challenges, it's
Speaker 1: just it's not the end. It's just how am I
Speaker 1: going to get over that? Instead of it doesn't even
Speaker 1: cross your mind to stop. So when you have that mentality,
Speaker 1: it'll take you a lot of places. It will take
Speaker 1: you pretty far, no doubt. And I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: we get introduced to adversity as far as on the
Speaker 1: external and the internal from a very early age growing up.
Speaker 1: For me, the first adversity I faced was people told
Speaker 1: me I was not black enough, So I had this
Speaker 1: mental narrative from elementary school moving forward that you know,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be tough for me. I gotta perform
Speaker 1: for all these people. I gotta show them something that
Speaker 1: I'm not because I don't feel like i'm enough. They
Speaker 1: tell me that something is wrong with me. Was there
Speaker 1: any type of pain or any type of event that
Speaker 1: harmed you anyway shaped you in any way from your
Speaker 1: childhood or as a teenager that affected the way she
Speaker 1: looked at life going forward. Absolutely, I mean I'm the
Speaker 1: same way. My dad's African, super I mean, like he's black.
Speaker 1: My mom's wife, she comes from a dairy farm in Missouri,
Speaker 1: so really opposite cultures growing up, and it was the same.
Speaker 1: I was, you know, too white for the black people
Speaker 1: and two black for the white people. And I went
Speaker 1: to a really really small town when I was in kindergarten.
Speaker 1: It's the only place that my parents could find for
Speaker 1: like full day childcare pretty much because the kindergarten's in
Speaker 1: our town for whatever reason, it was like a half day.
Speaker 1: And I was the only black person in the whole
Speaker 1: school K through twelve, And my first like awakening, I
Speaker 1: guess with that would be we were on the slides.
Speaker 1: I remember, I guess I was like six, I was
Speaker 1: a kindergarten and these two girls that I thought were
Speaker 1: my friends, they were like, we can't play with you
Speaker 1: anymore because you're black and more white. And I never
Speaker 1: even thought about that before. I mean, I guess when
Speaker 1: you're so young and it's normal growing up with a
Speaker 1: black parent and a white parent, you don't see that
Speaker 1: as like, obviously you see other people look different, but
Speaker 1: you're so young and incident at that age, you don't think,
Speaker 1: you know, you don't think difference a bad thing. You
Speaker 1: don't realize that in people's minds there's a divide. And
Speaker 1: so that was kind of the first time that it
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember it still so obviously. It was
Speaker 1: like a core memory for me, and it affected how
Speaker 1: I kind of saw life. I guess it was just
Speaker 1: like it took away a little bit of innocence in
Speaker 1: that I hear you on that do you do you
Speaker 1: feel like basketball in a sense gave you a freedom
Speaker 1: from those type of environments, But know there may have
Speaker 1: an emotion feeling like I don't know how I can
Speaker 1: win here with having both of me being both of these,
Speaker 1: Like you feel like you may have to choose a side.
Speaker 1: Perhaps is that something that you feel as as a
Speaker 1: as a mixed human being, Like, do you feel like
Speaker 1: there were times in life where you had to choose
Speaker 1: a side? And with that, do you feel like basketball
Speaker 1: was an escape or a freedom or just a deep
Speaker 1: breath from that? I think a couple of times, just
Speaker 1: in like a negative way. I think growing up, you know,
Speaker 1: you really want to fit in and again, like I said,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like you maybe went through the same
Speaker 1: thing or two you know, white for the black people,
Speaker 1: too black for the white people. You felt like you
Speaker 1: had to conform in some ways. So I did feel
Speaker 1: like growing up, you know, I'm trying to be what
Speaker 1: other people want me to be. And thankfully, you know,
Speaker 1: I have a really strong family support and they instill
Speaker 1: that confidence in myself where I got over that and
Speaker 1: I saw the value of just being who you are
Speaker 1: and trying not trying to fit into a mold that
Speaker 1: other people have. And then I think more recently with like,
Speaker 1: you know, we have this big social justice push and
Speaker 1: you can you can like use that how we're in
Speaker 1: the in between. We can be an advocate for you know,
Speaker 1: the our side, and we can I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think it's just easier to see both sides and to
Speaker 1: kind of be a bridge between two such opposing arguments.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, I think it's you can use
Speaker 1: it to your advantage as well. Absolutely, that's that's a
Speaker 1: really powerful perspective. Um. We talk about the early pain,
Speaker 1: but we like to you know, compliment that with you know,
Speaker 1: who were the first teachers you said, You sound like
Speaker 1: your parents instilled a lot in you, instilled a lot
Speaker 1: of confidence to be yourself despite the narratives that may
Speaker 1: have been hitting you from the outside. What were they
Speaker 1: teaching you from a very young age and what do
Speaker 1: you value the most about your childhood experience with them? Yeah,
Speaker 1: my parents, I mean from a really early age, just
Speaker 1: taught me like the value of the different cultures that
Speaker 1: I have because especially growing up, we had like the
Speaker 1: Africans my dad's side, and all of them were Africans,
Speaker 1: you know, and we had the farmers and like the
Speaker 1: like country people on my mom's side, and all of
Speaker 1: them were that and I was the old one that
Speaker 1: was mixed. So they kind of taught me to embrace that,
Speaker 1: Like I have the benefit of having two cultures and
Speaker 1: seeing such different like scopes of life that a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't have. So I think they just taught
Speaker 1: me like the value in that. And so I mean,
Speaker 1: I love my parents. I could talk all day about them,
Speaker 1: but I just, you know, I thought they did a
Speaker 1: really great job of turning something that as a kid
Speaker 1: you might see as a negative being different, and making
Speaker 1: it into a positive and saying like, this is what
Speaker 1: makes you special, this is what makes you who you are.
Speaker 1: I'm going back to how you were commenting. First of all,
Speaker 1: with the basketball team, You're first crack at basketball and
Speaker 1: trying to get on a team, and there wasn't any
Speaker 1: availability on the teams in town, so you created your
Speaker 1: own team, which I think is a great lesson, and
Speaker 1: it's very easy, especially at a younger age when we
Speaker 1: don't have the support maybe or the tools to actually
Speaker 1: be able to take action and not be the victim
Speaker 1: or you know, just basically take personal responsibility to make
Speaker 1: things happen on your own. And then to be on
Speaker 1: the slide and the kid the slide, and the kids
Speaker 1: not allowing you to play with them, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of I mean, that's that's like traumatizing in many ways.
Speaker 1: But what I'm hearing in a lot of your answers
Speaker 1: is just a greater perspective. And maybe having those two
Speaker 1: cultures and having that that foundation of your parents has
Speaker 1: given you that perspective. But I mean, do you have
Speaker 1: any other like, um, can you point to anything else
Speaker 1: that has that has allowed you to kind of see
Speaker 1: the world that the way it is today? Uh? I
Speaker 1: really attribute that to basketball. I've been able to see
Speaker 1: and meet so many different people through it, Like I've
Speaker 1: been able to travel to different countries, travel around the world,
Speaker 1: and I think that, I mean just naturally gives you
Speaker 1: a really good perspective because you're not stuck in one place.
Speaker 1: You know, even growing up from when I started in
Speaker 1: sixth grade traveling AU, we're traveling all across the country, like,
Speaker 1: you get to meet different people, So I think naturally
Speaker 1: that just makes you a lot more well rounded. And
Speaker 1: then also just being on a team it like you
Speaker 1: have to work with people whose personalities are different from yours,
Speaker 1: but also allows you to work with people who like
Speaker 1: lives that you've never seen. Especially growing up in a
Speaker 1: small town, I wasn't exposed to a lot of different lifestyles.
Speaker 1: Like we all pretty much were like grew up the
Speaker 1: same in the same area, and so being on different
Speaker 1: teams were people from different towns, and then as I
Speaker 1: went to college, people from different states, you know, different countries,
Speaker 1: things like that. Just seeing how they grew up and
Speaker 1: what their experiences were like, it just allows you to
Speaker 1: see the worlds in a different way, and it does
Speaker 1: give you that bigger perspective of where you grew up
Speaker 1: is not how everything is. It's not the way that
Speaker 1: everything is. We talk a lot about self love and
Speaker 1: loving ourselves and not being good enough. And I think
Speaker 1: in my experience as a coach and just even my
Speaker 1: own personal experience and anybody I've ever talked to you you,
Speaker 1: there's this story of the not enough story, which manifests
Speaker 1: in many different ways. How do you feel like, I mean,
Speaker 1: it sounds like you very easily could have had that
Speaker 1: story when you're too black for the white and too
Speaker 1: white for the black people, that you could have that
Speaker 1: not enough story kind of take you down a dark road.
Speaker 1: Was there any times where that not enough story was
Speaker 1: kind of hijacking your life into a messy place in
Speaker 1: your mental health? So I guess I'm curious how did
Speaker 1: it help you? And then how did it maybe hurt
Speaker 1: you having that story or just going through what you
Speaker 1: went through. I think so far as like as a
Speaker 1: kid through high school, like I said, I have a
Speaker 1: really strong family unit unit, and then also being good
Speaker 1: at sports like that kind of deters that. Also because
Speaker 1: you know, I'm the best in the area that I
Speaker 1: came from, so everyone of course like wants to be
Speaker 1: your friend when you're the best at something. So I
Speaker 1: think the first time I had like a real challenge
Speaker 1: with that mentally was my freshman year of college. I
Speaker 1: mean it was so tough. Like the way that they
Speaker 1: try to prepare you at Yukon is like he changes
Speaker 1: the entire way that you think about the game. So
Speaker 1: for example, in high school, if we were to do
Speaker 1: like a backdoor cut, it would be a play. There
Speaker 1: is no like thinking on your own, like creating kind
Speaker 1: of thing. And then at Yukon, our offense is basically
Speaker 1: like an outline circle, like you have general rules and
Speaker 1: then you work within that. You have to you know,
Speaker 1: basically expand your basketball IQ, which was just it was
Speaker 1: so hard to do because physically you're exhausted, like you're
Speaker 1: a freshman, You're playing with the best players in the world.
Speaker 1: Brianna Stewart was my senior, So you know you're coming
Speaker 1: to a super prolific organization and so there's just a
Speaker 1: lot of nerves on that already, and then on top
Speaker 1: of that, your ass to like you're exhausted, it's been
Speaker 1: three hours you're playing, and then you have to think
Speaker 1: at the top of your game otherwise you know it's
Speaker 1: gonna be you're not. It's not good. So I think
Speaker 1: just having that pressure like it was a lot. And
Speaker 1: I really really struggled my freshman year just mentally, like
Speaker 1: for some reason, I couldn't remember a play and I've
Speaker 1: never had a problem with that before. And then once
Speaker 1: that started, that just got into my head and it
Speaker 1: just like spiraled. And that's when I was saying, like,
Speaker 1: my freshman year is such a roller coaster for me.
Speaker 1: And finally I just got to the point where like
Speaker 1: I'm done feeling like this. I hate this feeling. Playing
Speaker 1: is not fun for me anymore, and so I just
Speaker 1: let go. And once I did that, I became the
Speaker 1: player that I knew I could be. And so for me,
Speaker 1: I've really taken that lesson in everything, like when I
Speaker 1: try to be perfect and I try I put all
Speaker 1: this pressure on myself. It's never good when I do
Speaker 1: what I put in the work. I know how good
Speaker 1: of a player I am when I rely on that,
Speaker 1: it's just it's I just found that it's always so
Speaker 1: much better for me. You may have just answered my
Speaker 1: next question, but I was going to ask you, what
Speaker 1: do you think was the biggest thing holding you back?
Speaker 1: Was it the perfectionism that you were just talking about,
Speaker 1: or was it something else? It was definitely me, just
Speaker 1: the pressure that I put on myself, because again I
Speaker 1: keep saying this, but everyone at Yukon's the best from
Speaker 1: when they best of where they come from. And so
Speaker 1: I just assumed, you know, like, yeah, it's gonna be hard,
Speaker 1: but I'm a good player, I'll be fine. And when
Speaker 1: I wasn't, it just messed with me so much because
Speaker 1: I know, like my level of potential and when I'm
Speaker 1: not living up to that, it's just frustrating. And so
Speaker 1: that just got into my head and it just kept
Speaker 1: like stacky on, stacky on, and I think I just
Speaker 1: snowballed it in my head, and for whatever reason, I
Speaker 1: couldn't get out of that loop until I just until
Speaker 1: I just got to the breaking point where I was just,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm done feeling like this. What was like
Speaker 1: the lowest point? What was it? If you can take
Speaker 1: us back to that moment, Hey, I do remember because
Speaker 1: I had already gotten to like that bad mental state
Speaker 1: pretty much. But for whatever reason, I don't know if
Speaker 1: we had an injury or something, I got like a
Speaker 1: starting spot. I had played a couple of good games
Speaker 1: in a row, and that like added pressure to me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I'm a starter, I'm a freshman, I'm
Speaker 1: playing with all these great players, coaches. You know, he
Speaker 1: has this faith in me. I need to perform well.
Speaker 1: And I had sucked and we were at Memphis, I remember,
Speaker 1: and I lost my starting spot at halftime, and I
Speaker 1: was just like shit, I mean it was I mean,
Speaker 1: that was really tough because I knew I was playing bad.
Speaker 1: I knew I didn't deserve to have that spot, which
Speaker 1: is just even worse and even worse feeling because I'm like,
Speaker 1: I know I could have it, but the way I'm performing, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't deserve it. And then he took it, and
Speaker 1: so I think that just kind of that was definitely
Speaker 1: like my low point. I gotta I gotta stop because
Speaker 1: she said when she talked when Nafisa, when you talked
Speaker 1: about letting go, and I'm tired of feeling this way.
Speaker 1: So when I let go, you know, these things started
Speaker 1: to happen. My journey really started to commence among from
Speaker 1: me being a better player, my IQ growing. And I
Speaker 1: feel like there's such a like a life lesson in that,
Speaker 1: because I feel like so many people want to be
Speaker 1: so great or a master at what they do so
Speaker 1: quickly that you know if they're not that exactly when
Speaker 1: they want to be, that they put so much pressure
Speaker 1: on themselves. I've done the same thing on numerous occasions,
Speaker 1: and it's like when you allow yourself to say, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna let go of the timetable on when I become
Speaker 1: great or the timetable on when I improve, and just
Speaker 1: be present to this journey and enjoy it like no
Speaker 1: wonder you were able to blossom from there, because then
Speaker 1: from there the discomfort and those challenges like being benched
Speaker 1: at halftime, you could be able to start to use
Speaker 1: those to your advantage as opposed to holding them over
Speaker 1: yourself and just walking under that dark cloud at all times.
Speaker 1: So I feel like for the people that are listening,
Speaker 1: like to hear what you said there and to really
Speaker 1: take that in is such a valuable life lesson and
Speaker 1: I just wanted to stop and just acknowledge that that
Speaker 1: you said that well, I think you phrase it in
Speaker 1: a great way. Putting a timetable on it is really
Speaker 1: what messed me up, because I'm like, I need to
Speaker 1: be good now. But when you know the potential and
Speaker 1: you're confident in yourself, like I know I can get there,
Speaker 1: but I don't need to do it tomorrow. You're absolutely right,
Speaker 1: Like what stressed me out is putting a timetable on
Speaker 1: it instead of just like enjoying the process and taking
Speaker 1: the journey to get there. Just yeah, So I like
Speaker 1: to tell you with that so much easier said and done.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's such a valuable lesson of the idea
Speaker 1: of like people think the pot of gold is at
Speaker 1: the end of the rainbow, but the pot of gold
Speaker 1: is actually the rainbow. It's the journey. And I think
Speaker 1: the attachment to what I'm gonna get when I do
Speaker 1: this work instead of like who I'm going to become
Speaker 1: because of this work, And I'm just going back to
Speaker 1: your adversity and I can't even imagine freshman year, being
Speaker 1: thrown at the highest level in that environment with that coach.
Speaker 1: What a gift to be able to go through all that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do it again. It was the hardest point in
Speaker 1: my life, but I would do it again. It made
Speaker 1: me the player that I am today. So what lessons, Like,
Speaker 1: what are a couple of the lessons that you would
Speaker 1: take maybe from your years, your college years or that
Speaker 1: specific year or that circumstance, Like what lessons are you
Speaker 1: still carrying on today? And maybe they turned into tools
Speaker 1: or a mindset. They absolutely turned to a mindset. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I was talking about with my
Speaker 1: rookie year. I had a horrible training camp. I scored
Speaker 1: like six points in all our training camp games combined,
Speaker 1: and I felt myself kind of reverting back to how
Speaker 1: I fell as a freshman, just like not confident when
Speaker 1: I'm doing that snowball fact of like I need to
Speaker 1: be good now. And thankfully I was able to catch
Speaker 1: it and like realize that I'm doing the same thing
Speaker 1: that I did as a freshman, and thankfully didn't take
Speaker 1: me seven months to get out of it again, only
Speaker 1: two weeks. But whenever I feel myself kind of get
Speaker 1: into a run like that. Again, the lesson that I
Speaker 1: learned as a freshman absolutely comes into play, and I
Speaker 1: just allows me to take a breath, to know that
Speaker 1: I've been here before and then I've gotten out of
Speaker 1: it before, and it gives me the confidence to know that,
Speaker 1: you know, to be able to see, like learn about
Speaker 1: myself a little bit more and know what those triggers
Speaker 1: are for me, I guess, and to be able to
Speaker 1: pull myself out of it. I feel like there may
Speaker 1: have been the same opportunities for you to go back
Speaker 1: into that mindset when we talk about like you coming
Speaker 1: back and playing after your pregnancy, which we can I
Speaker 1: want to ask you questions about that as well, But
Speaker 1: you know what what what was? What was that? Like
Speaker 1: um as compared to these other situations where there's similar
Speaker 1: thoughts that you had to battle through, Because it seems
Speaker 1: like from college to you know, the time and training camp,
Speaker 1: your rookie year and now you know, after your pregnancy
Speaker 1: you come back and you're bouncing back, and I'm sure
Speaker 1: that those thoughts may want to creep their way back in,
Speaker 1: like does it get easier or is it you just
Speaker 1: is it just something like you get stronger along the
Speaker 1: way as you continue to battle these thoughts. What what
Speaker 1: was your take on that. I think the thoughts get
Speaker 1: easier because I'm able to catch them. But for my pregnancy,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's the hardest thing I've ever done. I thankfully,
Speaker 1: you know, knock on what have been really lucky with injuries.
Speaker 1: So this is the first like true rehab comeback that
Speaker 1: I've had to do physically, and oh my god, don't
Speaker 1: recommend like it is hard and I thought, as an athlete,
Speaker 1: I would just be able to snap back, honestly, and no,
Speaker 1: that's not what happened. I mean, it was really really tough.
Speaker 1: And then I came back to the team six weeks
Speaker 1: after I gave birth. So yeah, it was just like
Speaker 1: the hardest process that I've ever had to go through physically,
Speaker 1: And I think the fact that it was so hard,
Speaker 1: like right from the beginning kind of leveled my expectations
Speaker 1: a little bit more. And at that point, my only
Speaker 1: goal was to get on the court, like be around
Speaker 1: the team, because the only reason I came back was
Speaker 1: to be around Sylvia. It was for last year, so
Speaker 1: I wasn't expecting to come back and win MVP, and
Speaker 1: I think that might be the difference. Like the other
Speaker 1: times I'm healthy, I know what I can do, I'm
Speaker 1: just not living up to my own expectations, And for
Speaker 1: this one, I'm like, there's no way, Like you know
Speaker 1: your body, and I know there's no way that I'm
Speaker 1: going to be able to be back in ten weeks
Speaker 1: you know how I was before. So that definitely helped
Speaker 1: just the mental side on that end. But you know,
Speaker 1: you know, she's nine months old now and it's taken
Speaker 1: me probably a good eight months to get to feel
Speaker 1: how I did before. So during that time was probably
Speaker 1: the hardest mentally, not because there's a time stamp. I mean,
Speaker 1: there is the season's always looming over your head like
Speaker 1: I need to be ready, I need to be ready
Speaker 1: for that, but it's just like, am I ever going
Speaker 1: to be ready? That's kind of what it feels like,
Speaker 1: because it's such a long time for your body to
Speaker 1: get how it felt before. So just getting over that
Speaker 1: mentally was probably, you know, the longest stretch that I've
Speaker 1: had to go through where I'm like, you know, can
Speaker 1: I do this? I feel like I'm going to ask
Speaker 1: something where it's going to take us maybe somewhere we've
Speaker 1: never gone before. But when Darren was asking about what
Speaker 1: it was like with the mental thoughts. But it reminds
Speaker 1: me of a conversation I was having with my partner
Speaker 1: the other night about hormones and like dealing with all
Speaker 1: of that and how much of a mind fuck that
Speaker 1: can be. And I remember an old X that I
Speaker 1: had that was going through a process with hormones and
Speaker 1: doing the whole um harvesting her or getting her eggs,
Speaker 1: and I just remember the emotional roller coaster ride that
Speaker 1: went on. I remember one time she she cried because
Speaker 1: I used your yoga Matt. I mean, I just don't
Speaker 1: we don't understand that. As guys, we don't understand that.
Speaker 1: Like I'm taking it personally, like what's wrong with you?
Speaker 1: But there's actually like a full So I don't know
Speaker 1: where this is gonna go. But I'm just curious, like,
Speaker 1: and we have a lot female listener, so maybe we can.
Speaker 1: And this is great education actually for the male listeners
Speaker 1: to be able to understand that process, but for you
Speaker 1: to go through that and then also creating this comeback
Speaker 1: to get on the court and then be a mom.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit about that experience.
Speaker 1: The hormones are crazy. It's not your fault. Let me
Speaker 1: just tell you, Like, because there's instances like the yoga
Speaker 1: map where you're like, Okay, I know I'm being irrational,
Speaker 1: but I can't help it. But there's other instances where
Speaker 1: it's just like you feel like you're one hundred percent right,
Speaker 1: and then looking back now that I have like a
Speaker 1: clear head, I'm like, I was actually crazy. But they
Speaker 1: mess with your head. I mean obviously the hormones, Like
Speaker 1: it's a chemical imbalance in your brain that's not usually there,
Speaker 1: So you're crying over everything, like you're irritable over everything,
Speaker 1: and then it starts to feel normal. I'm like, is
Speaker 1: it me or is it the hormones? I don't know,
Speaker 1: so I think it was probably rougher on Alex because
Speaker 1: he's on the how to deal with it, But yeah,
Speaker 1: the hormones are crazy, and there's so much stuff I
Speaker 1: didn't know either, Like there are hormones that relax your
Speaker 1: entire body, which was one of the reasons why it
Speaker 1: was so hard for me to get back in shape,
Speaker 1: Like so your pregnant belly, your abs are on the
Speaker 1: side like this, so they're that spread out and you
Speaker 1: have to get them back together. Where they were, which
Speaker 1: is not easy. And then breastfeeding continues to have that
Speaker 1: hormone release in your body which makes everything relax, so
Speaker 1: you have no fast switch muscles, so that means you
Speaker 1: can't jump, I means you can't go side to side
Speaker 1: to defend. And those don't go back for a full
Speaker 1: year after you stop breastfeeding, So technically my joints are
Speaker 1: still not as like strong as they were before or
Speaker 1: as fused together as they were before. So it's just
Speaker 1: like such a process and there's so many different hormones
Speaker 1: doing so many different things. It's just it's a lot
Speaker 1: that I didn't know either. The women are the real
Speaker 1: heroes of this world. I keep thinking, over sure, we
Speaker 1: got it pretty easy over here, about were there moments
Speaker 1: in your pregnancy where you had maybe like a fear
Speaker 1: of missing out on basketball or you know, was there
Speaker 1: pressure or like you making this decision, like one, is
Speaker 1: this something that a lot of players in your league
Speaker 1: fear doing to to start a family, And what was
Speaker 1: it like mustering up the courage to do it? If
Speaker 1: you were really having these thoughts about I don't know,
Speaker 1: what's this going to do to my career? Like what
Speaker 1: was that like yeah, so um me, it was like
Speaker 1: a happy surprise. And so it's not like I planned
Speaker 1: her and I was thinking about the season, but as
Speaker 1: soon as I found out, I was pregnant. Like calling
Speaker 1: my coaches one of my first thoughts because I knew
Speaker 1: she had to think about the season. So it's definitely
Speaker 1: a thought in your head. And I mean it's actually
Speaker 1: a problem now. I mean, I'm sure you guys have
Speaker 1: seen like the drama surrounding Deerica in just like it's
Speaker 1: hard because we have a new CBA that has often
Speaker 1: awesome benefits from others. So like I got my full
Speaker 1: salary even if I didn't play a game. There's other accommodations,
Speaker 1: but it's still like the money comes off the salary
Speaker 1: cap for us. So it's still like a It's a
Speaker 1: bad thing for teams because you're having a player that's
Speaker 1: not playing be self to pay for them, and so
Speaker 1: it could still have like repercussions for the player because
Speaker 1: maybe I don't want to hire a player that's in childbirth,
Speaker 1: that is straight, or that is thinking about having a child,
Speaker 1: or that you know, all these things. They have to
Speaker 1: take that into consideration now, which is bad for the players.
Speaker 1: So it's still like kind of a bad thing that
Speaker 1: you have to think about. So, I mean that's something
Speaker 1: that we have to change in our league. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's always in the back of your mind.
Speaker 1: If you want a child, these are the things that
Speaker 1: you have to think about because it could have negative
Speaker 1: you know, a reaction with your team or potential teams.
Speaker 1: For maybe a future w NBA player that's going to say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm still going to go this route despite what a
Speaker 1: team may think, or despite what repercussions there are, because
Speaker 1: I want to start a family. How would you help them?
Speaker 1: What words would you give them to be able to
Speaker 1: focus on the blessing that it is as opposed to
Speaker 1: maybe the pressure that is pushing them on the career
Speaker 1: side of their life. Yeah, it's they want to have
Speaker 1: a family. One hundred percent I would encourage them to
Speaker 1: do that. I mean, she's, you know, the best thing
Speaker 1: that's ever happened to me, and it's so special and
Speaker 1: there's so much more to life than basketball in your career.
Speaker 1: So one hundred percent I would say, don't let that
Speaker 1: be the reason to stop you. Um, it's definitely something
Speaker 1: you have to consider, but it shouldn't be a deterrent
Speaker 1: at all. And that's kind of my point with where
Speaker 1: we need to get with our league. It's so special
Speaker 1: to have a families. And if they are worried about
Speaker 1: the team, I would say, maybe try to plan it
Speaker 1: so you could be back for the next season, But
Speaker 1: I don't know I would. I would definitely encourage them
Speaker 1: if they're thinking about it, because it's just the best thing. Ever.
Speaker 1: What are you learning? What are you learning from your daughter?
Speaker 1: What are some lessons you're a new teacher? Yeah, seriously,
Speaker 1: I'm learning that she controls the entire household and I'm
Speaker 1: learning that, Uh, I guess, just like how to let
Speaker 1: someone be themselves entirely because with a person like I mean,
Speaker 1: she's a person obviously, but like with an adult, you
Speaker 1: can like converse back and forth like why are you
Speaker 1: doing this? Or what's your motive behind this? And with her,
Speaker 1: she's just on herself. Everything she's doing is like based
Speaker 1: off an instinct. So it's just really kind of cool
Speaker 1: to see like how she goes about her day to
Speaker 1: day things like why are you doing that? And it's
Speaker 1: just it just really makes you appreciate who people are
Speaker 1: and just like I guess who they are in like
Speaker 1: their purest sense because there's nothing that's happened to her
Speaker 1: to mold her like into a personality yet, but she
Speaker 1: has so much so it's just like it's so I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's just like I don't know how to
Speaker 1: explain it properly, but it's just really cool to see
Speaker 1: like a personality that hasn't been molded. It's just like
Speaker 1: who she is. I don't know if I explained that, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel that because like I'm I'm sitting here, I'm
Speaker 1: not a parent, but I'm thinking, like if I were
Speaker 1: to have a kid like I feel like that would
Speaker 1: be the real true test of like unconditional love, because
Speaker 1: it's like this little cute little person can do nothing
Speaker 1: for me. They cannot like, and I'm caring for them
Speaker 1: all their needs, all the things that I have to
Speaker 1: do for them and serve them without getting anything in return.
Speaker 1: And I feel like that's such a lesson right there,
Speaker 1: in love and acceptance of people where they are in
Speaker 1: their situation. Like we have grown people out here that
Speaker 1: are you know, babies and toddlers and emotional intelligence, but
Speaker 1: we if we have to accept these people where they are,
Speaker 1: even though you know, they may not be producing a
Speaker 1: whole lot in their lives, Like you know, I feel
Speaker 1: like something like that would be the ultimate lesson in
Speaker 1: teaching you, like, I can love this person even though
Speaker 1: they can't do anything for me, because we naturally we
Speaker 1: love people when it's like, oh, they they got our back,
Speaker 1: or they can you know, give us a hook up
Speaker 1: or you know what I'm saying. Yeah, and it sounds
Speaker 1: like not only can they oh sorry, no, you go ahead.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, not only can they not do
Speaker 1: anything for you, but they literally just take and take from,
Speaker 1: take fromute, and then you'll just you don't care like
Speaker 1: you want them. You want to give them everything that
Speaker 1: you have, and you the love that you have is
Speaker 1: so unconditional, so it is, like you said, just so
Speaker 1: pure because they're not going to give you anything, it's
Speaker 1: just but then the way that they look at you,
Speaker 1: it feels like the best gifts in the world. So
Speaker 1: it feels like they are giving you something because the
Speaker 1: unconditional love it goes with ways. When if you do
Speaker 1: become a parent, you'll know, just like the way that
Speaker 1: they look at you, they feel that same love back.
Speaker 1: And it's awesome. Yeah, I had done some deep medicine
Speaker 1: work a year a little over a year and a
Speaker 1: half ago, and one of the pre integration questions was
Speaker 1: what part of you do you want to reclaim? And
Speaker 1: for me, it was my childlike heart. I feel like
Speaker 1: at some point like I didn't really laugh out loud
Speaker 1: and it didn't feel natural to laugh out loud. And
Speaker 1: since then, kids whatever age, younger kids, I live over
Speaker 1: on the beach in San Diego and watching kids on
Speaker 1: the beach and just they're my teachers of that whole
Speaker 1: idea of never losing your childlike heart. I think as
Speaker 1: we grow older and pain starts to happen to us,
Speaker 1: our emotional needs aren't met, we start to get hard,
Speaker 1: and we start to close our hearts and protect and
Speaker 1: what I hear you saying, and now that it's just
Speaker 1: that that pure, that childlike joy, that bound authenticity. They're
Speaker 1: not worried about when anybody else thinks of them. So
Speaker 1: there's just amazing lessons to be able to sit back
Speaker 1: and watch them. That's what I'm learning. And every time
Speaker 1: I see a child now, it's like I just see
Speaker 1: the joy. I see them making sandcastles or running away
Speaker 1: from the waves and It's a great reminder and it truly,
Speaker 1: truly has helped me getting back to like your mindset
Speaker 1: mental health. Darren and I are often talking about routines, rituals, habits.
Speaker 1: What does that look like. Do you have a morning routine?
Speaker 1: What are your like, your mantras, your affirmations, your anchors.
Speaker 1: Do you have a meditation practice? What does that look like? Yeah,
Speaker 1: what are your practices to keep your mind right? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I don't have a meditation, but I really need to.
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about it for a long time and
Speaker 1: I just really just need to pull the trigger. The
Speaker 1: problem is I am not a huge I'm super go
Speaker 1: with the flow, but then having a kid like makes
Speaker 1: you not be like that. So that's another thing I've
Speaker 1: learned from her is like you have to be honest
Speaker 1: schedule and it just really goes against everything in me.
Speaker 1: So that's been kind of the biggest adjustment. And so
Speaker 1: now my morning looks like wake up around like five
Speaker 1: five thirty, feed Mela, you know, usually go to a workout,
Speaker 1: lift basketball, come back, take your meal for the rest
Speaker 1: of the day. Yeah, put me a little bed, and
Speaker 1: then we kind of have my like kneetime again, you know.
Speaker 1: I love like reading, watching shows and movies. But my day,
Speaker 1: my schedule kind of revolves around her, so she's kind
Speaker 1: of the one that has put me on that Now.
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you've gotten away from, like anything
Speaker 1: you'd like to be doing in your self care practice
Speaker 1: that you're not doing now, Maybe something you were doing
Speaker 1: before and because you have someone to care for now
Speaker 1: and not you don't have as much time, you've gotten
Speaker 1: away from that, or anything else that you know you
Speaker 1: want to bring in that you haven't yet. Yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: I'd love to bring back naps. I was a big nappers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do try to, like because I know that mental
Speaker 1: health is such a big thing. I do try to
Speaker 1: keep like some of my same practices, like skincare. I
Speaker 1: try to make sure that I'm doing my skincare every day,
Speaker 1: and it just makes me feel a little bit better
Speaker 1: just to know that I'm taking care of myself in
Speaker 1: that way. There of course, there's a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: that I used to do before that I just don't
Speaker 1: have time for anymore. I mean, I could just spend
Speaker 1: a whole day like I love binging shows. I could
Speaker 1: spend a whole day meaging a show before or like
Speaker 1: reading a book or napping, So just things like that
Speaker 1: that you know I used to do those before, but
Speaker 1: I do try to take like some time in the
Speaker 1: day just for myself. I would love to add meditation
Speaker 1: to it. Though you might be talking to the right person.
Speaker 1: I might be able to help you out a little bit.
Speaker 1: I teach yoga and meditation. And it's interesting that when
Speaker 1: I tell it's usually men that I tell that I
Speaker 1: teach meditation, and they'll say I can't meditate. My mind
Speaker 1: never stops thinking, or they say I can't meditate. I
Speaker 1: don't have the time to meditate. But meditation actually gives
Speaker 1: you more time because what it ultimately does is cultivate
Speaker 1: more awareness, and then you start to notice the things
Speaker 1: that you're that are stressing you out that you don't
Speaker 1: have control over um. And the awareness is the first
Speaker 1: step in creating any kind of change in your life.
Speaker 1: And so when we are aware that our minds going
Speaker 1: down some road and we're worrying about something that happened yesterday,
Speaker 1: or we're trying to change somebody that we don't have
Speaker 1: control over, the awareness brings us we don't waste time
Speaker 1: on it anymore, and we don't waste energy. So the
Speaker 1: hack is it's actually it actually gives you more time.
Speaker 1: It opens up your perspective and opens up your life
Speaker 1: because you're gonna you're gonna be more aware. Ultimately might
Speaker 1: hell you bafter the show? Then yeah, I got you
Speaker 1: the man right trust me? Um, I want to ask you,
Speaker 1: like you said earlier, Um, No, life is a lot
Speaker 1: more than basketball. How do you balance that going forward?
Speaker 1: As I'm sure you still want to have longevity in
Speaker 1: your career, but at the same time, you know, having
Speaker 1: your daughter an account, Um, what do you what do
Speaker 1: you imagine the future for yourself looking like, whether it
Speaker 1: be certain product jakes or certain fields, certain passions like
Speaker 1: do you what have you come up with or thought
Speaker 1: about so far as what that might look like? For sure, basketball,
Speaker 1: like career wise, is still my number one thing. I
Speaker 1: want to play for as long as my body will
Speaker 1: let me. And so that's kind of my number one
Speaker 1: goal right now is to make sure that I'm putting
Speaker 1: my body in the right like physical shape. I guess
Speaker 1: to be able to do that because longevity is, you know,
Speaker 1: so hard, it's like the hardest thing. So I'm doing
Speaker 1: rehab almost every day on my by just making sure
Speaker 1: that everything's up to part you know, obviously eating healthy,
Speaker 1: working out things like that, because I mean, my number
Speaker 1: one career goal right now is basketball related, and then
Speaker 1: other than that, like after basketball, Like that's a million
Speaker 1: dollar question. I just I want to find what my
Speaker 1: passion is, and so I've been exploring different a lot
Speaker 1: of different kind of career paths. I guess because I
Speaker 1: want to I want to be able to do something
Speaker 1: after I graduate, or graduate after I retire that is
Speaker 1: like meaningful to me and not just a job that
Speaker 1: I have to take as I'm done playing. I love
Speaker 1: that a lot. I'm really interested in knowing certain people's
Speaker 1: leadership styles. You're somebody that's accomplished a lot, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, you've also overcome a lot mentally and
Speaker 1: overcome a lot of different situations of adversity. So how
Speaker 1: do you go about trying to be a leader and
Speaker 1: encouraging these young players that may have a two week
Speaker 1: stretch in training camp like you had in your rookie year,
Speaker 1: Like what kind of thing is do you try to
Speaker 1: instill in them? How do you try to show up
Speaker 1: for them along their journey? Yeah, So, well, first of all,
Speaker 1: I haven't been in training camp since I was a rookie,
Speaker 1: so this will be my first one since then. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we'll see how my leadership is in that specific
Speaker 1: like instance. But you know, before, like especially in college,
Speaker 1: I would say my leadership style was show by example.
Speaker 1: But as I've come into the league and you know,
Speaker 1: become like more of a captain and like focal point
Speaker 1: for Minnesota, I know that my leadership style has had
Speaker 1: to grow and so just becoming more vocal. It's not
Speaker 1: like naturally for me to be that kind of person,
Speaker 1: but over the years, I feel like I've grown in
Speaker 1: that area and it's something that I'm really going to
Speaker 1: have to put to the chest this year because I
Speaker 1: am the main person on our team now you know,
Speaker 1: Sylvia's retired and so that falls on my shoulders now.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to be able to answer your question
Speaker 1: better after this season because I'm going to try to
Speaker 1: implement everything that I've learned and to this point into
Speaker 1: my leadership style this in this season. I love that
Speaker 1: because I mean that's I mean, if there's anything me
Speaker 1: and Donnie stand on, it's that none of this stuff
Speaker 1: that we preach about or that we talk about or
Speaker 1: discuss like, we don't have any of this stuff completely
Speaker 1: figured out. We're continuing to learn, continuing to practice along
Speaker 1: the way. So definitely excited to see how that happens
Speaker 1: for you going forward. You know, really become a fan
Speaker 1: of the w over the last couple of years, real
Speaker 1: good friend of the show, Kelsey Plumb. Really just being
Speaker 1: in that environment, seeing your team come to town, really
Speaker 1: all the teams in the league. But I say all
Speaker 1: I have to say, I'm excited to see what you
Speaker 1: do in the imprint that you have on the young
Speaker 1: players or your team. Awesome, Thank you. How do you
Speaker 1: be in the leader now? How do you deal with pressure?
Speaker 1: Are there tools? How do you work through it? Who
Speaker 1: do you talk to? What does that look like these days?
Speaker 1: I've actually never minded like outside pressure before. I think
Speaker 1: I'm definitely my hardest critic, so outside pressure, I think
Speaker 1: that just makes you better. So I actually like when
Speaker 1: we have those kind of pressures, and the way that
Speaker 1: I think I deal with it is I don't know,
Speaker 1: especially I think when I get off the court, I
Speaker 1: just really decompressed. So I don't want to watch, especially
Speaker 1: if I'm going through a slump, like the way that
Speaker 1: to get me out of it. The fastest is I
Speaker 1: don't want to watch like film, I don't want to
Speaker 1: watch basketball. I just want to separate myself from it,
Speaker 1: and it allows me to recharge. So if I ever
Speaker 1: feel myself coming under too much pressure from myself or
Speaker 1: you know, if I'm playing beat or something like that,
Speaker 1: I think, just like separating myself from sports for a
Speaker 1: little bit, as that's what I found is like kind
Speaker 1: of recharges my battery, fills up my cup again where
Speaker 1: I'm able to go to practice the next day and
Speaker 1: attack it like I understand what I did wrong. I
Speaker 1: don't need to harp over it, and just like start
Speaker 1: the new day. I'm going back to what you said earlier.
Speaker 1: I might be bias about the meditation thing, but I'm
Speaker 1: thinking back to what you said about you will play
Speaker 1: for as long as your body allows you to. And
Speaker 1: I think this is the power the essence of meditation
Speaker 1: and mindfulness and really understanding the power of the mind
Speaker 1: body connection because our body goes along for this like
Speaker 1: emotional roller coaster ride by the madness that happens in
Speaker 1: our minds. And so the essence of these practices are
Speaker 1: to really use the mind to work for us and
Speaker 1: not against us, and to be our best friend and
Speaker 1: not our worst enemy. And I think a lot of
Speaker 1: times that voice, that inner voice, that inner critic who
Speaker 1: puts that pressure in that perfectionism on us, can drive
Speaker 1: us and it gets us to the top. But how
Speaker 1: do we make it sustainable then? And I think that's
Speaker 1: why we want to put more emphasis on taking care
Speaker 1: of our mind and taking care of our mental health
Speaker 1: because there's no separation. So this isn't just to sell
Speaker 1: you on meditation. I think it's for anybody, any high
Speaker 1: perform or anybody that's feeling banged up in their body.
Speaker 1: A lot of times, you know that big ass not
Speaker 1: we get in like our shoulders in our neck. That's
Speaker 1: not physical. It's like it's coming from our thoughts. It's
Speaker 1: coming from our mind. It's coming from stress. And all
Speaker 1: stress is really wanting the moment to be something that
Speaker 1: it's not right. So it goes back to that like
Speaker 1: awareness of noticing when we're trying to control something and
Speaker 1: then we just got to let that shit go. And
Speaker 1: it's cool because Darren and I name this podcast Comeback Stories,
Speaker 1: and it has like multiple meanings, but a lot of
Speaker 1: the essence of meditation is to come back. So it's
Speaker 1: not about not thinking. People think it's like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: sit and not think. But if you try not to think,
Speaker 1: you're just going to think more. Because what we resist persists,
Speaker 1: it ends up causing more. So you just sit back
Speaker 1: and observe what you're thinking about, and it starts to
Speaker 1: create awareness. Because we have six to seventy thousand thoughts
Speaker 1: a day, that's what the research says, and ninety percent
Speaker 1: of those thoughts are the same thoughts we had yesterday.
Speaker 1: So basically we're thinking about the same shit, and the
Speaker 1: things that have us stressed out are the same things
Speaker 1: that we were thinking about yesterday. But it's only through
Speaker 1: awareness that we can actually change that and find a
Speaker 1: little freedom from like those patterns of thinking. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we can definitely talk more. I can talk about this
Speaker 1: stuff all day long. But it's just the power of
Speaker 1: the mind. And if we do want to play, and
Speaker 1: we want our bodies to be sustainable and last in
Speaker 1: life or on the court, then we gotta we gotta
Speaker 1: protect our peace and protect our mind. I totally agree
Speaker 1: with you. I think the game in any game is
Speaker 1: like eighty percent mental, twenty percent physical. You see so
Speaker 1: many players that like they might not be the most talented,
Speaker 1: but their confidence is so I mean, Kelsey Palum's a
Speaker 1: great example, Like she's so confident everything that she does,
Speaker 1: it's made her a great player. Like she's obviously athletic
Speaker 1: and talented, but there's players who are more talented, but
Speaker 1: she's better than them because of her mentality. So I
Speaker 1: had one hundred percent greath And I think you see
Speaker 1: it so many times in sports, like if you're mentally
Speaker 1: there and you're confident what you're doing, it can make
Speaker 1: up for so much. Yeah, I mean, look no further
Speaker 1: than this guy over here in this brown shirts and
Speaker 1: at the table. I mean that made the entire difference
Speaker 1: in my career. You can ask people like I remember
Speaker 1: one of the first games that I had was a
Speaker 1: big game with like the Raiders or like a big
Speaker 1: nationally telefies games in twenty twenty, and some of my
Speaker 1: teammates from Baltimore were like about time, Like you used
Speaker 1: to go for like two hundred yards in practice, like regularly,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, and I look back on that, I'm like,
Speaker 1: the talent was there to be able to produce and
Speaker 1: make an impact then, but everything going on in my mind,
Speaker 1: everything going on and just my spirit overall was not there.
Speaker 1: And to be able to step away and to get
Speaker 1: those things in tact and to be recentered, and then
Speaker 1: to come back into the world with a purpose and
Speaker 1: to come back into the game with humility and a
Speaker 1: new found confidence in myself. To be able to just
Speaker 1: go through the process like we were talking about earlier,
Speaker 1: like when you were a freshman, Like to be able
Speaker 1: to let go and allow things to happen based off
Speaker 1: the way that work and I approach it bam, like
Speaker 1: things take off, you know, the platforms come, the brand comes,
Speaker 1: the you know, the numbers come and everything like that.
Speaker 1: So it's it's all internal, man, It's all internal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as I've witnessed you on that journey, I feel like
Speaker 1: the two things that I've noticed the most that have
Speaker 1: helped you along that journey or learning to love yourself,
Speaker 1: which I love that the fact that we talk about
Speaker 1: this all the time, and I mentioned this often and
Speaker 1: it makes me smile every time, Like that's kind of
Speaker 1: my thing. Like my brand, I have a retreat that's
Speaker 1: called love Yourself. There's shirts on my website that say that.
Speaker 1: And this just wasn't the way that I was raised
Speaker 1: and it makes me super grateful to have, you know,
Speaker 1: share this platform with Darren who for many of the world,
Speaker 1: they look at a football player like the masculine of
Speaker 1: all masculine, you know, this manly man. But we're not,
Speaker 1: We're noticed. We're not even really talking about the actual sport.
Speaker 1: We're talking about everything else. But that so loving yourself
Speaker 1: and then I also thinkum figuring out like your purpose
Speaker 1: beyond the sport, right, So it's like you do so
Speaker 1: many other things with your with your music, with the podcast,
Speaker 1: with your foundation, with recovery, that it kind of takes
Speaker 1: the pressure off and you're not so overidentified with the
Speaker 1: performance of the sport and your whole happiness is based
Speaker 1: on if I do this, then I'm I'm good. So
Speaker 1: that's what I've been seeing from my perspective. I appreciate that,
Speaker 1: uh nafisa work. Can people find you? I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: i feel like I've grown a lot just in talking
Speaker 1: to you, and I'm inspired by your journey work, and
Speaker 1: people keep track of you on social media, things that
Speaker 1: you have going on. Where can people find you at?
Speaker 1: You can find me on Instagram with Nafisa twenty four
Speaker 1: and then I have a media company with my husband
Speaker 1: called Through the Lens. It's for athletes just basically, it's
Speaker 1: like a place for athletes to take back their power
Speaker 1: in a way where they can host like all of
Speaker 1: their content and reach their fans more easily. It just
Speaker 1: allows them to have a lot more access in control
Speaker 1: when it comes to their personal brands and making money.
Speaker 1: Can you close this out and maybe just tell us, like,
Speaker 1: what would you say to somebody that is struggling right now,
Speaker 1: maybe athlete, maybe non athlete. They know they're struggling, they're stuck,
Speaker 1: but they don't know what to do about it. Like
Speaker 1: what would you tell that person? I would tell them
Speaker 1: to just like take a step back from the situation
Speaker 1: and try to do something else. That's what always works
Speaker 1: best for me specifically, like in basketball, if I'm struggling
Speaker 1: with that, I try to do anything not basketball related
Speaker 1: and trying to just get out of that headspace for
Speaker 1: a little bit. So do something that brings you joy,
Speaker 1: whatever that is, you know, reading, going on a bike ride,
Speaker 1: going to a movie, and just kind of step away
Speaker 1: from it for a little bit and then come back
Speaker 1: to it with a new focus and like a renewed energy.
Speaker 1: That's always helped me so so beautiful, and I think
Speaker 1: that's what I see when I hear your story and
Speaker 1: you sharing is actually what's coming up from his perspective,
Speaker 1: and that's what happens when we take a step back.
Speaker 1: We can take a step back and see the bigger picture.
Speaker 1: And I just want to acknowledge you for your perspective
Speaker 1: and how far you've come in your story. It's been
Speaker 1: awesome to have you on the show. I'm super inspired
Speaker 1: and excited to talk to you more about meditation because
Speaker 1: I actually meditation helps you with perspective also, but I
Speaker 1: think you've got that part down, but we're always leveling
Speaker 1: up around here. I need some meditation, so I'm definitely
Speaker 1: gonna be hitting you up. Yeah, it's it's been amazing
Speaker 1: to have you on the show. I feel like there
Speaker 1: are women that can learn and be inspired by you
Speaker 1: from childhood to motherhood and everything in between, success, failure, adversity.
Speaker 1: So thank you for your time, thank you for being
Speaker 1: open on here and sharing about your experience. We're grateful
Speaker 1: for your time, and I hope you have great rest
Speaker 1: of your day. Awesome, thank you guys for having me.
Speaker 1: I had a good time. Yeah, what's up, comeback Stories, family,
Speaker 1: It's Donnie in here. So did you know that Darren
Speaker 1: and E's relationships started by me being his personal development,
Speaker 1: mindfulness and mindset coach. I want to let you know
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