Speaker 1: No one has all the answers, but when we ask
Speaker 1: the right questions, we get a little closer, closer to truths,
Speaker 1: closer to each other, even closer to ourselves. I'm journalist
Speaker 1: Danielle Robe, and each week, my guests and I come
Speaker 1: together to challenge the status quo and our own ways
Speaker 1: of thinking by daring to ask what if, why not?
Speaker 1: And who says?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 1: Come curious, dig deep, and join the conversation. It's time
Speaker 1: to question everything. Resilience talk is well everywhere, stay strong,
Speaker 1: push through, bounce back, and on its surface, those words
Speaker 1: are meant kindly, right, But I think they skip the
Speaker 1: part that nobody writes about, or talks about, or wants
Speaker 1: to talk about, the middle, the part where your life
Speaker 1: doesn't look anything like you thought it would and no
Speaker 1: one is coming to hand you a new blueprint. I
Speaker 1: know that we've all been there, and here's the truth.
Speaker 1: Resilience doesn't feel powerful when you're living it. It feels
Speaker 1: disorienting and lonely, and a lot of the time it
Speaker 1: just feels like surviving. So what does it actually look
Speaker 1: like to rebuild a life, your whole life, when every
Speaker 1: certainty you've known changes. Well, Today's guest Paralympian Amy Purty
Speaker 1: has had to answer that question not once, but twice.
Speaker 1: At nineteen years old, Amy lost both of her legs,
Speaker 1: and what followed could have been a story about limitations.
Speaker 1: Instead it became a story about possibilities.
Speaker 2: When I lost my legs at nineteen, I fought for
Speaker 2: my life from the hospital. I lost my legs, my kidneys,
Speaker 2: my spleen, and the hearing in my left ear overnight,
Speaker 2: all at once. My life completely changed. So I had
Speaker 2: no idea what my life was going to be like.
Speaker 2: I'd never even seen somebody who had too prosthetic, so
Speaker 2: I didn't really even know what the possibilities were. But
Speaker 2: what I did know was that I was still me,
Speaker 2: and I still had my dreams at my goals. I
Speaker 2: wanted to define my own life, and that really took
Speaker 2: me on this journey of figuring out what the possibilities were,
Speaker 2: and it ended up taking me further than I ever
Speaker 2: could have imagined.
Speaker 1: Amy has embraced every challenge. It's so wild when you
Speaker 1: hear her talk about it. She never even entertained the
Speaker 1: idea that her dreams were out of reach. She became
Speaker 1: a three time Paralympic medalist in snowboarding and beyond competing,
Speaker 1: she was instrumental in advocating for snowboarding's inclusion in the
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen Paralympic Games in the first place. She did
Speaker 1: all of that through her nonprofit Adaptive Action Sports. She
Speaker 1: then became a finalist on Dancing with the Stars. A
Speaker 1: world renowned speaker, author, and someone who has continuously redefined
Speaker 1: what's possible, not just once, but over and over again.
Speaker 1: And what I think is one of the most interesting
Speaker 1: aspects of Amy's story isn't just what she's accomplished, it's
Speaker 1: how she thinks. She lays it all out in her
Speaker 1: new book, Bounce Forward, which includes the tools she used
Speaker 1: in her most uncertain times. They're tools that all of
Speaker 1: us could benefit from. So today, the question we're circling
Speaker 1: is if the most defining moments of our lives are
Speaker 1: the ones that we never saw coming, how do we
Speaker 1: learn to trust ourselves in the middle of the unknown.
Speaker 1: It's time to question everything with Amy Party, Amy Party,
Speaker 1: I'm so happy to be speaking to you. We're doing
Speaker 1: this on a Saturday, which feels like such a give
Speaker 1: on your end, so thank you for being here.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, are you, kitty, and I would be
Speaker 2: here any day of the week.
Speaker 1: So I think people know a lot of parts of
Speaker 1: your amazing story, and I want to start somewhere a
Speaker 1: little bit different. I want to talk about dreams a
Speaker 1: little bit. Your life had some really surreal, glamorous and
Speaker 1: unexpected moments, but I think this is my favorite one.
Speaker 1: I want to know if this is true, Madonna sexed
Speaker 1: you up over twenty years ago. If this is true,
Speaker 1: I need the whole story.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I haven't told the story in so long,
Speaker 2: and I love that you started here because you know what.
Speaker 2: This is a story I don't usually get to talk about, right. So, yes,
Speaker 2: Madonna sexed me up. I think I was like nineteen
Speaker 2: years old, maybe I was twenty. So I lost both
Speaker 2: my legs when I was nineteen from meningitis. I had
Speaker 2: no idea what my life was going to be like.
Speaker 2: But I used to flip through magazines and I would think,
Speaker 2: to myself, I wish I could see somebody like me
Speaker 2: doing something really cool. Is there a way to make
Speaker 2: these legs look badass? Because they kind of were. They
Speaker 2: were carbon fiber and metal, and so I had that
Speaker 2: vision in my head and all of a sudden one day,
Speaker 2: my prostatist who makes my legs, he said, there's this
Speaker 2: casting call and we don't know who it's for. You
Speaker 2: might be interested in it, and it's for a model
Speaker 2: that has a prosthetic leg, and so I signed up
Speaker 2: for it. I ended up going out to La finding
Speaker 2: out that it was for Madonna for her music video.
Speaker 2: It was called American Life, and I ended up going
Speaker 2: to this casting call. I got it. I ended up
Speaker 2: showing up the day of the shoot, and I don't
Speaker 2: think that the stylist really knew what to do with me.
Speaker 2: They ended up just kind of shuffling me and this
Speaker 2: line with other people. They put me in this long
Speaker 2: dress that covered my legs, and then they kind of
Speaker 2: pushed us out onto this runway where Madonna was sitting
Speaker 2: at the end of the runway and her music was playing,
Speaker 2: and each one of us had to walk down, turnaround,
Speaker 2: and walk back. And as I was walking down the
Speaker 2: runway and wearing this long dress, you couldn't see my legs.
Speaker 2: And I thought to myself, I know I'm here for
Speaker 2: my legs, you know, just because they make me unique,
Speaker 2: and so I better show them. And so I got
Speaker 2: to the end of the runway. I pulled up my
Speaker 2: dress in front of Madonna. I did this little dance
Speaker 2: and showed my legs, my metal legs, and then I
Speaker 2: turned around and I walked off and she ran backstage
Speaker 2: and she was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
Speaker 2: There's so much we can do with this. And she
Speaker 2: said to me, she goes, do you mind if I
Speaker 2: sex you up? And I was like, you're Madonna, you
Speaker 2: could do whatever you want to do.
Speaker 1: Yes. Also, she's an expert at sexing up.
Speaker 2: Oh totally. And you know, like I said, they didn't
Speaker 2: really know what to do with me. They put me
Speaker 2: in this long dress, they put braids in my hair.
Speaker 2: She took the braids out of my hair. She fleft
Speaker 2: my hair all up, so it was huge. She literally
Speaker 2: was like, take that dress off. She ended up grabbing
Speaker 2: these little boy shorts off of this one guy and
Speaker 2: just putting tape over my boobs and then putting like
Speaker 2: sparkles on me. I was immediately sexed up. And then
Speaker 2: she you know, turned on the music and I strutted
Speaker 2: down the runway and I did this whole thing, and
Speaker 2: she actually had me work with Jeremy Scott. He's a designer,
Speaker 2: but also he was helping us walk the runway really confidently,
Speaker 2: and it was so amazing. I think that was probably
Speaker 2: the first time that I really thought about the possibilities
Speaker 2: with these legs instead of looking at my legs like
Speaker 2: this is something that's going to slow me down. From
Speaker 2: that point forward, I thought, what can I do with these?
Speaker 2: You know, how can I use these in a way
Speaker 2: that instead of holding me back, maybe they can actually
Speaker 2: propel me forward if I lean into them. If that
Speaker 2: makes sense.
Speaker 1: It makes so much sense. And you know, as I've
Speaker 1: listened to your interviews over the years, that word possibility
Speaker 1: stands out to me so much. You of course have
Speaker 1: this major moment of tragedy early on in your life,
Speaker 1: but you've also had these miraculous, one of a kind,
Speaker 1: very unique moments. You were in talks for a major
Speaker 1: Hollywood franchise called the Kingsman sequel. You were a finalist
Speaker 1: on Dancing with the Stars. You became a three time
Speaker 1: Paralympic medalist. Like your life took on this scale in
Speaker 1: shape that I'm wondering if young Amy could have ever imagined.
Speaker 2: Young Amy could have never imagined even before I lost
Speaker 2: my legs, you know where I would go or what
Speaker 2: I would be capable of doing, especially after I lost
Speaker 2: my legs that nineteen so I got sick from something
Speaker 2: called bacterial meningitis. I fought for my life in the hospital.
Speaker 2: I lost my legs, my kidneys, my spleen, and the
Speaker 2: hearing in my left ear overnight, all at once. My
Speaker 2: life completely changed. So I had no idea what my
Speaker 2: life was going to be like. I couldn't even visualize,
Speaker 2: you know, what I would do in my future. I
Speaker 2: had never even seen somebody who had two prosthetic legs,
Speaker 2: so I didn't really even know what the possibilities were
Speaker 2: at that time. But what I did know was that
Speaker 2: I was still me, and I still had my dreams
Speaker 2: and my goals, and I wanted to travel the world,
Speaker 2: and I wanted to live a life of adventure, and
Speaker 2: I wanted to have worries to tell and that still
Speaker 2: lived inside of me. And so I would lay in
Speaker 2: my hospital bed and visualize what did I want for
Speaker 2: my future? You know, I didn't know if I'd be
Speaker 2: able to snowboard again on prosthetic legs. I didn't know
Speaker 2: if someday I'd make it to the Paralympic Games, because
Speaker 2: snowboarding wasn't even in the Paralympic Games. At that point,
Speaker 2: of course, I didn't know if I would do something
Speaker 2: like dancing with the Stars or any of that stuff.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a clear vision. But what I did know
Speaker 2: is that I felt inside that I deserved to live
Speaker 2: my best life no matter what, and that I wanted
Speaker 2: to define what my life was going to be like.
Speaker 2: I didn't want others to define my life because I
Speaker 2: lost my legs. I didn't want to be defined by
Speaker 2: a disability and what people typically think about being disabled.
Speaker 2: I wanted to define my own life and that really
Speaker 2: took me on this journey of figuring out what the
Speaker 2: possibilities were, and it ended up taking me further than
Speaker 2: I ever could have imagined.
Speaker 1: So, before you lost your legs, you were working as
Speaker 1: a massage therapist, and I've heard you say that this
Speaker 1: was your dream job. First of all, I find that
Speaker 1: amazing because I've actually never heard somebody say that. I
Speaker 1: think massage therapists are very special, great ones are very special,
Speaker 1: but I've never heard anybody call it their dream job.
Speaker 1: Why was that the dream? Back then?
Speaker 2: It was my dream because I wanted to travel the world.
Speaker 2: I loved helping other people. I had this job that
Speaker 2: could travel with me. All I needed were my hands
Speaker 2: and my massage table by my side. I didn't need
Speaker 2: anything else. I could live anywhere. I was helping to
Speaker 2: heal people. It felt so good. People would come and
Speaker 2: stressed out, they would leave feeling so much better. And
Speaker 2: I just remember feeling that so fulfilled, knowing that I
Speaker 2: could help somebody with their day, knowing that I could
Speaker 2: help somebody feel better about whatever it was they were
Speaker 2: going through. Sometimes they had vent on the table and
Speaker 2: sometimes they wouldn't, but you knew that you were helping them.
Speaker 2: And so I think that's when I found out that
Speaker 2: I liked connecting with other people. I liked helping people
Speaker 2: feel better about themselves. And you know, if anything is
Speaker 2: stayed the same from younger Amy to now older Amy,
Speaker 2: I'd say it's probably that thread of wanting to help
Speaker 2: other people and help other people feel good about themselves
Speaker 2: and their life. I loved that about massage, but also
Speaker 2: the fact that I could travel and I could snowboard
Speaker 2: and have this job that would travel with me. It
Speaker 2: was really fulfilling.
Speaker 1: Well, it's not lost on me that, like I know,
Speaker 1: massage is a mind, body, spirit experience, but you're touching
Speaker 1: people physically, and now you're a renowned speaker, you just
Speaker 1: have a new book out, Like, you're touching people emotionally,
Speaker 1: and it does feel connected to that same purpose, that
Speaker 1: same thread.
Speaker 2: I think. So I get asked quite a bit if
Speaker 2: I was the same when I was younger as I
Speaker 2: am now, Like did I know when I was younger
Speaker 2: that I would be so strong or that I would
Speaker 2: be so resilient? And to be honest, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of things that I am now that I didn't know
Speaker 2: I was then. Like, I'm not sure if that resilience
Speaker 2: and that strength was just built or if it was
Speaker 2: inside of me all along, Because when I was younger,
Speaker 2: I think people, especially my family, thought I was emotional.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be able to handle what I was going
Speaker 2: through when I lost my legs, and I ended up
Speaker 2: finding this inner strength that got me through it. I mean,
Speaker 2: I've always been really emotional, and I think that's probably
Speaker 2: what connects me to other people as well. You know,
Speaker 2: I could cry at a sunset. I'm really compassionate. I'm
Speaker 2: really empathetic towards others, and I think that sometimes that
Speaker 2: can be looked at as weakness, when really I've found
Speaker 2: over time it's become a strength, especially being on stage
Speaker 2: now and speaking and being able to connect with other people.
Speaker 2: So there's certain things that I do think are different
Speaker 2: from younger Amy to older Amy, but there's certain threads
Speaker 2: that have stayed the same. And I think one of
Speaker 2: those threads is the fact that I enjoy connecting with
Speaker 2: other people. I want other people to feel good about
Speaker 2: their lives, no matter what challenges they're faced with. I
Speaker 2: think we all have the ability to live a great life.
Speaker 2: It's not trying to overcome our circumstances so we can
Speaker 2: live a great life. I think it's living a great
Speaker 2: life within our circumstances and that's okay. And not only
Speaker 2: is that okay, if you can do that, if you
Speaker 2: can really lean into who you are, what you have,
Speaker 2: you can live an incredible life, much bigger than you
Speaker 2: ever could have imagined. And so that thread of just
Speaker 2: wanting people to know that and feel good, I think
Speaker 2: that carried through from being a massage therapist to now
Speaker 2: standing on stage speaking, to writing a book or you know,
Speaker 2: anything else that I find myself in.
Speaker 1: My dad was a dentist when I was growing up,
Speaker 1: and obviously like to go to dental school. You're very
Speaker 1: science minded, and he doesn't believe in anything, like, he
Speaker 1: doesn't believe in ghosts, he doesn't believe in spirituality, he
Speaker 1: doesn't believe in the afterlife like he believes enough except
Speaker 1: for science. And he has this one story that he
Speaker 1: can't make sense of, which I'm going to give a
Speaker 1: very abridged version. But basically, he had this recurring nightmare
Speaker 1: growing up. And when I say recurring, he had it
Speaker 1: multiple times a year, and as he got older, he
Speaker 1: had it less and less. And when he graduated from
Speaker 1: dental school, the nightmare that he had it lived out
Speaker 1: in real time. And because he had that nightmare, it
Speaker 1: saved his life because he knew what was going to happen.
Speaker 1: And it's a story I hold on too, because I
Speaker 1: grew up with him as my father, and so I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't know what I believe in. And
Speaker 1: when I moved to LA I became a lot more spiritual,
Speaker 1: a lot more connected, I would say, And you have
Speaker 1: this story that I have held on to for years.
Speaker 1: It gives me chills every time I hear you share it.
Speaker 1: If you're willing to share it with us today. I
Speaker 1: would love to hear it from you first person. But
Speaker 1: you were a massage therapist and this one client came
Speaker 1: in unexpectedly. Will you tell us what happened after that?
Speaker 2: Yes? And by the way, I love your questions, because again,
Speaker 2: these are stories I don't get to tell that much.
Speaker 2: And that was a very profound moment for me. I
Speaker 2: was a massage therapist. I was working a full shift
Speaker 2: at the Spa Canyon ranch in Las Vegas, and I
Speaker 2: was walking out the door actually, and my manager came
Speaker 2: and got me. I think I was already at the garage,
Speaker 2: like by my car, and he came and got me,
Speaker 2: and he said, oh my gosh, Amy, there's a client
Speaker 2: that we forgot about. It's just sitting in the waiting room.
Speaker 2: Is there any way you can stay back and do
Speaker 2: a massage? And I said sure, and so I ran
Speaker 2: back in there. I didn't even have my massage rooms
Speaker 2: set up because there weren't any massage rooms available. I
Speaker 2: ended up setting him up in this wet room, just
Speaker 2: this random room, and I went into the waiting room,
Speaker 2: I got him, I brought him in. He was this
Speaker 2: older man. He had blue eyes, and I laid him
Speaker 2: down on the table, and what was so interesting is
Speaker 2: as soon as I put my hands on his back,
Speaker 2: we were just connected. We just had I don't know
Speaker 2: what it was. You just feel this energy exchange as
Speaker 2: a massage therapist, and you know, and somebody's just right
Speaker 2: there with you, and you can be right there with them,
Speaker 2: you can feel it. And so the minute I started
Speaker 2: to massage him, we got into this conversation. And one
Speaker 2: of the first things that he asked was he said,
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you a question, and I don't
Speaker 2: want you to be scared of it, but have you
Speaker 2: crossed over to the other side? And I said, no,
Speaker 2: I haven't. But I knew exactly what he was talking about,
Speaker 2: because I had this feeling that had been building up
Speaker 2: in me for years that something was going to happen
Speaker 2: in my life. And I didn't know if it was
Speaker 2: good or bad. I just felt it. I had it
Speaker 2: written in my journal even that something's going to happen
Speaker 2: and I don't know what it is. It was almost
Speaker 2: like this anticipation that was something was about to come.
Speaker 2: And so when he said have you crossed over? I
Speaker 2: just assumed that's what he was talking about and I said, no,
Speaker 2: but I feel like something's going to happen. And he said,
Speaker 2: when it does happen, don't be scared. He then told
Speaker 2: me his story, which was he fell down a well
Speaker 2: when he was a kid. He almost died, and he
Speaker 2: crossed over. He had a near death experience and he
Speaker 2: came back and when he came back, his life was
Speaker 2: completely different. And he said, when you cross over, Amy,
Speaker 2: your life is going to be completely different. But don't
Speaker 2: be scared. This is how you figure out the depths
Speaker 2: of life. This is how you experience the depths of life.
Speaker 2: And I walked away from that massage in tears, feeling
Speaker 2: like this guy just kind of spoke to my soul,
Speaker 2: but not knowing what was going to happen. Obviously, I
Speaker 2: went home. I wrote that in my journal, that experience,
Speaker 2: and I think it was just a couple weeks later.
Speaker 2: It was maybe three weeks later that I was laying
Speaker 2: on the hospital bed in the emergency room. The doctors
Speaker 2: and nurses were saying I had less than a two
Speaker 2: percent chance of living. I was in cardiac arrest, I
Speaker 2: was in full kidney failure, and I was fighting for
Speaker 2: my life every second of my life, and I remember
Speaker 2: this conversation with the guy and I thought, Amy, he said,
Speaker 2: don't be scared when you cross over, don't be scared,
Speaker 2: and so in that moment it makes me emotional. But
Speaker 2: in that moment, I took a deep breath and I
Speaker 2: just thought, Okay, this is what he is talking about.
Speaker 2: Everything's going to be okay, and this is what was
Speaker 2: supposed to happen. And that moment was profound because I
Speaker 2: don't know who he was, right, he was like a messenger.
Speaker 2: Did he know he was a messenger. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he knew that he was there
Speaker 2: to deliver this message or if he just had experienced
Speaker 2: something in his own life and he just felt that
Speaker 2: I would experience the same. I never was in touch
Speaker 2: with him again, you know, its very much so a
Speaker 2: premonition of what was to come. And he also said,
Speaker 2: your life is going to be amazing. You are going
Speaker 2: to do amazing things. And I remember thinking about that
Speaker 2: on my deathbed. This guy said I was going to
Speaker 2: do amazing things, and I think that just wired my
Speaker 2: brain to believe that, and I took that and ran
Speaker 2: with it.
Speaker 1: I'm like out of breath hearing you tell that story
Speaker 1: all these years later, how do you make sense of it?
Speaker 2: You know, there's times that I think, maybe we're angels
Speaker 2: to each other and we don't even know it. Maybe
Speaker 2: he came in not realizing how he was going to
Speaker 2: impact my life, truly that three weeks later I'd be
Speaker 2: fighting for my life and that his words would save me.
Speaker 2: And then there's other times that I think, no, there's
Speaker 2: so many magical things that we can't explain. And the
Speaker 2: more connected you are to I think the present moment,
Speaker 2: like when you can just be present. And when I
Speaker 2: was a massage therapist, I was so present. We didn't
Speaker 2: have our phones, we weren't caught up in different things.
Speaker 2: We were just in the moment with each other. That's
Speaker 2: what my every day was. And I think by being
Speaker 2: present you see the magic of life. That's when serendipitous
Speaker 2: moments happen. That's when you meet somebody that crossed your
Speaker 2: path at the right time, or somebody gave some premonition
Speaker 2: that happened, or somebody helped you at a time that
Speaker 2: you needed it. I don't know if this guy was
Speaker 2: truly an angel or if he was just another human
Speaker 2: that just happened across my path at the same time,
Speaker 2: and I paid attention. I think that's the beauty of life.
Speaker 2: I think that's how if you can walk around and
Speaker 2: take a breath and be present, that's when you notice
Speaker 2: all these amazing little things that connect. That's when you
Speaker 2: notice these special little moments and the little miracles that
Speaker 2: happen every day, and I choose to believe that they
Speaker 2: are something more than what we can see. I don't
Speaker 2: like to make sense of every single thing. I actually
Speaker 2: like the magic and the unknown, and I kind of
Speaker 2: like to keep it there a little bit. It feels special,
Speaker 2: you know, and that's a choice. You can dig into it.
Speaker 2: I have a very kind of mechanical brain and scientific brain.
Speaker 2: I like to dig in and make sense of everything,
Speaker 2: but I also like to hold certain things to just
Speaker 2: being these special moments that I can't explain, and I'm
Speaker 2: so grateful I've had them and they stay as these little, small,
Speaker 2: beautiful things of life.
Speaker 3: And that was one of them.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about sort of the sister to unknown,
Speaker 1: which I think is uncertainty, because you seem to have
Speaker 1: this unbelievable balance between belief and uncertainty, which I think
Speaker 1: is a very unusual two faiths or beliefs to have
Speaker 1: at the same time, they're almost opposing. You talk about
Speaker 1: how you're with your dad in the hospital and you're saying,
Speaker 1: can I please see my feet? And he says, no,
Speaker 1: we're working on your life right now. Your feet don't matter.
Speaker 1: And he uncovers the blanket and both of your feet
Speaker 1: are purple. And at the same time, I mean, I
Speaker 1: can't even imagine the shock of that, right and what
Speaker 1: you feel, and at the same time you're holding on
Speaker 1: to the belief of my life is going to be amazing.
Speaker 1: I think everybody listening is like, so uncomfortable with the
Speaker 1: uncertainty of life. What is your take on that?
Speaker 2: Looking back, I can say for sure that the possibilities
Speaker 2: live in the unknown. When we think about that for
Speaker 2: a second, which is that there is nothing scarier than
Speaker 2: the unknown. There is nothing scarier than having no idea
Speaker 2: what comes next. You know, whether you're going through like
Speaker 2: a loss of a job or a loss of identity,
Speaker 2: or injury or illness or disability, or anything that takes
Speaker 2: you away from what you're comfortable with. There's nothing scarier
Speaker 2: that not knowing what comes next. You're just kind of
Speaker 2: floating in the sea of possibilities. But when you think
Speaker 2: about it like that, that now, in that space, anything's possible. Truly,
Speaker 2: anything's possible because you don't know what comes next. You
Speaker 2: could go in any direction, and that's good if you
Speaker 2: can let yourself be there and let yourself be a
Speaker 2: little bit comfortable with being uncomfortable for a bit, because
Speaker 2: that's where things land in ways you never can expect
Speaker 2: or anticipate. When I was in the hospital, I saw
Speaker 2: my feet for the very first time. My dad lifted
Speaker 2: up the sheets because my feet hurt really bad. This
Speaker 2: was day two in the hospital, and my dad said,
Speaker 2: you know, we're not worried about your feet. We're worried
Speaker 2: about your life. And I thought, you know, I just
Speaker 2: want to see my feet. I want to see what's
Speaker 2: going on. And I saw that they were purple. In
Speaker 2: that moment, I was fighting for my life. Something interesting
Speaker 2: happens when you're fighting for your life. Your emotions cut
Speaker 2: off completely. You truly are in the present moment. You
Speaker 2: are in the here and now. There is nothing that
Speaker 2: makes you more present than knowing you're about ready to die.
Speaker 2: And there's something really calming about that as well. You're
Speaker 2: not caught up in oh my gosh, I haven't done
Speaker 2: this with my life, or I haven't done that, like
Speaker 2: the emotion that you think that you would be caught
Speaker 2: up in, the fear that you think you would be
Speaker 2: caught up in you don't feel, at least I didn't
Speaker 2: feel in that moment. It's very practical. I'm about ready
Speaker 2: to die and I am just in this moment right now,
Speaker 2: in this like in between space of I'm not connected
Speaker 2: to here and I'm not connected to there. I'm just
Speaker 2: present and it's just a very interesting place to be in.
Speaker 2: You would think it would be very scary, but it's
Speaker 2: actually very calming.
Speaker 1: Are you able to tap into that energy now, like
Speaker 1: when you're doing hard things, do you remember that feeling?
Speaker 2: I try to remind myself of that feeling, and I'll
Speaker 2: tell you why. I was just thinking about this even yesterday.
Speaker 2: And I mean I wrote about this in the book.
Speaker 2: I think chapter two or three is all about presence,
Speaker 2: but I've been really diving into that in my own life,
Speaker 2: just in my own practice daily. I find that when
Speaker 2: we are really present, that truly is when the magic happens.
Speaker 2: That's when you open up possibilities like I said, you
Speaker 2: might meet somebody, someone crosses your paths, something happens. Those
Speaker 2: serendipitous moments seem to happen in those in between moments.
Speaker 2: We're so busy going from point A to point B
Speaker 2: that we miss those moments. We might go from we're
Speaker 2: on a phone call and a car to jumping on
Speaker 2: an airplane. You know, if you have a busy life
Speaker 2: like that, or going to work and then taking care
Speaker 2: of your kids and then coming home and cleaning whatever
Speaker 2: it may be, it's just go, go, go go. I
Speaker 2: think it's the in between those moments, if we can
Speaker 2: pause and truly be present and look around us, that's
Speaker 2: where you see those little magical connections happen. It actually
Speaker 2: just happened the other day for me. I was in
Speaker 2: la and I was supposed to do a podcast with
Speaker 2: somebody who I was really excited to do a podcast with.
Speaker 2: In fact, we were trying to do this for years,
Speaker 2: and she has a huge podcast, and finally it was
Speaker 2: set up and she's in Malibu, and I was kind
Speaker 2: of running around trying to get other things done. My
Speaker 2: book's launching, but I was doing speeches at the same time.
Speaker 2: I had phone calls. I was actually a mess. I
Speaker 2: was kind of all over the place. I was feeling
Speaker 2: my nervous system just out of whack, and I thought,
Speaker 2: I don't think I can show up and be my
Speaker 2: best self right now. And I felt so bad, but
Speaker 2: I canceled with her, and I felt so bad the
Speaker 2: resistance that I felt. Canceling was actually the hardest thing ever.
Speaker 2: Nobody was putting this pressure on me but me. I
Speaker 2: just didn't want to let her down. And as soon
Speaker 2: as I let myself off the hook, I let myself
Speaker 2: breathe and I was like, everything's okay, okay, we'll figure
Speaker 2: this out. At the time that I was canceling with her,
Speaker 2: I was also even thinking about the driver. I was thinking,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, the driver's going to be sitting up
Speaker 2: there for two hours and now he has to wait.
Speaker 2: So I was just thinking of everybody that I was inconveniencing. Well.
Speaker 2: Two hours later, as soon as the driver comes to
Speaker 2: pick me up, I get in the car and he's
Speaker 2: about ready to take me to the airport, and I said,
Speaker 2: I am so sorry. I canceled on you. I canceled
Speaker 2: this podcast. And he goes, oh my gosh, are you
Speaker 2: kidding me? I absolutely needed that, he goes, I have
Speaker 2: been so busy. I just sat on the beach. He goes,
Speaker 2: I let the wind go through my hair. I had
Speaker 2: a moment. Amy, I had a moment, and I had
Speaker 2: a moment that I absolutely needed. And I was like,
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, thank god I had a moment too.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I guess we both needed that, right,
Speaker 2: we both needed a moment, and so it made me
Speaker 2: feel so much better. Well, he ended up turning on
Speaker 2: this music in the car and we're driving down the
Speaker 2: beach and it was so relaxing and I took this
Speaker 2: deep breath and then he goes, do you want to
Speaker 2: get some frozen yogurt? He was this older guy, and
Speaker 2: do you want to get some frozen yogurt? And I
Speaker 2: was like sure, I don't have to be to the
Speaker 2: airport for a few minutes. So he took me to
Speaker 2: his favorite frozen yogurt place. We sit down with this
Speaker 2: driver I've never outside, and just have this awesome conversation
Speaker 2: have frozen yogurt. And he was like, this is what
Speaker 2: life is about. This right here, this spontaneous moment of
Speaker 2: taking a breath in between our day where we were
Speaker 2: both so busy. Now we get to connect and meet
Speaker 2: and have conversation, and I'm telling you, my nervous system
Speaker 2: relaxed so much. It was relaxed for like the next
Speaker 2: three days after that. I absolutely need he needed it.
Speaker 2: What I thought about was that was an in between moment,
Speaker 2: and had I have said, you know, no, let me
Speaker 2: just get to the airport, I got things to do.
Speaker 2: I got to check my emails when I get there,
Speaker 2: or something, I would have missed that moment. So I
Speaker 2: think when we can really pause and pay attention to
Speaker 2: those in between moments and just be as present as possible,
Speaker 2: that's not only what helps us live maybe really cool
Speaker 2: possibilities and stories in our life, but I think that
Speaker 2: helps us get through our challenges. Right, allows the world
Speaker 2: to drop away for a minute. Then you're just really
Speaker 2: in the middle of what matters most.
Speaker 1: Amy. You've been able to manifest so many successes in
Speaker 1: your life. You've written about it. Has there ever been
Speaker 1: something that you've deeply believed would happen for you that didn't?
Speaker 2: Yeah, actually, and you know some of these things did happen, right,
Speaker 2: I swear I manifested Oprah and Dancing with the Stars
Speaker 2: and Paralympics. Maybe I didn't know exactly what they looked like,
Speaker 2: but I knew that I could do these things, and
Speaker 2: I went on to do them. The Oprah thing, I mean,
Speaker 2: I used to watch Oprah every single day. I knew
Speaker 2: I would be on her show, and I ended up
Speaker 2: being on tour with her.
Speaker 1: That's when I was first introduced to you. It was
Speaker 1: that interview.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what that in itself was manifestation because
Speaker 2: while I was on tour with Oprah, I was on
Speaker 2: tour with her, Deepak Chopra and Liz Gilbert. I had
Speaker 2: already written about them in my first book that was
Speaker 2: about ready to come out, and I was able to
Speaker 2: just knock on their dressing room door hand them the
Speaker 2: galley of my book and they endorsed it right there.
Speaker 2: But I had written about them in the book, and
Speaker 2: then they were there, we were on tour together. It
Speaker 2: was just so amazing the way that it came together.
Speaker 2: But what hasn't happened is I always wanted to be
Speaker 2: in a movie. I always wanted to be like a
Speaker 2: superhero in a movie because I thought it would be
Speaker 2: so cool with these legs. You can do so much
Speaker 2: with these legs. They're bionic and you can turn them
Speaker 2: into anything. They don't have to look real to actually watch.
Speaker 2: Let's say, like a superhero character that isn't cgi that
Speaker 2: those are actually real legs and we make them look
Speaker 2: really cool. I just think that would be the coolest thing.
Speaker 2: And that's something that I've been very close to, but
Speaker 2: it hasn't happened.
Speaker 1: That's a TVD. I believe in your powers. I think
Speaker 1: it will happen.
Speaker 2: I now now, I'm sorry to wonder. These are some
Speaker 2: of the things where you're like, wait a second, but
Speaker 2: why is the manifestation not happening? You know, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I am getting older. I'm no longer like at the
Speaker 2: physical level that I was at when I was, like,
Speaker 2: you know, an athlete, at the peak of my physical abilities.
Speaker 2: But you never know, you know.
Speaker 1: I had a question for you that I kind of
Speaker 1: want to change up. I've read and listened to you
Speaker 1: speak about rebuilding and reinvention. You've had to reinvent yourself
Speaker 1: multiple times, and I was going to ask you what
Speaker 1: part of you has remained true throughout all these reinventions.
Speaker 1: But I'm actually more curious. I briefly met your husband
Speaker 1: right before we started recording, and he was so sweet.
Speaker 1: He kissed you on the forehead before you started recording.
Speaker 1: And I'm curious if you're okay talking about it, if
Speaker 1: you feel like he understands the Amy before you were
Speaker 1: nineteen who had her legs, and if he understands the
Speaker 1: Amy after because he only met the Amy after.
Speaker 2: I love this question. I used to feel like he
Speaker 2: didn't know who I was before I met him not
Speaker 2: long after I lost my legs. I mean I lost
Speaker 2: my legs when I was nineteen. I think I met
Speaker 2: him two or three years after that. I met him
Speaker 2: right after my kids transplant, actually, and when I was
Speaker 2: younger and we were first dating, I struggled a little
Speaker 2: bit with my identity, for sure, because here I had
Speaker 2: lost my legs, but yet I still felt like the
Speaker 2: same person. I tried to kind of be the same
Speaker 2: person a little bit, but then I would be a
Speaker 2: little bit insecure about it. We moved in together right away,
Speaker 2: and we lived on the beach in San Diego, and
Speaker 2: I'd go out and show my legs because I'd be
Speaker 2: wearing a swimsuit and people would look at me, and
Speaker 2: that would be uncomfortable. And so then I remember I
Speaker 2: would say to him, you know, I never used to
Speaker 2: feel this way, or before I lost my legs, I
Speaker 2: would have been able to do this. Maybe it was
Speaker 2: just because we were fresh and dating that I felt
Speaker 2: like I needed him to know who I was before, Like,
Speaker 2: had I have not lost my legs, I was like this.
Speaker 2: I also had a kidney transplant, so after that, it's
Speaker 2: not like I was able to really drink much. And
Speaker 2: we were both young, and he loved to go out,
Speaker 2: and he loved to listen to music, and he loved
Speaker 2: to party, and I couldn't quite do some of those things.
Speaker 2: But I'm from Vegas, So I remember saying, like, two
Speaker 2: years ago, I would have been to do all this,
Speaker 2: and I can't do this now, I think because I
Speaker 2: wanted him to know who I was. But I'll tell you,
Speaker 2: I don't know if he really knows who I was then,
Speaker 2: but he certainly knows who I am now. He knows
Speaker 2: me better than anybody. He has seen me in my
Speaker 2: greatest moments and in my absolute darkest days, and he's
Speaker 2: still here and that is so amazing. But you know,
Speaker 2: I've also seen him in his darkest days, and I'm
Speaker 2: still here. Those roadways, right.
Speaker 1: Do you have any grief around that that he didn't
Speaker 1: know you before? Or No, it doesn't sound like you do.
Speaker 2: No, because I appreciate my journey so much. I appreciate
Speaker 2: who I've become because of what I've gone through. When
Speaker 2: I look back at videos now, I don't even know
Speaker 2: who she was, and that's okay. I've grown and developed
Speaker 2: so much because of what I've gone through. I am
Speaker 2: grateful for every single thing that I gone through, even
Speaker 2: when it's been so hard at times. I wouldn't change
Speaker 2: it for the world. It really has made me who
Speaker 2: I am, and I wouldn't know the people I've known.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't know the depths of life, like the pain
Speaker 2: of life, but also that pain is what gives you purpose.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't know that feeling if I had not gone
Speaker 2: through it myself. And so I look back at my
Speaker 2: younger self and I think she had no idea what
Speaker 2: the world had in store for her. But I'm so
Speaker 2: happy that she didn't give up, and that she just
Speaker 2: kept going and figured it out along the way.
Speaker 1: I don't know if not giving up is even the
Speaker 1: right term, amy, because after you lost your legs just
Speaker 1: months after your amputation, you decided you were going to
Speaker 1: snowboard again, and so many people would have probably just
Speaker 1: let go of their passion, and you responded almost in
Speaker 1: the complete opposite way.
Speaker 2: First of all, I fell in love with snowboarding when
Speaker 2: I was fifteen. I knew it was something that I
Speaker 2: wanted to do for the rest of my life, one
Speaker 2: way or another. So I was so grateful that I
Speaker 2: had that passion that pulled me through my toughest moment.
Speaker 2: When I was in the hospital and I lost my legs,
Speaker 2: I didn't even really think about will I walk again?
Speaker 2: I just thought will I snowboard again? To the point
Speaker 2: of where I asked the doctors every day, am I
Speaker 2: going to be able to snowboard? Can I snowboard? And
Speaker 2: it's in all my medical notes. They're like patients asking
Speaker 2: if she can snowboard again, and we're not sure. I'm
Speaker 2: so grateful that I had the passion of snowboarding, because
Speaker 2: that definitely is what carried me through some of my
Speaker 2: darkest days. I didn't know if I'd be able to
Speaker 2: do it again. All I knew is that I wanted
Speaker 2: to do it, and I felt in my heart that
Speaker 2: I could figure out a way to do it. Again.
Speaker 2: I remember laying in my hospital bed visualizing myself snowboarding.
Speaker 2: I saw myself carving down this mountain of powder, and
Speaker 2: I visualized it so strong. I could feel it. I
Speaker 2: could feel the wind against my face, I could feel
Speaker 2: the beat of my racing heart. I saw it so vividly,
Speaker 2: so clearly, and I was so excited that I thought
Speaker 2: to myself, I don't know how I'm going to do this,
Speaker 2: but I know that I can do this again. And
Speaker 2: just allowing myself to believe that, just to have a
Speaker 2: moment of maybe I can do this again. Okay, don't
Speaker 2: think about the fact that you just lost your leg Samy,
Speaker 2: but like just lean into how you feel right now.
Speaker 2: Like when I did that, that led me to believe
Speaker 2: that I could do this again. And I think for
Speaker 2: all of us, you know, we get in our own way.
Speaker 2: We stop ourselves before we get started because we think, well,
Speaker 2: I can't do that, I'm too old, or I can't
Speaker 2: do that, you know, my time has passed. Just allow
Speaker 2: ourselves to believe like we did as kids for one minute,
Speaker 2: and like get excited about something and actually believe that
Speaker 2: maybe that is possible. It's amazing where that belief can
Speaker 2: take you. And for me, I carried that feeling of
Speaker 2: the vision I had of what it felt like to
Speaker 2: snowboard again on prosthetic legs, and I just carried that
Speaker 2: forward and I started working on different legs and different
Speaker 2: feet so that I could snowboard. I actually built my
Speaker 2: first pair of feet for snowboarding because there weren't any
Speaker 2: feet on the market for snowboarding.
Speaker 1: So wait, I need you to go deeper into that,
Speaker 1: because you kind of just said that as if that
Speaker 1: was no big deal. You created your own prosthetics.
Speaker 2: I did. Now I have to tell you there's different
Speaker 2: parts of the prosthetic that I definitely did not create.
Speaker 2: So there's this carbon fiber part to your leg, like,
Speaker 2: I didn't create all that. I'm not welding the metal,
Speaker 2: you know, all of that stuff. But I got up
Speaker 2: on my snowboard and I knew that my ankles weren't
Speaker 2: moving in the way that I needed them to. And
Speaker 2: I got up on my snowboard about four months after
Speaker 2: I got my new prosthetic legs, so that was maybe
Speaker 2: six months after I lost my legs. I got up
Speaker 2: on a snowboard.
Speaker 1: That's fucking crazy, Amy, that's crazy. I'm sorry to curse,
Speaker 1: but that's nuts.
Speaker 2: Well, when I was in the hospital, well, I gave
Speaker 2: myself three goals when I was being wheeled into the
Speaker 2: operating room, And the first goal was that I wasn't
Speaker 2: going to feel sorry for myself, that I wasn't a
Speaker 2: victim because I was losing my legs and I didn't
Speaker 2: want to act like a victim. The second goal that
Speaker 2: I gave myself was that I was going to snowboard
Speaker 2: that year because I had never missed a year of
Speaker 2: snowboarding and I wasn't about ready to. And then the
Speaker 2: third goal was when I figured this mess out, I
Speaker 2: would help others do the same. And so I just
Speaker 2: kind of ran with those three goals. It was about
Speaker 2: four months after getting my new legs that I ended
Speaker 2: up getting up on a snowboard for the first time
Speaker 2: and seeing what it felt like. And it didn't go good.
Speaker 2: My legs didn't bend right, my ankles didn't move, my
Speaker 2: legs came off. I actually fell, my legs went down
Speaker 2: the mountain with my snowboard. It was a whole thing.
Speaker 2: But I thought to myself, Okay, if I can figure
Speaker 2: out a way to keep these legs attached to me,
Speaker 2: if I can figure out a way to get my
Speaker 2: ankles to move the way I need them to, maybe
Speaker 2: I actually can do this again. And so I went home,
Speaker 2: and I I ended up working for the next year
Speaker 2: trying to figure out a way to snowboard on two
Speaker 2: prosthetic legs. I took different parts and pieces from other
Speaker 2: existing prosthetics that I had.
Speaker 3: I took an.
Speaker 2: Ankle from one brand and a foot from another brand.
Speaker 2: I turned the ankle around backwards, and I put a
Speaker 2: bunch of wood under the heels and used a bunch
Speaker 2: of duct tape and basically ended up kind of Frankensteining
Speaker 2: a pair of feet to snowboard in, and they allowed
Speaker 2: me to snowboard.
Speaker 1: I have a question about what you just said, if
Speaker 1: you don't mind me chiming in. So you said when
Speaker 1: you were snowboarding, the prosthetics fell off and were like
Speaker 1: down the mountain. I don't want to harp on what's hard,
Speaker 1: but I'm curious how you felt at that moment, because
Speaker 1: I love to ski, and sometimes, like if I lose
Speaker 1: my skis and they go down the mountain, I start
Speaker 1: to feel sorry for myself because I'm like, oh God,
Speaker 1: I have to climb up the mountain to get this,
Speaker 1: like it's going to be brutal. Did you ever have
Speaker 1: a moment when you looked at your prosthetics down that
Speaker 1: mountain and thought like, oh my god, I can't believe
Speaker 1: this is happening to me. Or did you just always
Speaker 1: had this perseverance.
Speaker 2: Oh? No, I have gone through every emotion that you
Speaker 2: can go through. I think that anybody would go through,
Speaker 2: especially in a moment like that. I was embarrassed. I
Speaker 2: was with my friends. I didn't know my legs would
Speaker 2: come off. That was like the first time I had
Speaker 2: been on a snowboard and I wasn't sure how it
Speaker 2: was going to go. I knew how to snowboard beforehand,
Speaker 2: and I loved it, obviously, so I was very discouraged
Speaker 2: that I'd be able to do it again. So, sitting
Speaker 2: there on the mountain without my legs, my sister and
Speaker 2: my friend had a hike down the mountain, hike back
Speaker 2: up with my legs and my snowboard, and I was
Speaker 2: so discouraged, and I thought, clearly, it's not possible. Otherwise
Speaker 2: you would see this, And at that time, you didn't
Speaker 2: see somebody with two prosthetic legs snowboarding. So everything in
Speaker 2: that moment was this isn't possible. My dream that I
Speaker 2: love so much, I'm never going to be able to
Speaker 2: do again. This is so much harder than I At
Speaker 2: that point, there was no path, but I remember taking
Speaker 2: just a little bit of a breath, you know, I
Speaker 2: let myself break down for a minute and feel that
Speaker 2: feeling of pure defeat, like physically and literally defeat. But
Speaker 2: I felt it right. I felt defeated in that moment.
Speaker 2: But then I thought, wait a second, if I can
Speaker 2: figure out a way to get my legs to not
Speaker 2: come off, if I can figure out a way to
Speaker 2: get my ankles to move the way that I need
Speaker 2: them to, maybe I can do this again. And this
Speaker 2: is when I learned that the challenges in our lives
Speaker 2: can only do two things. One stop us dead in
Speaker 2: our tracks, or two force us to get creative. And
Speaker 2: so that's exactly what I did. I ended up going
Speaker 2: home and getting creative and figuring out a way to
Speaker 2: snowboard again, you know, allowing myself to break down and
Speaker 2: then find some clarity so that I can get creative
Speaker 2: and move forward. It's that in between moments, that moment
Speaker 2: where you can make a choice that changes everything, and
Speaker 2: that changes your direction completely, because I could have easily
Speaker 2: walked away from that day and never snowboard again and said,
Speaker 2: this is clearly impossible, and even though I felt it
Speaker 2: for a minute, I let myself feel it. But then,
Speaker 2: you know, I kind of reframed it a little bit like,
Speaker 2: maybe it is possible. Maybe if I did this, it
Speaker 2: would be possible. I haven't tried everything yet. We can't
Speaker 2: give up on ourselves so quickly.
Speaker 1: I really agree with you. It kind of brings me
Speaker 1: to your book dedication. Everyone listening knows that I love
Speaker 1: a book dedication, and yours really got me. You write
Speaker 1: to the person facing a challenge, whether it's a challenge
Speaker 1: you choose or a challenge that chooses you. When's the
Speaker 1: last time you chose challenge in your life?
Speaker 2: Every day in my life, even being here with you,
Speaker 2: to be.
Speaker 1: Honest, no way, Really, what do you mean?
Speaker 2: I'm actually quite an introvert, so even showing up on podcasts,
Speaker 2: being interviewed, even showing up on stage, which I've made
Speaker 2: a whole career out of speaking and corporate speaking, which
Speaker 2: is wild because I'm an introvert. I mean, maybe I'm
Speaker 2: an extrovert. Introvert like I can pull myself together to
Speaker 2: do things, but I'm quite shy and I never felt
Speaker 2: like it was in me to get up on stage.
Speaker 2: I'm not the first person to grab a microphone and
Speaker 2: share my story, but yet I've made a career out
Speaker 2: of it. And I did it by challenging myself every
Speaker 2: single time just to see what the possibilities were. And
Speaker 2: I do that every single day. I feel like just
Speaker 2: moments like this, having this conversation, I think there's a
Speaker 2: lot of people out there that stop themselves from figuring
Speaker 2: things out because they don't think that they're cut out
Speaker 2: for it. And I think we all feel that way
Speaker 2: at times. That's why I'm sharing this that even doing
Speaker 2: the things I've done, and I've done a million interviews
Speaker 2: and I've been on TV and I've been on stages,
Speaker 2: I still feel that way too, and so musing to
Speaker 2: take a challenge on just to grow and just to
Speaker 2: see what the possibilities are. That's something that we can
Speaker 2: do big like oh, I'm going to run a five
Speaker 2: K or I'm going to start this new job or
Speaker 2: create a new business, or that could be just the
Speaker 2: small day to day things like I'm going to say,
Speaker 2: is something that makes me uncomfortable and just see what's possible.
Speaker 1: Does it get easier for you over time?
Speaker 2: You start to trust yourself Over time, I would say,
Speaker 2: even on stage, I used to be so nervous. I
Speaker 2: mean for years, and I've had a full speaking career
Speaker 2: at that time as well, and I was still so
Speaker 2: nervous every time I got on stage. In fact, I
Speaker 2: still get nervous. I get nervous excited. I just try
Speaker 2: to reframe those nerves into excitement. I look at it like,
Speaker 2: this is just energy, right. It could be nervous energy,
Speaker 2: or it can be excited energy. I'm going to choose
Speaker 2: to make it excited energy. But every single time that
Speaker 2: you have to step out of your comfort zone, it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: But those are the moments that you figure out what
Speaker 2: you're really made of. And those are the moments that
Speaker 2: you figure out what you love and what you're capable
Speaker 2: of doing. And those are the moments where you can
Speaker 2: go in any direction. All of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 2: doors may open that you didn't expect. For me, I
Speaker 2: think I'm constantly putting myself in a place of discomfort
Speaker 2: just to grow and just to figure out what I'm
Speaker 2: capable of. When I did Dancing with the Stars, I
Speaker 2: had no idea I'd be able to dance on two
Speaker 2: prosthetic legs. It was the scariest thing ever, and I thought,
Speaker 2: I'm going to fail in front of millions of people.
Speaker 2: But then I thought, but I'm never going to know
Speaker 2: what I'm capable of unless I step out there and
Speaker 2: do it. And then I realized I was so much
Speaker 2: more capable than I ever thought. And that's what I
Speaker 2: hope for everybody. That's why I wrote this book because
Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of people think that some
Speaker 2: of us are just strong, or some of us are
Speaker 2: just resilient, or some of us just have it easy,
Speaker 2: when really we all have the same possibilities within us.
Speaker 2: We just have to sometimes have a little guidance, maybe
Speaker 2: something to lean on, just to know that we're not alone,
Speaker 2: and also a little guidance to get through those challenging times,
Speaker 2: just to realize what we're capable of.
Speaker 1: Your new book that you just mentioned is called Bounce Forward,
Speaker 1: and it is really about moving through uncertain times, which
Speaker 1: I think in twenty twenty six, we're all living through
Speaker 1: uncertain times. In a lot of ways, and you devote
Speaker 1: an entire chapter to getting unstuck, and I really really
Speaker 1: love that chapter. That feeling of stuckness is universal. It's
Speaker 1: something I've felt quite often in my life, and I
Speaker 1: know I always tell myself, Danielle, you're not a tree.
Speaker 1: Move and then I try and move past it. But
Speaker 1: when you have a physical or mental or emotional stagnation,
Speaker 1: what helps you get past that feeling or what tends
Speaker 1: to help you get past it?
Speaker 2: By moving, even if it's not in the direction that
Speaker 2: is going to take you anywhere. Literally, just moving, even
Speaker 2: if you just move your body, it's really easy to
Speaker 2: get stuck and not know what comes next, or not
Speaker 2: be inspired, or you know, just feel like nothing's moving. Right.
Speaker 2: We all have times in our life where nothing's happening,
Speaker 2: and maybe you get excited or you get used to
Speaker 2: big things happening. Then all of a sudden, nothing's happening,
Speaker 2: and now you're stuck and you're lost, and you don't
Speaker 2: know what comes next. Just by moving your body, just
Speaker 2: by going for a walk, just by going for a run,
Speaker 2: just by getting on the floor and doing sit ups.
Speaker 2: I swear that when you move your body, your entire
Speaker 2: life moves it gets the ball rolling, if nothing else,
Speaker 2: It's helped me so many times in my life. And
Speaker 2: I wrote this book, and in this book, I talk
Speaker 2: about a story of when I injured my legs seven
Speaker 2: years ago severely, and a lot of this book follows
Speaker 2: that journey of getting back on my feet again, going
Speaker 2: through all these surgeries, trying to figure out what's next
Speaker 2: for my life. And even in those moments where I
Speaker 2: was sitting in a wheelchair, I wasn't able to walk,
Speaker 2: I didn't know what came next. I would get on
Speaker 2: the floor and I would do push ups and sit ups,
Speaker 2: and I would turn on my favorite music and I
Speaker 2: would move my body, and I swear that all of
Speaker 2: a sudden clarity would come and then I would feel
Speaker 2: so much better, and I'd be able to come up
Speaker 2: with new ideas. I'd be more creative, I'd be more resilient.
Speaker 2: And so just by allowing yourself to move, just that
Speaker 2: simple thing, I mean, that's the opposite of being stuck
Speaker 2: in one place, right. I think we oftentimes wait for
Speaker 2: things to move us, when we have to remember that
Speaker 2: the energy starts with us. We wait for things to
Speaker 2: come our way. A lot of times for things to change. Right,
Speaker 2: You can sit back and wait for things to change,
Speaker 2: but that energy really has to start with us, and
Speaker 2: it can be as easy as a decision, just deciding
Speaker 2: to get up and move and do something different. Get
Speaker 2: in your car, put on music, go for a drive.
Speaker 2: You get so much clarity, then you get ideas. All
Speaker 2: of a sudden, it feels like your whole life is moving.
Speaker 2: It all starts from just that spark of energy that
Speaker 2: you have to show up with. And we all have that.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people. And when I say
Speaker 1: a lot of people, I think sometimes me too. So
Speaker 1: we all imagine hardship as sort of this chapter that
Speaker 1: you endure and then you move past. Because of what
Speaker 1: happened to you at nineteen, it feels like hardship is
Speaker 1: a repeat chapter for you. Like, what does it feel
Speaker 1: like when it repeats when you thought it was closed
Speaker 1: Because you just mentioned seven years ago you had this
Speaker 1: whole nother horrible experience.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know when I was nineteen and
Speaker 2: I lost my legs. At that time, I was fighting
Speaker 2: for my life. And then seven years ago, I severely
Speaker 2: injured my left leg when my prosthetic pushed into my
Speaker 2: poploatil artery. It shut down the entire arterial system of
Speaker 2: my left legs, so I lost my femeral artery, my
Speaker 2: poploatil artery. I almost lost my leg all the way
Speaker 2: up to my hip. So even though I'm already an amputee,
Speaker 2: I lost my legs below the knees. When I was nineteen.
Speaker 2: Now I was fighting for the rest of my leg.
Speaker 2: And the way that injury actually happened was doing all
Speaker 2: the stuff that I was doing on prosthetic legs, snowboarding
Speaker 2: and dancing and stuff that you don't normally do on
Speaker 2: prosthetic legs, ended up severely injuring my leg. So when
Speaker 2: I was younger, people would always ask me how I
Speaker 2: got through my most difficult challenges, and I didn't really
Speaker 2: know how to answer that. I just kind of did.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if it was because I was younger,
Speaker 2: I was more resilient. I just kind of, like, I
Speaker 2: don't know, I just kept moving forward. When it happened
Speaker 2: a second time and I was completely knocked off my feet,
Speaker 2: and this was big. I had ten surgeries all during COVID,
Speaker 2: had no idea if I'd walk again. This time, I
Speaker 2: became profoundly aware of the things that were helping me
Speaker 2: along the way. First of all, it was way more
Speaker 2: challenging as I was older going through this. You would
Speaker 2: think because I went through it before, or something very
Speaker 2: heavy before, that I would have been stronger this time.
Speaker 2: I surprisingly wasn't. I grieved so hard what I was
Speaker 2: losing because I had rebuilt my life for twenty years.
Speaker 2: I had gotten to a certain spot where I thought
Speaker 2: I went through my story. I thought that was my story.
Speaker 2: I lost my legs, and then I went on to
Speaker 2: do all these amazing things. I thought that was my
Speaker 2: story and what it was going to be. Then all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, I was knocked off my feet again,
Speaker 2: and I was at a point where I had no
Speaker 2: idea if i'd ever walk again. The doctor said, you'd
Speaker 2: be lucky if you'll even walk to the mailbox again.
Speaker 2: So here I figured out the possibilities snowboarding on prosthetics,
Speaker 2: dancing on prosthetics, all these things I could do. Now
Speaker 2: I'm being told I may never be able to do
Speaker 2: those things again. I completely lost my identity. I grieved
Speaker 2: so hard, and I was so worried about losing the
Speaker 2: rest of my leg I didn't know who I was
Speaker 2: without my legs as I knew them. They became a
Speaker 2: huge part of my identity. These bionic prosthetic legs that
Speaker 2: I used all these years became my identity. Now I
Speaker 2: was maybe losing those And I became very aware though
Speaker 2: this time, of what was helping me get through some
Speaker 2: of those moments like grief, what was helping me get
Speaker 2: through some of those moments like anxiety. I felt so
Speaker 2: much anxiety because I didn't know what the future held.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what I'd be able to do again,
Speaker 2: and I would spiral. I mean, I would panic attack
Speaker 2: at night because the sun would go down all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, the world would crush down on me, and
Speaker 2: I would think, I'm never going to walk again, I'm
Speaker 2: never snowboaring again, I'm never doing the things I love again.
Speaker 2: Who am I if I don't do these things? What
Speaker 2: is the world that even see me as? Now? They're
Speaker 2: going to see me as this sad, disabled girl, and
Speaker 2: that's not me at all. I just had this complete
Speaker 2: internal struggle. But then I'd have these little moments where
Speaker 2: I'd feel better, and then I would ask myself, Okay,
Speaker 2: what just happened? Why do I feel better? And I
Speaker 2: would write those things down, and those things became the
Speaker 2: chapters of this book and really the framework of this book.
Speaker 2: It's those little things that helped me along the way.
Speaker 2: And you know, I know that I went through major,
Speaker 2: heavy stuff, but we all go through stuff every single day,
Speaker 2: and each one of these kind of tools and chapters
Speaker 2: and practices that I have in the book they apply
Speaker 2: to no matter how big or small the challenge is.
Speaker 2: It could be a massive challenge like what I've gone through,
Speaker 2: injury or disability, whatever it may be. It could be
Speaker 2: a small challenge as well. Sometimes we just need, for
Speaker 2: one be reminded of our own resilience. It's all in there.
Speaker 2: We just have to kind of have little things to
Speaker 2: lean on to help us get through those tough moments.
Speaker 2: And it's also sometimes the most simple of things that
Speaker 2: can get you through the hardest of times, like gratitude.
Speaker 2: That's something we talk about all the time. It's almost
Speaker 2: cliche now just to be grateful for what you have,
Speaker 2: But when you are facing some of your hardest moments,
Speaker 2: the more grateful you are, the easier it is to
Speaker 2: get through those challenges. You actually get through them and
Speaker 2: get to the other side and realize just how much
Speaker 2: you have and then that starts to grow. Just little
Speaker 2: practices like practicing gratitude can completely change your life.
Speaker 1: Please correct me if I'm wrong, But it seems from
Speaker 1: the outside that you've found so much meaning in so
Speaker 1: many of your losses. I'm wondering if there's ever been
Speaker 1: a loss in your life that you couldn't really find
Speaker 1: a silver lining too, or where there was nothing to
Speaker 1: do but to live with it, or if you feel
Speaker 1: like there really is meaning in all of it.
Speaker 2: I would say it was this injury. A lot of
Speaker 2: the time, with this injury, it did not make sense
Speaker 2: to me. I did not know how it would lead
Speaker 2: to anything good or anything better than what I had
Speaker 2: already done. You know, when I lost my legs when
Speaker 2: I was nineteen, it made sense. I lost my legs
Speaker 2: and I went on to do these things. It was
Speaker 2: easy to say, oh, there's a silver lining. It led
Speaker 2: to here. I wouldn't have been here if I didn't
Speaker 2: go through.
Speaker 1: That right there was like a whole hero's journey you went.
Speaker 2: Through completely and this time did not play out this way.
Speaker 2: I did not make it and still have not made
Speaker 2: it to the top of this mountain where I've looked
Speaker 2: back and said, I did it. Oh my gosh, and
Speaker 2: I'm so happy I went through what I went through
Speaker 2: like it has been such a journey, and I actually
Speaker 2: wrote this book in the middle of it because I
Speaker 2: realized that resilience isn't necessarily when you get to the
Speaker 2: other side and you've made it. Resilience is the climb,
Speaker 2: and it's the things that help you put one step
Speaker 2: in front of the other and one foot in front
Speaker 2: of the other. That is resilience. But that's when you
Speaker 2: realize how strong you really are. And I think we
Speaker 2: just get so outcome focused on thinking that's where our
Speaker 2: happiness lies. But really the fulfillment of life really is
Speaker 2: in the journey, and sometimes in the hardest parts of
Speaker 2: the journey, like those are the moments that stick with
Speaker 2: you the most. Those are the moments where you learn
Speaker 2: more about yourself, you learn more about your relationships, you
Speaker 2: get closer to God or spirit, whatever it may be,
Speaker 2: and ultimately, I think closer to your purpose. You have
Speaker 2: to go through that pain to be connected to what
Speaker 2: matters most to you. And this journey has just taught
Speaker 2: me that. Because I haven't made it to the other side,
Speaker 2: I don't know what the other side looks like right now.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you I've also chosen to make sense
Speaker 2: of it. I haven't really sat back and waited for
Speaker 2: do I think this was meant to be, because there's
Speaker 2: amazing things that happened on the other side. I have
Speaker 2: chosen to make this make sense for me.
Speaker 1: Amy. I love how you said that, because if I
Speaker 1: can be so transparent with you, you are so unbelievably
Speaker 1: positive that I think sometimes people could hear your story
Speaker 1: and think that's just how she is. Like I can't
Speaker 1: be like that, you know, like she must have this
Speaker 1: temperament that I don't have. I love hearing you say
Speaker 1: that it was a choice that makes so much sense
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 2: It is a choice it is. It is funny too,
Speaker 2: because I'll be honest. I mean, if my husband was here,
Speaker 2: he'll probably say she's not the most positive. I go
Speaker 2: through the same thing that everybody else would go through,
Speaker 2: I promise you, and every challenge that I've faced, I
Speaker 2: have dealt with the exact same emotions that every single
Speaker 2: person I think would deal with. I think it just
Speaker 2: depends on what you do with them and how quickly
Speaker 2: you can reframe your situation. I've learned in my life.
Speaker 2: I'm an excellent reframer. I think I've had to be.
Speaker 2: I actually wrote a chapter on reframing in the book,
Speaker 2: because it really is kind of our greatest tool that
Speaker 2: we have to get through adversity. It's knowing that you
Speaker 2: can change your own mind, and it's trying to see
Speaker 2: other perspectives. And the quicker you can do that, the
Speaker 2: quicker you can get through a difficult situation. And it
Speaker 2: could be a difficult situation that's again like just a
Speaker 2: simple one, like your day's not going right, and then
Speaker 2: just well, maybe it's not supposed to be. Maybe I'm
Speaker 2: supposed to take a break and take a breath, you know,
Speaker 2: framing in a situation versus kind of sitting and letting
Speaker 2: yourself stay stuck in a negative emotion. It's let me
Speaker 2: see a different perspective really quick and see if I
Speaker 2: can get myself out of this. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: my brain has just been trained to do that now
Speaker 2: because I've gone through so many difficult situations and I've
Speaker 2: trained myself to see the positive or to see the
Speaker 2: opportunity in the challenge. And I think that's something that
Speaker 2: we all do.
Speaker 1: I agree with you made the choice to have it
Speaker 1: be meaningful. It's really a beautiful statement. You know. You
Speaker 1: pose this question in the book that I Love so
Speaker 1: after you write about having to learn to walk again,
Speaker 1: you say that for so long you were sure that
Speaker 1: your purpose was to push physical limits, and suddenly you
Speaker 1: found yourself asking who am I and what is my purpose?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: I would love to know your answer to that question today.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you found it?
Speaker 2: I think our purpose can change. First of all, I
Speaker 2: think that's important to know because we oftentimes think that
Speaker 2: there's one purpose and we're constantly trying to find it.
Speaker 2: I think that we create it in the moments that
Speaker 2: we're in. What is driving you? That's your purpose? That's it?
Speaker 2: And so I would say, right now, I've found my
Speaker 2: purpose for the moment. And I think my purpose for
Speaker 2: the moment was to write this book right the things
Speaker 2: that have helped me along the way, so that I
Speaker 2: could help others do the same, so that you know,
Speaker 2: I could help people on their journey as well. That
Speaker 2: feels like a good purpose, That feels like it makes
Speaker 2: sense for why I've gone through what I've gone through.
Speaker 2: And so I'd say I know my purpose for right now,
Speaker 2: I don't necessarily know what my purpose will be in
Speaker 2: the future, and that's fine because we're always changing and
Speaker 2: we're always growing. And I think when we lean into
Speaker 2: whatever it is that pains you, that's where you'll find
Speaker 2: your purpose. Because what pain thank you is what then
Speaker 2: can motivate you and what can give you drive to
Speaker 2: make change or make things happen. And so we need
Speaker 2: to not avoid the pain. We need to lean into it.
Speaker 2: Feel it, let it make us angry, or let it
Speaker 2: make us sad, let it make us feel something. That's
Speaker 2: where we find our drive. And our drive really is
Speaker 2: our purpose, Like that's what gets you up every day,
Speaker 2: that's what gets you moving forward. I guess they answer
Speaker 2: your question. I mean, I think the pain that I've
Speaker 2: gone through over the last seven years has led me
Speaker 2: to my purpose right now of writing this book and
Speaker 2: helping others through their journey as well.
Speaker 1: Love that advice, think about where your pain is stemming from.
Speaker 1: I mean, one of the most common questions I think
Speaker 1: I hear is how do I find my purpose? It's
Speaker 1: a beautiful sort of compass, and.
Speaker 2: We think that our purpose is outside of us, and
Speaker 2: just like this beautiful, big, shiny thing like something that's
Speaker 2: just positive, but really you oftentimes get there through the
Speaker 2: pain that you feel. I mean you think about anything.
Speaker 2: You think about somebody who starts a nonprofit and organization.
Speaker 2: A lot of times that comes because nothing existed before that.
Speaker 2: There needs to be support in this area. You know,
Speaker 2: maybe somebody lost a child and now they started a
Speaker 2: foundation in their name, because that pain motivates you to
Speaker 2: do something to make change. All of a sudden, you
Speaker 2: find your purpose in that pain. And we want to
Speaker 2: avoid our pain, but our pain is really what brings
Speaker 2: us deeper into our lives, into what matters most in
Speaker 2: our lives and who we are and what's important to us,
Speaker 2: and that is what opens the doors to finding or
Speaker 2: making purpose in our life.
Speaker 1: Amen. I saw you recently speak about not being able
Speaker 1: to snow board in the last seven years, and I'm
Speaker 1: curious if you have completely closed that chapter, if you
Speaker 1: think you'll find your way back on to a board anytime.
Speaker 2: I have not closed the chapter. I still have dreams
Speaker 2: that I'll be able to snowboard again. This thing that
Speaker 2: saved my life, that gave me life, it's how I
Speaker 2: met my husband, it's how we started our organization, Adaptive
Speaker 2: action sports. It has been the core part of my life.
Speaker 2: I have not been able to do for seven years,
Speaker 2: and it has been devastating at times, and I've grieved
Speaker 2: it heavily, and if I think too hard about it,
Speaker 2: I can still grieve it. But I choose to believe
Speaker 2: that if it's meant to happen, it will happen. But
Speaker 2: I also accept where I'm at today, and that's taken
Speaker 2: some time. For quite some time, quite a few years,
Speaker 2: I did not accept where I was at. I did
Speaker 2: try to get back and I realized at some point
Speaker 2: that is not happening. Seven years has passed, and it's
Speaker 2: just one little kind of baby step at a time
Speaker 2: that keeps moving me forward. I keep getting closer. I
Speaker 2: know that if I can walk comfortably again in prosthetics
Speaker 2: like very long distances, then I'll be able to snowboard
Speaker 2: in prosthetics again. But do I know if that's going
Speaker 2: to happen. No, And so I've just chosen to be
Speaker 2: present with where I'm at right now, do everything I
Speaker 2: can with what I've got. That's what I've always done,
Speaker 2: is just focused on what I have, and that has
Speaker 2: brought a lot of fulfillment. Okay, I can speak and
Speaker 2: I can talk to people and connect with people in
Speaker 2: this way that brings fulfillment. You know, we have our
Speaker 2: organization we help other people snowboard who have disabilities. That
Speaker 2: brings fulfillment. And I've just chosen to lean into the
Speaker 2: moment and that's helping me get by. That's why I
Speaker 2: wrote it in the book as well. And We'll just
Speaker 2: have to see what the future holds. I'm not sure,
Speaker 2: but I'll tell you what. If I do get on
Speaker 2: my snowboard again, it's going to be a party.
Speaker 1: Hell yeah it is. I want videos, I want pizza,
Speaker 1: I want a DJ. It's going to be a moment.
Speaker 2: What I'm like, come out, everybody, celebrate. I have a
Speaker 2: vision that happening. But again, I'm like, I just wrote
Speaker 2: a book called Bounce Forward. It's not about getting back.
Speaker 2: It really is like, let's just see where it goes.
Speaker 2: And I also have chosen to accept where I'm at
Speaker 2: and that gives you so much freedom.
Speaker 1: Are you competitive with everything? Are you a competitive Monopoly player?
Speaker 1: Un player? Everything?
Speaker 2: You would think I'm competitive because of the things I've
Speaker 2: done being a competitive athlete, but I don't actually feel
Speaker 2: that competitive, at least I'm not competitive against anybody else.
Speaker 2: I really am just always trying to figure out what
Speaker 2: can I do? What can I do on two prosthetic legs?
Speaker 2: I have no idea, and I have no idea until
Speaker 2: I do it, And so yeah, I think I'm just
Speaker 2: always trying to figure out the possibilities. I just think
Speaker 2: we're capable of so much. We don't even realize stop
Speaker 2: ourselves before we even get started with things. We believe
Speaker 2: we can't do things because of one excuse for another.
Speaker 2: And I really do think that we have so much
Speaker 2: potential when we believe it and we don't get in
Speaker 2: our own way.
Speaker 1: Do you mind if I ask you a few rapid
Speaker 1: fire questions?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 1: Okay, what's your favorite Madonna song?
Speaker 2: Like a Prayer?
Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say, like a Virgin,
Speaker 1: like a prayer? What is the most unexpected dance move
Speaker 1: that you nail?
Speaker 2: Spinning in the air. I don't know if you saw
Speaker 2: our finale dance on Dancing with the Stars, but I
Speaker 2: spun in the air with one hand holding onto one
Speaker 2: just little rope through the air. Was unbelievable and I
Speaker 2: would have never imagined I could do it.
Speaker 1: That was wild, It was wild.
Speaker 2: And I learned that in half a day. Like that's
Speaker 2: something that can take months or years for these acrobats
Speaker 2: to do. I did it in half a day. But
Speaker 2: I was also the strongest I've ever been, so I
Speaker 2: definitely wouldn't be able to do it today.
Speaker 1: But you did it, then you did it, and that's
Speaker 1: what matters. What is your most underrated skill set?
Speaker 2: Honestly, I think I'm just extremely determined.
Speaker 1: What's your best fashion accessory?
Speaker 2: My legs, my prosthetic legs? Of course?
Speaker 1: What is the TV show everyone needs to watch?
Speaker 2: I'm the worst at TV. I literally don't watch TV.
Speaker 1: Do you watch movies or your reader? What do you
Speaker 1: do to wind down?
Speaker 2: I'm like a brain wanderer. I take a bath, I
Speaker 2: put candles on, I let my brain just kind of wander.
Speaker 2: I don't know what I do with my nighttime. Sometimes
Speaker 2: I cook. My husband's a movie watcher, and I cannot
Speaker 2: get into it. I'm always doing other projects or cooking,
Speaker 2: or you know, doing something else at the same time.
Speaker 1: What is something that every woman should try once?
Speaker 2: If you don't do like the whole Spa, which a
Speaker 2: lot of people don't, I'm surprised there's a lot of
Speaker 2: women who don't do massages and stuff like do that
Speaker 2: because just to have a quiet moment with yourself, you
Speaker 2: start to realize, oh I carry tension in my shoulders,
Speaker 2: Oh I need to really even emotions will come up.
Speaker 2: We all need to take care of ourselves. Self care
Speaker 2: is so important for women specifically. You take on so much.
Speaker 2: So I would say, give yourself a day at the spot,
Speaker 2: get a massage, relax, and let yourself truly decompress.
Speaker 1: What is a book that you've read that changed your life,
Speaker 1: something you think everybody should read.
Speaker 2: There's a book that's very old called Your Thoughts Can
Speaker 2: Change Your Life by an author named Donald Curtis, and
Speaker 2: it's hard to find that book. It's one of the
Speaker 2: very first self help books, I believe. I think it
Speaker 2: was written maybe in the forties or fifties, and I
Speaker 2: read it after I lost my legs, and it completely
Speaker 2: changed my life because it actually confirmed what I already
Speaker 2: believed about visualization, about the possibilities about manifestation, but not
Speaker 2: in this like out there magical way, in this way
Speaker 2: that you can tangibly make these things happen in your
Speaker 2: life and how the world is connected. When I read that,
Speaker 2: when I was younger. It just helped me make sense
Speaker 2: of where I was at after losing my legs. And
Speaker 2: I also found some really magical things connect after I
Speaker 2: read that book, where I thought, oh, this is exactly
Speaker 2: what this book was talking about. So it's kind of
Speaker 2: confirmed in me what I've already known, and I always
Speaker 2: go back to that book speaks truth. So if you
Speaker 2: can find it, I think they're like on eBay at
Speaker 2: this point.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to ask you a question from the
Speaker 1: question Everything card game. You tell me when to stop stop? Okay? Ooh,
Speaker 1: what is a lyric, poem, mantra or quote that you
Speaker 1: hold on too tightly?
Speaker 2: You know? The one that I wrote in my book
Speaker 2: is be here Now. And obviously it's not one that
Speaker 2: I created. I've heard it a time. There's a movie
Speaker 2: out there called be Here Now that deeply impacted me
Speaker 2: when I was going through some of my toughest days.
Speaker 2: It's a documentary and it's about just being present and
Speaker 2: the power of presence. I even wrote it down on
Speaker 2: little note card. I put it in my wallet so
Speaker 2: that every time I open my wallet, I see be
Speaker 2: here Now, and it just reminds me to be in
Speaker 2: the present. Moment, because in the present moment, everything is
Speaker 2: okay and we realize that we are okay.
Speaker 1: My last question for you is do you ever think
Speaker 1: of trying to find that man that you massaged three
Speaker 1: weeks before your meningitis. I, to be honest, don't think
Speaker 1: that he would be alive now, because he was quite
Speaker 1: older when I massaged him.
Speaker 2: I wish I had looked back, and I think I
Speaker 2: didn't because my fight to survive was so long, and
Speaker 2: you know, suddenly I was just in that space. And
Speaker 2: it wasn't really till years later that I really reflected
Speaker 2: back and wrote my first book about it, and I
Speaker 2: think at that point I figured that he had maybe
Speaker 2: prossed over to the other side officially, But yeah, I
Speaker 2: do think about it. And actually that's probably one of
Speaker 2: the biggest questions I get from people, is did I
Speaker 2: ever try to find him again? And I'm not sure
Speaker 2: at this point if I'd be able to, But I'm
Speaker 2: so grateful that he came into my life. Just him
Speaker 2: telling me that everything was going to be okay and
Speaker 2: don't be scared, just that may have been enough to
Speaker 2: allow me to move forward and know that I was
Speaker 2: going to be okay. Our words are very so much power,
Speaker 2: and I think that we can maybe all be that
Speaker 2: guy for other people, right Like we could be the
Speaker 2: person saying, Hey, you're amazing. You're going to go through
Speaker 2: hard things, but just know that you're going to get
Speaker 2: through it and you're going to do amazing and you're
Speaker 2: going to have an incredible life.
Speaker 1: Oh where are your tears coming from? What are you feeling?
Speaker 2: Just those words were so powerful for me. I think
Speaker 2: that those words can be so powerful for other people
Speaker 2: as well. And we need to remember that we can
Speaker 2: help each other and we're here to do that. I
Speaker 2: think that's why we're here, is to connect and to
Speaker 2: help each other grow. We need each other, and yet
Speaker 2: we get so separated because of our phones and our
Speaker 2: day to day lives, and we get so caught up
Speaker 2: in our own stuff. We all do, I do, but
Speaker 2: I think just remembering truth, which is we need each
Speaker 2: other and sometimes we just need to know that we're
Speaker 2: not alone, and we need to hear kind words from
Speaker 2: each other to help us believe in ourselves.
Speaker 1: His words really help save your life, they did, you know?
Speaker 2: Going back to the question you asked before, if things
Speaker 2: are really meant to be or kind of how all
Speaker 2: that works out. I sometimes think about its words and
Speaker 2: I think, did he know that I was going to
Speaker 2: be okay and that my life would go on and
Speaker 2: I would do amazing things? Or did him just telling
Speaker 2: me that give me the belief that I could do that?
Speaker 2: And so then I did. And that's why I say
Speaker 2: that words have power. I think that even just him saying,
Speaker 2: when you cross over, don't be scared, You're going to
Speaker 2: go on and do amazing things. I think just that belief.
Speaker 2: This guy said it, so I'm going to choose to
Speaker 2: believe it was enough for me to survive something that
Speaker 2: very few people survive. And that's the power of belief.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Ami.
Speaker 2: Thank you, this has been wonderful.
Speaker 1: Okay, you know what time it is. Today's a good day.
Speaker 1: To have a good day. I'll see you next week.