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The Comeback Mindset with Maddy Schaffrick · Mind Over Mountain

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, Welcome to mind Over Mountain with me Cheryl Strade.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: This week my guest is pro snowboarder Matti Shaffrick. She's
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: fresh off the US Women's Olympic team, where she competed
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: in the halfpipe, and fresh off an amazing comeback. Mattie
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: went pro at fourteen, retired by twenty, had a little
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: foray as a plumber's assistant, and then became a coach
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: before making that amazing comeback. In our conversation, we talk
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: about all the high points and low points and the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: healing in between. Let's listen to our conversation.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Mattie Shaffrick. Welcome to mind Over Mountain.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Cheryl. I'm so happy to be here.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: You know, I am really excited to talk to you.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: We have tons of stuff to talk about. You went
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: pro as a snowboarder at age fourteen, by twenty you
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: had retired, and then nine years later you may this
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: amazing comeback. And I have to say I'm one of
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the many, many people who were riding and sailing and
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: flying along with you through really the glorious comeback you've
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: had recently.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: On Instagram, I follow you like so many others.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: You said that this past season was a season for
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: the books because of course it included the Olympics in Milan, Cartino,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: where you were a member of the women's snowboard team,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: and also very recently you took second in the women's
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: snowboard half fife at the Snowboard World Cup. What was
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: this amazing comeback season or these last couple of years
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: like for you as a snowboarder.
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, there's it's hard to like put in a few
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: short sentences what the last couple of years have men
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: and this whole comeback journey I've been on. So last
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: winter season was my first season back competing since twenty fifteen,
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: And yeah, it was nine years and eight months I'd
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: taken off from competition and you know, had tried different careers.
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: But like, my main approach in making this comeback, or
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: like the reason I wanted to do it was to
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: do it differently and to do it authentically and do
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: it in a way that was very connected to who
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: I am.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: And how I want to be in the sewer career.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: And and yeah, it's been very high highs and very
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: low lows, like challenges I was expecting. And also challenges
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: that I couldn't have predicted.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: That.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: You know, It's funny you get what you ask for,
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: like I wanted to. I wanted to see what I
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: was truly capable of in this comeback in all ways physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: Like that was one of my main whys for coming back,
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: was what I was truly capable of. And I feel
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: like I.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: Got pushed to the edge of.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: In all of those realms and was challenged and really
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: like I was required to rise to the occasion in
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: a lot of different areas, which yeah, has been fun
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: and purposeful and also yeah, a wild journey of just
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: self exploration and getting to know myself way more and
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: believing in myself.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I also wonder if a piece of that, you know,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: finding your why again, in finding your way back to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: snowboarding goes way back to when you were a child
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: and at first falled in love with a sport.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it absolutely has.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: I mean, like you said, I first joined the US
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: team and became a professional snowboarder at fourteen. I loved snowboarding,
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: you know, like that was my why leading up to that,
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: that US Team nomination back then and all of yeah,
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: and at fourteen, no one knows who they are at fourteen,
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: and my entire all of my teenage years and my
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: entire high school experience, I was. I was on the
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: road with kids much older than me. I was the
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: youngest on the US team by three years at that
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: time and remained the youngest for several years. But I
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: was trying to figure out who I was during a
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: time that, you know, in a.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Very adult world where.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: I had external expectations and pressures as far as like
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: US team expectations, sponsor contracts, agents, and a lot of support.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: That was all so helpful and I needed it or
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: someone in that position, it's that's very helpful to have
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: all the support and being a teenager trying to also
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: just like yeah, figure out who.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: And how I wanted to be in this world.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: It was it was a lot, and I didn't have
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: the coping skills yet.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Really tell me, you know, fourteen, What always amazes me
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: about your your experience is that, yeah, as you said,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: who at fourteen knows who they are? The whole situation
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: with being fourteen, it's like it's your job not to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: know yet, right, It's your job to go on that
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: journey full of like mistakes and victories and all kinds
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: of things. It's to be in the spot like the
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: way you were to be before that, to be called
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: a child prodigy, it's just an immense amount of pressure.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: What was that you know?
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: What was that like for you when you were among
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the people who I imagine like these other snowboarders in
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the field, who were like your idols. What was that
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: like for you as a child to be among the
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: people who are older, making, you know, being their peer
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: or their colleague.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: I think there were a lot of like facets to that,
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: because the reason I started snowboarding when I was seven
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: years old was because I watched Gretchen Bleiler on the
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: TV during X Games. I forget what season it was,
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: but I remember I was I was six when I
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: saw her on TV, and I just remember she was
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: in all yellow. I don't think it was a one piece,
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: but it was an all yellow outfit, and I remember
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: that so clearly, and I remember watching her and her
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: run and knowing that's what I wanted to do. I
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: was always into sports. I've always been an athletic kid.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: But I saw her compete in X Games in snowboarding,
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: half fype and I was like, that's what I want
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: to do.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Then fast forward.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: But wait, why what was it about seeing her do that?
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: That's a good question.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: I would have to like, I know, I'd have to
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: tap back into my six year old brain then.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: But maybe it was.
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: I don't know, Maybe it was just I think it
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: was probably just the energy she was admitting that I
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: was feeling, and.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: You're like, I want to be that in the world.
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, totally.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: And all of those women were like having so much
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: fun and pushing each other and supporting each other and doing.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: Really cool things. That looks so cool.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: And I, yeah, I was. I was drawn to it.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I'm imagining you know, when you get such high validation
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: and praise, Yeah, being called a child broto d You're
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: at fourteen turning pro and you know, joining the team
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: that you'd only dreamed of being on.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: It's both positive.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: It's incredibly validating, right, You're like, oh my, all of
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: my dreams have come true. Yeah, and it's also strangely
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: depleting and diminishing.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: I'm going totally totally.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, it was fast forward eight years from
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: watching Gretchen on TV.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: I was on the team.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: With her, and yeah, and being called a child prodigy
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: and having a lot of eyes on me, and absolutely
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: it was validating, and it was so fun and all
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: of my dreams were coming true.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: And how do you you know, uphold that? How do
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: you maintain it? And I don't know. I just I
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: felt the pressure.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: And though, here's the thing. The first two years I
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: was on the team, from age fourteen to sixteen, I
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: had a really great time. I did not feel that
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: much pressure. The best analogy I can say for it
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: is I felt like I was on a wave and
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: the wave was pushing me. I was just riding that wave.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: When I was sixteen, I had a really big knee
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: injury and a hip injury, just big fall in New
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: Zealand and I was going into my junior year of
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: high school and I had it was my third knee
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: surgery at that time, but it was the biggest one
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: I had ever had.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: And third knee surgery by sixteen.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, out I know, and and so I'd been Yeah,
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: I'd been through injury before, but I had never experienced
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: that big of an injury, injury.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: At that level.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: With all the eyes on me yet, or being on
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: the US team yet.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Right right at this level where people actually weren't just
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: concerned for your health. They were like, well, we want
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: her to perform. We had expectations of her.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: Right, I needed to fulfill contracts, right.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: But Yeah, that injury and.
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: I took eleven months off of snow and went back
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: to high school to say, at a desk with all
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: of my peers that I had grown up with here
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: in Steamoat, Colorado. And the last time I had sat
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: at a desk, you know, was like seventh grade for
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: the entire school year.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: And I didn't know how to really relate to kids
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: my age anymore. All of my friends that I used
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: to play soccer with were doing totally different things.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they had a different life totally.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And so that was a hard year just mentally
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: and emotionally, you could imagine.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: But yeah, how did you I mean, how was it hard?
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Was it was it hard finding friends again or having
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: authentic connections with people?
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: What did your peers think of you? Were they like,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: she's the snowboarding star?
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: I mean they thought I was cool, but we didn't
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: know each other anymore. And the things that they were
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: interested in or you know, pursuing, I didn't. I didn't
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: know how to connect to that anymore. And then all
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: of my you know, friends who had spent the last
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: couple of years with they were still traveling the world busy,
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: and you know, I.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Doing the things that you thought you were supposed to
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: be doing.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: Right, And I'd say, like, you know, those first two
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: years on the US team, I was riding that wave.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: And then after that injury, I fell off that wave.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: And that's when it felt like the awareness of the contracts,
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: the pressures, the expectations, that's when all of that came
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: in and hit me so hard in a way that
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: I didn't I didn't know what to do with it.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: In my own life too, when I've been overwhelmed with
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: grief or sorrow or whatever, you know, fill in the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: dark hard word, you do, you do something with it.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: It can be self destructive or not.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: And I mean, what did you do?
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it means all fairly destructive.
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: And I started building like self sabotaging behaviors.
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: And.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: You know, it was It wasn't only in you know,
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: there's an element to snowboarding. Used to be an element
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: to snowboarding that was like there was a very much
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: a party culture involved it. That's not really the case anymore,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: especially in the high level competition, which is definitely for
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: the best. But I leaned into that side way more
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: than I ever had before. But also, you know, speaking
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: about those women that I was teammates with, that I
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: looked up to so much, I started comparing myself to
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: them in a way that was not helpful.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: It never is any like I have never been from
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: comparing myself to anyone else. Totally, No, it only it
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: only makes you feel less than. What's always crazy too,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: is little do we know they're probably doing the same,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: you know, totally us, And it's it's like it's like
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: a shame building machine, that comparison.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the past joy as they say, yeah.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And it becomes a habit yeah, and a pattern
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: that you know, if you go deep enough into it,
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: it takes it very intentional work to come out of
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: and bring that habit.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: So how did you do that?
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, not just the comparison part, but this era
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: you're describing where you got pretty dark, Like, how how.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Did you find your way out? What did you do?
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: I left?
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: I Yeah, I retired when I was twenty, and I
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: retired so full of anger and resentment and blame.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: And who were you angry at and resentful tour?
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've the industry, coaches, sponsors, I was that whole,
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: real one that yeah.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Everything on the outside.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: I was angry at competition itself, Like I felt competition
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: had taken this thing. I loved snowboarding, this passion I
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: was so connected to and tainted it.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you fell out of love with snowboarding, not so
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: much for snowboarding itself, but everything that surrounded it exactly.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: So when I when I announced my retirement at twenty
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: in twenty fifteen, I swore I would never touch another
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: snowboard again. I really thought I was never gonna turn back.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: In any way, even recreationally.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: I was like, I'm so done.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: What did you do with your snowboards?
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Did you have like a bonfire in the backyard?
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: I think I gave a lot of them away.
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: Yeah I still have, Like I think I have three
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: snowboards from huh that era of my life, And I
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: honestly don't know what I did with the rest.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: They were like out in the back for this garage
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: or something. I don't really So then you know, I
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: understand you. When you retired at twenty, you did what
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: many many twenty year olds have done, including my own
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: twenty year old right now, retreated to their parents' house. Right, Yeah,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: and you grew up writing steam Boat Springs, Colorado.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: So you moved back in with your folks.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: Yep, moved back in into the basement. It was good.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: It was where.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: I needed to be to just you know, they created
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: a safe space for me to break down and just
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: drop everything and yeah, you know, hit an emotional rock
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: bottom and not.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: Know where to go next.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, the great thing about rock bottom, though, because
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: I know this is the next part of your story,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: is like, once you get to the bottom, there's the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: only direction to go is up.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: And it sounds like, I mean, it.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Might take a while, but and it might look different
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: than maybe most of us imagine, but from there we
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: do begin to rise.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: So what happened to you next?
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: Well, one part of my story that people really love
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: this here during the Olympics.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: But I know what's coming.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I moved back into my parents house. I was
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: in the basement.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: They gave me a few months to you know, sulk
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: around and I don't even know what I was doing,
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: but they my dad was finally like, all right, if
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: you're going to live here. You need to pay some
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: rent or help us buy some food.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: The food you're eating you just need. Yeah, so get
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: a job.
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: And and I had a family friend in town here
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: that owned a plumbing and heating business. I asked him
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: one day because I knew, you know, I hadn't gone
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: to college. I hadn't the last time I went to
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: school was like I just didn't connect with it. I
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: had no motivation and so it was not very like
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: healthy environment for me.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: And I had no.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: Other like work experience besides snowboarding, and I knew I
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: had emotional stuff I needed to work through in my body.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: So I was like, I want to use my hands.
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: I want to use my body. I don't want to
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: sit behind a desk. I asked my friend Joe, Joe
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: the plumber.
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: Joe.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: It's like he's even got the name.
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: When I asked him, I was like, do you have
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: any friends in the trade, you know, industry that need help.
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: I want to learn something new and I want to
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: keep moving, and he goes, yeah, you can start for
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: me on Monday. So I became Joe the Plumber's apprentice.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Made thought that I had, but please tell me that
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: your other coworkers were named Earl Bob, and Frank.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: Was Dallas.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Oh no, that's no, that's.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Not a plumber name. I don't know you think Dallas
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: is a plumber name.
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: He was. He's a good plumber.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: To be Dallas.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: It's like he's like he's like an actor. He's not
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: like Broadway or yeah, you know.
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: I mean.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: The thing is I love about this is it's it
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: is both totally unlikely and also I will say I
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: actually think it's it's most of us have that kind
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: of story at one point or another in our lives
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: where we're like, Okay, I was lost and then I
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: just decided to do this like totally out of nowhere
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: thing and it helped me be found. And you knew
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: instinctually that you had to work with your body, make
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: something do, make something happen with your hands, and you
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: trusted that girl, and that is like, that is golden
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: and that is healing right there. So you were beginning
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: even when you asked that question of Joe the plumber,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: So well done, Yeah things.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: How did why are you not a plumber?
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Now?
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: So how'd that plumbing career go? Okay?
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: So I I apprenticed for a little over a year,
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: learned a lot, and one of the main things I
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: learned was that I do not want to split spend
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: my life plumbing.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: Okay, I don't want to be a plumber. I respect
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: the trade so much.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: And I will say too that one year of plumbing
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: was harder on my body than seven years of professional sommarty.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, like mad respect.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Are you serious?
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm serious, because you're like on your knees under
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: a sing or cabinet right, or you're in a crawl
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: space in some contorted position, or you're like fun scaffolding
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: hoping of holding a pipe over your head.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: It was so hard on my joints.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: I imagine early twenties, Like imagine you're like some old guy,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: yeah or Dallas or whatever. Also, you have to wear
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: really baggy pants so they fall down totally.
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: I'm about to throw all your belts.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: I hope, I hope somebody saw your butt track at
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: some point, Maddie, I'm sure. I come on, well, but
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: you were just an apprentice, so like maybe you didn't
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: reach the full plumber of you know, wardrobe malfunction level.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: But I'm true.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, but my burning question that I have for you
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: about your your short career, but short but informative career
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: and physically challenging career and plumbing is I know you're
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: you're not interested in being a plumber. Now do you
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: do your own home repairs? Like if things get moving
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: a little slow, like you know how to fix it?
• 21:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah? I do.
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: I've done like the little like external repairs if it's
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: in a wall. I called somebody.
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: I called Joe.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Joe, you guys are still passed.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I bet yeah, Okay, what did What did Joe think
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: of you when you're like, you know, I mean going
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: to the Olympics and stuff. I bet that I met
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: The Plumbers Association of America is very proud of you.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: Oh that's so funny.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: He has been so supportive.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: And so he has three kids that are all younger
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: than me, and uh huh, I lived with them my
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: junior year of high school when I was back during
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: that time. So yeah, they I mean those kids at
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: that time too. The oldest was eight and the youngest
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: was maybe two. And now this is twenty three.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Have you have you taught them snow snowboarding or taken
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: them out on the snow at all.
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean looking back when I was in high school,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: when they were young.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: Oh okay, they were all they're all rippers.
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: They all chose skiing now, but whatever, I'm not gonna
• 22:16
  Speaker 6: judge them. But yeah, they've all been so proud and
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: it's been funny too because.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: Joe I was uh, let's just I wasn't the best
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: plumber either.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: I wasn't wade for it.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: He's not.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Let me forget that where he goes.
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: Well, you're getting a lot of attention for that time plumbing,
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: but they don't know how bad you were.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, like that word prodigy only applies an
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: area of your life, not too exactly, only snowboarding, not
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: not plumbing.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I'm glad to do that.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: I'm glad we set the record straight here on mind
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Over Mountain. Yeadi Chaprack is not a prodigious plumber.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: No I'm not.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Don't call me, don't call called Joe so Ya. But
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: so then you have your moment of truth, you know, Okay,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: at twenty you're like, I'm done with snowboarding. A few
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: years later you're like, I'm done with plumbing. What happened next?
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: How did you find your way back to snowboarding.
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so you know, it's funny and makes sense when
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: I declared at twenty years old, I was never going
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: to snowboard again.
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: It didn't last that long because I came home to
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: Steamboat and spent like basically the rest of the summer
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: in Steamboat, or I had some extra time in Salt
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Lake City. But then I uh started plumbing, and we're
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: approaching the ski season again, and I had some friends
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: coming back home, and everyone I knew in Steamboat was
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: getting season passes for the report, right, And so I
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: was like, all right, I'm going to be so bored.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: If I don't.
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: I'm if all I'm doing is plumbing, sleeping, like, get
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: an activity. There's not a lot to do in Steamboat
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: in the winter besides skier, snowboard or some sort of
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: winter activity.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: So I reached out to.
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: A friend of mine who was directing the snowboard program,
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: the youth snowboard program here in Steamboat for Steamboat Springs
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: Winter Sports Club, and asked her if she had any
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: volunteer positions available where I could get a free season pass.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Oh cool, and so yeah.
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: That that twenty sixteen summer or winter, I guess it's
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: twenty fifteen twenty sixteen winter, I volunteered with a group
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: of like seven to nine year olds and it was
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: only seven hours a week.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: It was one day a week after.
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: My plumbing and then on Saturdays, and I was teaching
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: this group of kids how to snowboard for the first
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: time ever, just how to turn and how to strap
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: on their snowboard day one, and.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Which is the same age you were. I just want
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: to point out that you said I want to do
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: that totally. It's a really exastaing return. And just for
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the record, I want to say, if if I went
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: to the mountain, I would need to be in that
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: group with the seven to nine year olds. I would
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: probably never graduate off of whatever level they were at.
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: You would, you would, And at a surtain age we
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: recommend butt pads and risk guards.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Okay, I would need just like maybe full body like
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: sort of bubble wrap.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, that is the thing I want to ask you.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: About this because I think that you know what you're
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: talking about is when you teach absolute beginners, whether they're
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: seven and nine or fifty, you know, what you yourself
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: are doing is in some ways returning to those essentials
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and those like those first steps and those first times
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: that you're like, oh my gosh, Like I thought I
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: couldn't do this thing, and then I did it, and wow,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: that was thrilling. Am I just projecting this like with
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: some of with some of this resonating with you when
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: you were teaching the kids, were you remembering why you
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: loved snowboarding again?
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, that was it. You just named it perfectly.
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: That's exactly what happened, and it I mean, it brought
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: me back to the basics in a way that I
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: had I hadn't thought about how to turn.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: My snowboard in years.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and so it felt completely different than what I
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: was doing in competition and like training and learning tricks
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: and learning how to fall and.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: Get back up and all that.
• 26:56
  Speaker 5: It was.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, it was learning how to fall and.
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: Get back up and try to explain that to the
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: kids too.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: But it was so.
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: It reframed snowboarding for me in a way that I
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: really needed, and it was it had nothing to do
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: with competition. And I was watching in real time those
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: kids figure out their love for snowboarding and their passion
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: and can and discover it for the first time ever.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: And it was so fun.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: Wow, and it literally probably it was maybe in the
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: first two weeks that I could feel within myself like
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: this is healing me.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, the body is such a great teacher,
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: isn't it.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: You're out there explaining I got chills when you just
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: said what you said, which is to teach people how
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: to fall down and get back up, you know. And
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: of course when when you're doing that with your body,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: you end up doing that inside yourself as well. It
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: ends up being you know, that that healing act, and
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: especially sharing that with others because of course if you're
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: telling somebody else listen, you're gonna follow. It might hurt,
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: but no worries. You can get right back up and
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: go again and try again, always, always, always like you
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: can't help it, but here that yourself.
• 28:19
  Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, it's true.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: What about coaching, I mean you you were coaching the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: little kids and instructing really more, I guess.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Then you know, did you that drew you back in
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: in a deeper level? I understand you continued, Then you
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: got hired to actually be a.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Coach, yeah, at the club.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: So so that first season back in Steamboat, I was
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: plumbing and doing the volunteer position with the young kids
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: and then got to a place with plumbing where I
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: needed I didn't want to.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Do it anymore.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: I quit that and going into that following season, I yeah.
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: I went to the director, my friend Tori, and was like,
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: I want to do this full time. Is there a
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: position for it? And I became head coach of what
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: was called the Junior and Senior teams at Sema Springs
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: Winner Sports Club, which was basically a group of nine
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: to nineteen year olds that competed in all the different
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: disciplines of snowboarding, so you know giant Solomon, slalom, border cross,
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: slope style, halfpipe, rail jams, all the different disciplines. We
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: just had a big group of kids and I was
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: the head coach of that that had a couple of
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: coaches under me that we work together to like, yeah,
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: bring these kids to competition.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: And help them. You know, when they're younger, you.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: Help them discover well, you want to have them try
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: everything and have them support them in doing everything. And
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: then as they were getting older and you know those sixteen, seventeen, eighteen,
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: nineteen year olds, we were it was very specialized training
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: in whatever discipline they were specializing in.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: What did you learn about like being a good coach.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, you had always been coached, but what what
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: was it like for you to be in that other position.
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: It was challenging in a whole new way. And what
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: was interesting was once I got named to that position,
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: I was really excited and I knew I had things
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: to share with the athletes. But then going back to
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: my first competitions as a coach, even though they were
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: like small regional events in Colorado, it was a weird
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: I still had lingering resentment for competition.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: You mean, going back literally to places that where you
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: had competed. Yeah, so it's almost like you, I mean
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: you had memories like, well, okay, four years ago, I
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: was here and I did this on this mountain.
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and even just I mean it was different mountains sometimes,
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: but just bringing kids into the world of competition when
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: I still blamed competition for taking away my love of
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: the sport, which in the last twelve months or whatever,
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: I had just regained. I just figured out how to
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: love snowboarding again and connect to it in.
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: A whole new way.
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: And then I was bringing kids into the world that
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: I believed took that love away from me.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: How did you reconcile those those mixed feelings.
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: It is challenging. And what ended up happening was I
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: learned or I came to believe that there is no
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: one way an athlete connects to their sport. There is
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: no one avenue and it is honestly, the coaches are
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: The coaches are the last people that should tell an
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: athlete how they connect to their sport. It's up to
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: a coach to help an athlete discover how they themselves
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: connect to their sport and then support them in creating
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: environments that like pave that path and give them opportunities
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: to like stay connected to their that avenue that they need.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think another way of thinking about that in
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: a broader scope. I think even outside of snowboarding or
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: skiing or the sports world at all, it's.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Like, you know, you kind of can't.
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: You know one thing I've written a sercrets you can't
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: fake the core like you cannot you cannot fake what's
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: like truly within you. And of course for you to
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: be like a pro athlete, you have to have your
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: own We began our conversation saying like you had to
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: have your why, right, That's how you come back was about,
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: and in some ways also what your retirement was about
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: is that, like you lost your why.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: You're like, what am I doing here?
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I'm hurting, I'm injuring myself, I'm resentful, I'm stressed out
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: about other people outshining me or feeling competitive with them.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: And you know, I think that that's such a core
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: and essential truth of the human experience, right. We always
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: have to know why we're doing something, especially when it
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: demands so much from us to do exactly.
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, I couldn't say it better. And so yeah,
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: being a coach healed me in so many ways, and.
• 34:01
  Speaker 5: It my why as a coach became helping others.
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: Find their why and learning there is no wrong why
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: right for somebody, and you know, as long as it's
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: like healthy and doesn't hurt.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well have healthy why.
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, a healthy why. But that was really magical.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, like I want to continue talking to
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: you about your journey, but like I can't help at
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: this juncture and our conversation where we're talking about whys
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: and helping other people find their why. I actually have
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: a dear Sugar letter that I want you to help
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: me answer it.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: That's kind of adjacent to this.
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: So can we just pause and I'll read it to you,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: and we'll give this this pers of advice, and then
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: we're going to go back to a great comeback of
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Mattie Shaffrick.
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: Okay, I'll read it to you.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, deer, Sugar, I'm twenty four and I still have
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: no idea what I want to do with my life.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Shouldn't I have figured that out by now.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: I graduated college nearly two years ago, and after trying
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: in a bit with friends, I moved back in with
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: my parents and got a job at a high end
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: thrift store. I still live with my parents, and that's
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: not the problem. We like living together, and rent in
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: our city is insanely expensive. The problem is I feel
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: like I'm just drifting along, not really going in any direction.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: My job is fine and even fun at times, but
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: it's not where I see myself in five years. My
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: issue is when I think about five years from now,
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine what I'll be doing because I don't
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: know what I want to do. This seems like such
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: a whiny letter, I know, But will you please give
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: me some advice, Sugar? How do I create a meaningful life?
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: How do I find that thing inside of me that
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: will make me feel passionate about a particular career path.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: I envy my friends who already know what they want
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: to do, but so far I just don't have that.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: How do people like me find their life's purpose?
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: Thanks? Signed Drifter? Okay, do you see why?
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Like it is kind of adjacent this thing of all
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: totally this person she's really asking like, what's my why
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: have I'm lost in drifting totally?
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: And I, yeah, I feel like that's so common.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: First, I want to say to Drifter, and I think
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: Maddie's going to agree with me. Twenty four is very young. Yeah,
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: And so first of all, let's dispense with that self shame,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: like shouldn't I have figured it out by now? And
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: I want to say to you, Drifter, like, at every
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: age you know, people say shouldn't I already fill in
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: the blank? And the answer is always know, because of
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: course we evolve and grow all the time, and you know,
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: a sense of seeking in bewilderment is almost always part
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: of our lives in different ways over all of our lives.
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: So stop lambasting yourself for.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Not figuring it out by now. You're only twenty four.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Do you back me up on that.
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: Maddie, absolutely, one hundred percent. Yeah, I think it's it's
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: hard when, Yeah, our society kind of creates an expectation
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: that you should know what you want to do with
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: your life, especially yeah, at twenty four or at like
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: any age.
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: There are so many.
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: People I feel like that are also doing things that
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: they don't connect with because they like jumped into something
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: before they yeah they wanted or you know, I know
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: it's hard than there's so many different circumstances and that
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: people deal with.
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: But yeah, be kind to yourself with that one.
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: Drifter, I think you're I'm in that boat with you
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: sometimes too.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Still, yeah, you know, I mean, I think that you
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: make a really good point because it's actually for me,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: I feel like sort of hidden beneath the way that
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: drifter thinks about her life. And it is a woman
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: who wrote I always ask their pronouns and she said,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: you see her. So I think that what's really interesting
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: is that the fact that you're even asking about how
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: to find your sense of purpose and meaning tells me
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: that like, you aren't just you aren't just drifting, you know,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: because just like you said, Maddie, like a lot of people,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: they just followed the path. They graduate high school, they
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: graduate college, they get the job that's quote unquote in
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: their field, and they don't have that sense of purpose
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: and meaning. And so Drifter, what you're doing is like
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: you're not just leaping in the direction of like whatever
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: your family or society tells you you should do. You're
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: actually searching your soul and saying, what do I want?
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: And you know, my first piece of advice it's kind
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: of adjacent to to something you said earlier, you know,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: like going back out there teaching these little kids who
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: were you know, the same agency when you fell in
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: love with snowboard snowboarding, like how to how to snowboard.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: It's like you're going back into this thing you love
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: at the at the juncture that you most loved it,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: which is that when you first were like excited about it.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: And so my first bit of a Bysdrifter is like,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: you know, make a list right now, get out a
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: piece of paper. I'm a huge fanatic for list when
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: it comes to solving all of your life's problems. I
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: can't help it. I'm a virgo.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: I like to live things. But all the things you
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: just love to do.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: It can be everything from like you know, watching seventeen
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: episodes of murder she wrote and wrote, or you know
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: like reading books or you know whatever it is, you know,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: going running, like all the things you love to do,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: and then think about ways that you could find deeper
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: meaning maybe in work that is somehow connected to those things,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: Like just start to think about you know, begin with
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: that place of what do I like and love?
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, I like that?
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: And also what comes to mind for me is like
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: she mentioned, she when she envisions five years from now,
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: she doesn't know what she wants to do.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: What's been helpful for me?
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: And I can get into this later, but I guess
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: my advice would be when you envision yourself in five years,
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: maybe you don't envision what you want to do or
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: what you're doing, but who.
• 39:57
  Speaker 3: You want to be and how you want to be.
• 40:00
  Speaker 7: And what what's.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: What values do you want to live by?
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: And like what strength do you want to have that
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: that push you? And then yeah, and then maybe with
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: that list of of things that you love that you
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: connect with, like what in that what in that list
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: support the vision of who you want to be and
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: how you want to be in this world.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: Oh that's so beautiful.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, Mattie, I think we just solved an incredible human
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: struggle just right here, very concisely, because it is what
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: do you love and who do you want to be?
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: You put those two together, that is that is a
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: meaningful life.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: That is a meaningful life.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: You know what what qualities do you want to you know,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: live out in your life? For me, like, it's kindness,
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: it's generosity, it's it's love, you know, And then how
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: you know, how can I be a conduit for that?
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Almost always the answer is like by by you know,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: if you gravit, if you if you do the things
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: you love, you end up being pretty good at it,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: right you usually, I mean there's a reason you weren't
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: a good plumber and you're a really good snowboarder exactly.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: So like trust that drifter and we wish you good luck.
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: Right, yeah, you will find your way. You're going to
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: be asking yeaheah, You're.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Going to drift you down that river into a beautiful,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: beautiful life.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: I know that for sure.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: So back to your beautiful life, miss Maddie.
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: We left off you were you were coaching, and you also.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: Then went on to coach the US Ski and Snowboard team.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: Is that right?
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: You you advanced as a coach, if you will, And
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: I think it was there that you really came to
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: that decision to come back to snowboarding yourself. Can you
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: tell us about that, like brought that on?
• 42:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, totally, So, Yeah I did.
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: I coached at the club level for seven years and
• 42:07
  Speaker 4: the last two of those seven years I was directing
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: the snowboard program and that role led me to US
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: team coach job opening and I I started, I got
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: back on the road and I started being in that
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: like World Cup circuit, international competitions again for the first
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: time since I.
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: Was competing in them.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: And I think just being back in that environment, It's
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: funny because the seven years I was coaching at the
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: club level two I did, I learned so much about myself.
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: I really I healed so much of my.
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: You know, the the negative experiences or beliefs I had
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: around snowboarding. I really felt like all of that had healed.
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: And then I went back into that environment and was like.
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: Instantly kind of realized. I was like, oh, there's I
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: still felt.
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: What onearthed in me was regret.
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: Regret, What.
• 43:23
  Speaker 4: About my time in that in that industry and at
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: that place.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: You mean regret that you had competed at that level
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: at such a young age when you weren't really emotionally
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: ready for it, or regret that you had done that
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: at all.
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: It was it was regret in how I had done it.
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: I felt as though I didn't do it well.
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: I felt as though I had wasted all of my opportunities.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: I had wasted my talent.
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: I did not regret being in that position and being
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: in that environment, but I regretted, Yeah, how I went
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: through it. I regretted those like last few years when
• 44:09
  Speaker 4: things were dark and when I yeah, when I looked
• 44:14
  Speaker 4: to partying, or when I compared myself to everyone else,
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: or when I like talked so negatively to myself and
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: I did not believe in myself at all.
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: Those last few years of competition.
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: I yeah, I just straight up I didn't believe in myself,
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: and I regretted.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: I regretted giving up on myself.
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: So part of this move, this decision to come back,
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: was it born of this idea that you could do
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: it differently this time because you were healed exactly?
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I.
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I saw there could be a possibility to do
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: it differently and to do it in a way where
• 45:02
  Speaker 4: I believed in myself. And that's where what I mentioned
• 45:05
  Speaker 4: at the beginning of our conversation with me wanting to
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: see what I was truly capable of. That are you
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: capable of anything I want? Is what I've learned. If
• 45:17
  Speaker 4: I really want it, if I really if I have
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: that energy going that way, if I want.
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: It, I can make it happen.
• 45:27
  Speaker 4: And it is not going to be easy, but I
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: can make it through hard times.
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I can push myself.
• 45:35
  Speaker 4: And I because I believe in myself for the first time,
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: and that that has been my greatest gift of all
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: of this. Like, yes, going to the Olympics was awesome
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: and that was a dream come true. And what has
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: felt like more of an achievement is learning how to
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: believe in myself over and over again. And I'm re
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: wiring my brain and rewriting. You know.
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: We talked about like the patterns and like.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: You know, the yeah, just stories that tell ourselves like
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: who we're out there feeling afraid and ashamed and less
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: than and and and small inside telling yourself here, Yeah,
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: and that's that you're you're repeating and then you become
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: that way right and true too.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: When you what do you what do you tell yourself?
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, do you actually have like a mantra or
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: certain self talk that you use.
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when you're competing.
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: It changes almost competition of competition it changes.
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: And I've been grateful for the awareness within myself and
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: the presence it's taken to like listen in each in
• 46:52
  Speaker 4: each new competition, each new week, each new training day
• 46:55
  Speaker 4: to really figure out what I need to tell myself
• 46:58
  Speaker 4: that day that's going to resonate and help me.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: And what about comparison? I mean, you you said that
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: that was a big problem for you before, is that
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: you would look at other people and be feel less
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: then because they were achieving something you wanted. How do
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: you view your your competitors now?
• 47:17
  Speaker 4: Well, I'll say that like none of it has gone
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: away completely because I mean I created some deep trenches
• 47:27
  Speaker 4: for those thought patterns.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: Oh, I love it, real talk.
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: I'm not totally healed, Yeah.
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: No, absolutely not.
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: But hey, this is the thing A mind never mand me.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: Like, you don't get to the mountaintop, you know at
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: the beginning, You've got to keep walking.
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: You know, it's a life. It's a lifelong.
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: Journey exactly, exactly, And so yeah, the comparison thing is
• 47:47
  Speaker 4: still real for me. The negative self talk is still
• 47:51
  Speaker 4: real for me, Like it comes up and sometimes it's
• 47:54
  Speaker 4: it feels like my default to go there first. But
• 48:00
  Speaker 4: what's been different is now I can recognize it, yeah,
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: and I hear it, and I see it for what
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: it is, and I know even if it feels really
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: true or I know it's not helpful.
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, or it's just like a member of what I
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: do in writing, you know, fear and anxiety is always
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: a part of writing for me and for most writers.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: What I've come to realize is like, oh, okay, you're
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: just like one of the voices at the table, and
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: you're you're the one who's not going to be my ruler,
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: Like I'm going to say thank you for your input,
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: now sit down and shut.
• 48:34
  Speaker 2: Up, and I'm going to get to work.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: And I think that what you're describing kind of can
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: be similar where you're never maybe ever going to purge
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: that sense of like that comparison that can be really depleting,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: but you're not going to let.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: It devour you anymore.
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: In the beginning of our conversation you wrote, I cited
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: your your Instagram posts this season for the books. Tell
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: me about like what, you know, what has that been like?
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: Now out there back at it at a really high
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: level and you know, really having some success too. Are
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: you feeling you know, deep in your love and snowboarding
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: and where you know what is?
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: Tell us more about this season you've had.
• 49:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I I'll.
• 49:32
  Speaker 7: Say that I.
• 49:36
  Speaker 4: Last season, my first season back in competition, definitely felt
• 49:40
  Speaker 4: like more of the mental like I was. You know,
• 49:47
  Speaker 4: we're talking about those negative like default thought patterns. Last
• 49:52
  Speaker 4: year was way more consumed by that and trying to
• 49:56
  Speaker 4: change them.
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: This year was, you know, the Olympic year.
• 50:04
  Speaker 4: We had qualification events starting in December that led up
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: to the Olympics in February. My goal going into that
• 50:13
  Speaker 4: the whole year was just to be present through all
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: of it, because I knew if I was present, I'd
• 50:21
  Speaker 4: be able to know what I needed in each moment
• 50:25
  Speaker 4: in order to perform, and also I to choose what
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: I needed to feel the way I wanted to feel
• 50:35
  Speaker 4: while doing it.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: What do you want to feel while doing it?
• 50:39
  Speaker 4: Freedom and joy and joy in something like that too?
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: Is I've recognized is really a choice. Some days are
• 50:50
  Speaker 4: it's easier to choose joy than others. But yeah, when
• 50:55
  Speaker 4: it's your career and it's a grind or like the
• 50:57
  Speaker 4: weather's terrible and you're tired.
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: To really like enjoy.
• 51:03
  Speaker 4: The process and where you're at in the moment, it's
• 51:07
  Speaker 4: is a choice. And yeah, I'm being able to like
• 51:10
  Speaker 4: give yourself what you need that those days, which is
• 51:12
  Speaker 4: sometimes calling it.
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: Like it looks like so much fun even though I
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: never ever want to do the halfpipe on a snowboard, Okay,
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: it looks it looks so fun. You know, it's I
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: you know, you say freedom and joy and it looks
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: like that, and of course I know there's so much
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: more happening inside your body. It's it's hard, it's technical,
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: it's you know, it's a lot of things. But I
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: love that you're saying these words freedom and joy because
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: that is how it feels to do that.
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: Do you sometimes but it's what it's like really going well, yeah,
• 51:50
  Speaker 4: and like.
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: When I feel those things, that's when I ride my best.
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, which I think it's probably about like relaxation, right,
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: like you're actually in your body and Jack lacks and
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: you know what you.
• 52:02
  Speaker 4: Can do and you do it, yes, exactly. Yeah, you
• 52:05
  Speaker 4: trust yourself, you trust the process and the movement and everything. Yeah,
• 52:10
  Speaker 4: and it's so fun and like that's the feeling I crave.
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: And I don't know the exact percent of time that
• 52:20
  Speaker 4: I actually feel.
• 52:21
  Speaker 3: That, but it's not. Yeah, it's like maybe thirty percent.
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: If you had to say the absolute high point of
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: your career as a pro snowboarder so far, what would
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: it be.
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: That's a really good question. I don't know if I
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: have that yet. And I'll say.
• 52:50
  Speaker 3: Last year.
• 52:54
  Speaker 4: Last year, my first World Cup back in almost ten years,
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: I got third place and I didn't was not I
• 53:06
  Speaker 4: was not expecting that. My goal for that event was
• 53:10
  Speaker 4: to just land a run because I, you know, my
• 53:15
  Speaker 4: last few years of competition in the past, I didn't
• 53:17
  Speaker 4: know how to. I was rarely landing runs because I
• 53:21
  Speaker 4: was so like disassociated and just yeah checked out and
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: it affected my performance. And so I really just wanted
• 53:31
  Speaker 4: to land a run. And I landed a run in
• 53:33
  Speaker 4: qualifiers and in finals ended up podiuming and.
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: That result was really cool.
• 53:40
  Speaker 4: But like that was the hardest competition honestly, besides the Olympics,
• 53:47
  Speaker 4: as far as what I felt inside of myself as
• 53:51
  Speaker 4: far as nerves and self doubt and all those yeah,
• 53:59
  Speaker 4: like negative habits of the past came up and were
• 54:02
  Speaker 4: right on the surface, and I chose something different. Wow,
• 54:05
  Speaker 4: that's beautiful, and that feels like my high point so far.
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: What's next for you?
• 54:15
  Speaker 3: Well, I'm not done.
• 54:17
  Speaker 4: I feel I have learned far too much about myself
• 54:22
  Speaker 4: in the last two years, and especially in the last
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: month of the Olympics and everything, and reflecting on my
• 54:30
  Speaker 4: Olympic experience, I've learned way too much to stop now,
• 54:35
  Speaker 4: and I feel like too the hard work is like
• 54:41
  Speaker 4: just click starting to click for me, right, I like
• 54:45
  Speaker 4: laughed after the Olympics.
• 54:47
  Speaker 3: I was like, it's funny.
• 54:48
  Speaker 4: I thought I was going to be peaking in a
• 54:50
  Speaker 4: year and a half after taking ten years off.
• 54:55
  Speaker 3: That's funny. But I think I could just skip up to.
• 54:59
  Speaker 4: The top my ability level at that time with that
• 55:02
  Speaker 4: amount of time.
• 55:03
  Speaker 3: So I want to keep going.
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: I do probably need another knee surgery, just because you know,
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: my last one was in twenty twelve, but that was
• 55:16
  Speaker 4: my fifth knee surgery all before I was eighteen, So
• 55:20
  Speaker 4: now my knee is just old. I'm not old. I'm
• 55:24
  Speaker 4: turning thirty two in a couple of weeks.
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: I know, Maddie, you have the same birthday as my son.
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: Really, yeah, you're exactly ten years older than my son Carver.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what a great day.
• 55:36
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 55:36
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: Torus is unite, right.
• 55:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, let's go. We're stubborn.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: So there's some What's in your future is some more PT.
• 55:46
  Speaker 8: So if you got some good PT some time, some
• 55:50
  Speaker 8: good Yeah, I mean I actually I love writing also
• 55:54
  Speaker 8: so and it really helps me.
• 55:57
  Speaker 4: It's a good outlet for me. So then reconnect to
• 56:00
  Speaker 4: that this summer and.
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: Go from there.
• 56:04
  Speaker 4: But yeah, I've done, and I feel like I'm just
• 56:06
  Speaker 4: at the beginning.
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: You've only just begun.
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: It has been such a fun pleasure to talk to you, Maddie.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking the time to be
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: on the show. Yeah, thank you, Cheryl. This is awesome.
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: If you would like to send me a letter seeking advice,
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: please do send it to Dear Dearsugar at gmail dot com.
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: And don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Happy Trails and I'll see you next week.
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: Min Over Mountain with Cheryl Strait is an iHeart Women's
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: Sports production produced by Britney Brown and Rodney Brown of
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: Barbara Jean Productions. Supervising producer is Kaylin West at REALM.
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: Associate producer Amaya Brathwaite. Our executive producers are Molly Barton,
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: Jerry Carrita, Grace Views and Jesse Katz. Our theme song
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: is composed by Gramoscope Music. Don't forget to raise, review
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, Happy Trails and
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: I'll
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: See you next week.