The Bobby Bones Show - BONUS: Get Real: Shawn Johnson: how visualization led her to a gold medal in gymnastics at the Olympics, winning Dancing with the Stars

Episode Date: January 1, 2020

Shawn Johnson started pursing her dream of gymnastics at 12 years old. At the age of 16, she took home the gold medal at the Olympics. She explains how mental training and visualization was just as important as physical training for her big win. We talk about how she was lost after winning the highest award in her sport plus how it felt to win Dancing with the Stars and why she decided to walk away from the Olympics for a second time just a week before tryouts. We also talk about our pregnancy’s, fears of motherhood and heartbreak of miscarriage.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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with Caroline Hobby. Each week I sit down and I talk to the wives of the biggest artists in country music, but not only that, I also talk with female entrepreneurs, influencers, and all sorts of fascinating ladies. I recently had Sean Johnson stop by. We talk about how at the age of 16 she took home the gold medal at the Olympics and then went on to win Dancing with the Stars. Check it out. Get Real with Caroline Hobby. It's honest women, honest talk. Subscribe on Apple podcast, listen on Iheart radio or wherever you get your podcast. Here's my episode of Get Real with Caroline Hobby featuring Olympic gold medalist, Dancing with Stars champion, Sean Johnson. Johnson. On this episode of Get Real Podcast, I have Sean Johnson, the Olympic gold medalist. She won a

gold medalist when she was so young for Beam and gymnastics. And we talk about all of it, her journey to the Olympics, what she learned from being an Olympian, the power of the mind, how training your mind is so important. And we talk about that she went on to dancing with a star. She won that. She went back on all stars. with Dancing of the Stars, got second what it's been like falling in love with her husband. They've been together for almost a decade and how he balances her out. It's just amazing their partnership. They have a YouTube channel together.

They work together and they're just perfect. They're a perfect pair. And Sean is just wise beyond her years. She's gone through so much and lived so much life to only be, I think she's 27. She started her journey at the Olympics when she was 12. So she grew up really fast and she's learned so many incredible life lessons at such a young age. really done a ton of self-discovery, and she's so open and honest about sharing her journey. We both have been pregnant at the same time together, too, which has been so much fun.

We took a baby bump picture together, so by the time this airs, I will have had my baby. She'll be getting close to having hers. But it's been fun to follow her journey as a beautiful pregnant mama to be, and I can't wait to see what they're having. They're not finding out. But what her journey continues to look like as a mom. She also suffered a miscarriage, and so did I. so we talk about that and just learning from that and what what it does to your mind and working through that she's just such an incredible soul so you guys get excited here is sean johnson okay i am

here with the incredible sean johnson hello what's up girl oh nothing just baby bumping just pregnant yeah 31 weeks 31 you're 38 38 this is probably when this airs hopefully i will have had a child yes um that is the goal and you're you're 30s and you're 38 38 this is the goal and you're You will be very close to having delivered or about to go into labor when this airs. Yes. I'm getting far ahead. Really terrifies me. Are you scared about the labor process?

Yeah. I'm more scared about having a kid. Like for the rest of your life. Yeah. Yeah. I keep saying like it's not like a dog. You have them for like 12 years. You have them forever.

And they like. That might sound really bad. No, I hear you though because it's like they're going to affect your mental well-being for the rest of your life. We're going to care about everything our child does, stress about it. everything, worry about them. Like, I'm already thinking about teenage years. I'm like, how do I deal with like when drinking and boys come in to play?

And I don't want, I mean, I'm like, and then I think about college and I'm like, almost don't want her to go to college because I'm like, college can be crazy. You know, I'd rather just become a musician and live on the road. And people think that's crazy. But I'm like, oh, God, but she's going to do what she wants. Oh, yeah. Do you stress about any of that? Oh, absolutely.

All of it. I just stress about, like, how do you teach your kid to be a good person? I don't know. I don't know either. Is it just, you have to show by example? But then, are we good enough people? I don't know. I don't know.

I just like, I'm scarred by the whole concept. And isn't it crazy because we were kind of talking before, like, you try so long not to get pregnant. I know. And then we were, because we've both been on a pregnancy journey. Yeah. And I love that you've documented yours. Thank you. It's actually very hard to get pregnant and stay pregnant.

Yeah. It's like a miracle. Because we both actually went through. scared. How far long were you? I was really early. I was like eight to ten weeks. Same here. We were like seven. Yeah. Weeks, seven, eight weeks. Yep. But still, it's one of the most emotional experiences I've personally ever been through. Same. Because you, I mean, you find out you're pregnant, which is like, especially when you find out you're pregnant the first time. Yes. I've never cried so much for my life. Ever? Of happiness or just scared? All of it. All of it? Happy, scared, terrified.

And then you kind of wrap your mind around it. Okay, I'm going to be a parent. This is it. And then you lose it. And it's just, yeah, it's an emotional roller coaster. You don't know how to deal with it. What was going through your head when you were miscarrying? Did you take it personal?

Oh, yeah. What did you think? I felt guilty. I was like, what did I do wrong? What did I eat? Like, if I can't even take care of a baby inside of me, how can I take care of a child outside of me? it was just like a rush of guilt. I felt bad for Andrew because I was like,

I lost your baby. It's just like, I know. What do you feel like? And then I felt like, my biggest struggle in life is that I'm not good enough. And so I was like, see, this makes me cry. I think I work through all my stuff and then I talk about it and I get all emotional. Also we're pregnant, so it doesn't matter. It's like I don't deserve to have a baby.

I, like, I'm not good enough to be mom. I thought about all the like mistakes I've made in life. I'm like, is this somehow? I don't know. The world showing me that I don't deserve the baby. And yeah. Oh, yeah. It's crazy what it does to your brain.

Mm-hmm. I know. And then... I felt like the universe is telling me, like, just kidding. You're not supposed to be a mom. Yeah. And it was just like, oh. And then it's like, well, I ever be able to hold a baby?

Like, carry one. And then you think about all the people who never can get pregnant. Yep. And it's just like the whole process. It is insane. And then you try to, you start trying to get pregnant again. And yeah. then it's a whole different rush of emotion of like do i want to go to this again yeah am i going to be

able to and then it becomes instead of just like this happy process it becomes such a like stressor on your marriage and your life and oh my gosh it's just getting pregnant it's hard it's hard i know i felt bad about that because like we tried for like 10 months and i put so much pressure on it and like when i'm ovulating and make sure you like have sex on this day and then it's like that's not fun or romantic you know yeah telling your husband like we have to do now yeah now and then he's like oh my god he gets stress because it's like you got to make this happen and we're gonna make a baby uh-huh I know oh it's a lot it's a lot um and then you get through it though have you had anxiety during your pregnancy like that you would lose it or were you able to like enjoy it uh a little bit of both

I feel like every day it's just I don't know I feel like it took me a long time this pregnancy to like admit that I was pregnant or like bond at all because I was I was just kind of like, oh, it's probably not going to last. I get that. And I feel like that lasted a long time. I think like the first ultrasound, maybe not like the 10 week oldish sound, but like the 20 week.

Mm-hmm. That one I brought like bald like a baby. I was like, I cannot imagine not having this, like having this baby. Yeah, we're going to be like crying messes on this. I'm going to start crying. I know. But no, it makes it.

Yeah, it makes it really hard. Yeah. You're just like in denial the whole time. I know. We didn't even announce that we were pregnant until 2019. 20 weeks because I was so scared we were going to lose it. Yep. But then you get all the way to where we are. It's like the babies can live on their own and now I'm like, my back hurts.

I got heartburned. I woke up last night and threw up that heartburned so bad. Oh no. It's like now you're on the other side of it where it's like you feel all the things that you're with it. But you're also so grateful to get to experience them. Oh, yeah. I mean, I just started getting like the really bad hip pain at night. Yes. Where my hips are widening or something.

I don't know what's going on and I can't sleep. and then my back hurts and then I feel like Bay's going to fall out of my vagina. I mean, seriously. Like, I'll stand up and like, it's coming out. Do you all know what it is? We don't. Oh, my God, y'all are crazy.

Y'all can do that. It wasn't my choice. No, I had the 10-week blood test done. So you could know. I could know. Mallory has my results. So she knows? She says she hasn't opened it.

Yeah, right. And your best friend's Mallory Irving. Yeah. Who is the most amazing Energizer Bunny on this planet. Yeah. I don't know how she has so much energy. Oh, God. She has more energy than anyone in the world.

Yeah. But you have a ton of energy, too. Not like her. That's just the way she is wired. Yeah. So, yeah. I was her judge of the Miss America Pagent. Oh, my God.

That's how y'all met. That's how we met. And I literally saw her skip across the stage. Not like pageant walk, but like high knee skip. And I was like, she seems fun. Oh. We did an amazing race together. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. originally met and I've just never met anyone like her in my life. Was it her and her dad on your season? No, it was her third time and she was partnered with, I forgot her. She had a terrible experience on the season I was on. She'd had like the best experience with her dad, two seasons and then she got paired with, it was a random pairing with another contestant and it was not good for her. She'd not like it.

How did you like it? I loved it because I was with my friend Jen Wayne. Okay. And we just, we had been. in a band together and so we had been like best friends for 10 years we really knew how to work together and we had so much fun that's awesome like i've always wanted to do that show i think you and andrew should do it we would kill each other you think yeah we have very different travel styles andrew just he's flighty i don't know well that's the thing like a lot of people get very

intense with each other on the oh yeah yeah i don't know if everything comes out oh yeah i'd be better often I was like a girlfriend or something. This is my husband. I feel like we already almost kill each other when we travel. You do? What's your travel styles? Oh, he's, he forgets he has a flight booked.

Oh, so he's just like, he's like happy go lucky, not worried. No, he's like, the flight's in 10 minutes, I'll be fine,

and he'll still be at home. Oh, how's he plan on getting there? Uber. So he doesn't worry about it. Does he miss a lot of flights? Oh, yeah. He misses flights?

Yeah. No, he doesn't. All the time. Are you serious? It drives me insane. Well, yeah. Or I'll call him and be like, are you at the airport yet? And he's like, no.

Like, you have a flight in 30 minutes. Does he know that you're supposed to be there an hour ahead of time? He doesn't care. He thinks that's a suggestion. What about if he's checking a bag? He never checks a bag. So he just carries on. So he just needs to roll in and roll on the plane.

He does not want to spend any extra time there. No. So he's willing to miss the flight. Yeah, on occasion. He'll be like at football practice up until like the 30 minute boarding time. Wow. And he'll still shower and like go to the airport. Like, you're out of your mind.

Does that transfer into any other parts of his life that laid back? Oh, everything. So how does that... Because, okay, obviously you are Sean Johnson, the Olympian gold medalist. I swear, when did you win the gold? What year was that? 2008, a long time ago. No, I...

Gymnastics is my favorite. Oh, my God, yes. And so I remember watching you. Yeah. You're killing it. And it was on floor, right? What did you win the gold in? That's the hardest one.

I know. It's scary. I couldn't do it anymore. Well, I think you deserve a break right now. Yeah. But you can still flip and do all those things. Once you're not pregnant. Not really.

I can do a little bit. I can do a little bit. But not nearly what I could. Okay. So you are obviously a gold medalist. You have a very intense work ethic. Yeah. And you know how to make it happen.

So you went ahead and married someone who's just the most laid back person. Do you think you were attracted to that to balance you out? Probably. Because I had dated the opposite type. I had dated like my style. and it didn't work. Is that too much? Yeah.

We were way too intense. Oh yeah. By the way, is my mouth like red? I eat cherries. I don't really care. I'm scooting this forward. Can we see? Is it look?

See, I'm trying, Sean's teaching me how to be a professional. It looks good. YouTuber with good lighting and how to make videos. No, I don't know. That's my husband, not me. I need to learn how to do things on. It looks good.

Okay, great. Yeah. I think you look great. Thank you. Yeah. you too oh oh I feel like honey boo boo all the time I feel massive massive yeah I mean my boobs lay on my yeah they just flop on them oh if I wear like underwire bras it like bruises my belly those aren't in my wardrobe anymore I tried once for an event and then I'd give yourself a little push yeah

but they just sag and yeah they do all their stuff now yeah actually have milk coming out of my boobs no hi oh my god all right that's amazing that's great that's great You're going to really be able to nurse. I started like 20 weeks. It was really weird. You're going to be a nursing machine. I hope so. Did you go and start pumping and putting it in the freezer?

I don't know. I actually had the thought, but I was like, I don't know. It grosses my husband out. But it's a good sign because that means that you can probably nurse. I hope so. That's amazing. Yeah, it started 20 weeks. I was like, I don't know what is going on.

You're ready. Yeah. I mean, it's happening for you. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Okay, so Andrew's totally opposite of you. So what is y'all's dynamic?

dynamic together um he's just he's just a kid and i'm the one that's trying to like keep order but it's fine because i'm very like i'm very by nature just very like strict and rigid and you are well you have to be to be an olympian gold medalist yeah and andrew's just like the happy go lucky fun guy which brings out like allows me to have more fun in life which is cool otherwise i don't think i'd have any fun um do you think you'd be just too regimented yeah and i care too much what people think. Me too. Yeah.

I'm a people pleaser. People pleasing is my worst. And Andrew's not at all. He could care less, which I don't know. I don't know. He could care less. And he could care less if he's terrible at something and he could care less if he fails at something.

It's just like something that I envy so much. So he's just like a Labrador. He's just like happy to be here, not worried about it. No. Something doesn't work out. He's going to move on. Yeah. I would be traumatized.

Traumatized. So he's really rubbed off on him. you. And you probably rubbed off on him. I tried. But more is it just an appreciation for the other. Like you guys both need each other. We both like push each other outside of each other's comfort zones, which is good. And y'all work together. We do. So talk to me about y'all's family business. It's a smorgasbord of random things. We do YouTube, which sounds weird to say we're YouTubers. I love it. It's great. He has his podcast. And what's it called? Redirected. Redirected. Because he He is a football player.

Yes. And he just played again. He just played for the Redskins. Redskins. But he's played for like 10 different teams. But wasn't this like a big deal that he just played for the Redskins? It was his first ever season that he's ever played. So like he's gone through, he signed 10 contracts.

Dang. And he's gone all the way up until season. And then they've cut, like released him. And so last year was the first year he made it through season. How was that? Amazing. That's awesome. It was really cool.

It was really cool. Because he's never quit. No. Never. That's incredible. But for him, again, he could like care less. He's like, yeah, maybe I'll go back. Maybe not.

I'm like, how do you not know? Is he still doing football right now? He's technically still in like the NFL pool of names, but he's not on a team. Okay. So how was it then when he played his first game? I still documented that too. Yeah. I like cried in the stands.

I was so nervous. He's a long snapper. I don't know if you know that is. I don't know what that was. I didn't know. You know the guy who kicks the ball? Yeah. You know the guy who like throws him the ball under his legs.

Yeah. That's what he does. Okay. Yeah. Great. I didn't know. I know more about that position than any other position in the NFL now. Yeah.

As you should. And I would like watch him from the stands like, oh, that was a bad snap. Oh, that was a good snap. I'm like, oh, is he okay. Yeah, it was dumb. But it was awesome. I was a very proud wife. How is that, okay, because I want to talk about your dreams and achieving your goals,

but how is that to watch the person you love the most achieves? a dream. It's pretty cool. Having gone through my athletic career already and like been retired watching Andrew now go through it, there's so many different like experiences that I can parallel. And I see him like, I don't know, it's really weird to say, but where he was when he started his football career is where I was when I was like 12 in gymnastics, which is just how it works in gymnastics. Because you're young in gymnastics. You're really young. And so I kind of would not coach him but be able to sit back and be like, oh, I can see how this is going to play out. And this is really funny and cool. And I know what you're going through. And like we would cry together.

And I'd be like, it's okay. There's like a bigger picture at play. I just remember being at like 12 years old. I mean, I was a child. So of course, I wouldn't know what's going on. But you can't see the bigger picture. And it was really cool for me as like his wife to be able to see a bigger picture for him and see him succeed in it. And it was just like, it was incredible. I felt like proud mom, which sounds really weird to your husband. But yeah, you're just so proud of them. What is it like starting your career at 12 years old? And how did you even start your career at 12 years old? Um, so gymnastics is different because I started gymnastics when I was three, just like you would put three. Yeah. Well, wow. I mean, since we're going to be moms. Yeah. You know,

like we'll put our kids in swim lessons someday. Right. Yeah. Definitely. My parents put me in gymnastics lessons. And you just loved it. And I loved it. And I just kept with it. And I got to be 12 years old and at a certain level where I made it to like a qualifier for the USA national team. And I somehow made it on. So what is the USA national team? It's the team that the U.S. selects from for the Olympics. Okay. So how many people are on that team? 24 total. So is it all over the country? Yeah. So it's like the best 24 people, girls, all over the country. And then the Olympics picks from those 24 to make how many go on the Olympic team? Four.

Wow. Okay, so from 24 across the country, four make it to the Olympics. Yes. So you made it, it? Yeah. Obviously you made it. What does that feel like? Did you freak out when you made the Olympic team?

Were you 12? I was 16. 16. So 24 of those girls, 12 of them are 15 and under and 12 of them are 16 and over. Just because you have to be at least 16 to make the Olympic team. So I was one of the 15 and under until I hit 16 and then they could select from the 16 and higher group. Okay. And it was cool. But again, like remember back when you're 16, you don't really know what the world is at all. And you can't weigh consequence. you can't understand the magnitude of a situation. And I was just a kid in a candy store competing at a bigger arena. To me, it wasn't like the Olympics.

Do you even know what the Olympics were really? Yes, but again, I don't think I understood like the magnitude. Which is like a blessing. Thinking about it. Do you think it's kind of a blessing you know? Oh, absolutely. I think that's why gymnasts do so well because they're so young is you're just naive. Yeah.

You're not thinking about the millions of people watching and their expectations. and they're talking about people bleeding. I would have had a heart attack. I'm literally sweating thinking about it. Like, what were they thinking of me? But it's just, you're just naive. You're naive to everything. And I feel like your parents and the coaches

try to really protect that so you don't freak out. Yeah. If I made the Olympic team now, I would freak out. Because you know too much. Yeah. You've seen too much, you know too much. So how much do you have to practice

when you're getting, gearing up for the Olympics? So, are you okay? Oh, yeah, I'm just, you know, just moving this bowling ball around. Yeah. We were training about 40 hours a week. Wow. So, a lot. Are you getting homeschooled?

I actually wasn't homeschooled. I went to public school my whole career. And then you just trained after school. So you'd go to school all day and then how long would you go to the gym? So there were two different. regimens and routines that I would have to follow. If I was following my coach, this is a lot of information.

I'm trying to sort out how to tell it. So the USA national team, we only meet and train together once a month for a week. The other weeks, you're back home in your home state, city with your own coach, training your own, like, system. So do you make up your own routine

for the Olympics and everything? Yeah. So you have to have a great coach. Yes. Okay, I'm very good coach. Where do you find your coaches? My coach, I was lucky, was just the closest gym to my parents' house when I was growing up. His name is Chow.

He's Chinese. And I trained in Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa. But his system was I would go to school until public school until two or three whenever school let out. And then I would train four hours after, yeah, every day. And then I got Sunday off. And then would you have to go, like, approve what your, what you're learning with Chow to the Olympic board or team

or the coach of the Olympics? So that once a month for a week you would go down to Houston, Texas and train with the national team and we would train nine hours a day seven days a week for a week. And that's when you like show your skills

and what you're working on and you get everything like approved. Okay. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So how long does this go on? Like years or months?

years so do you work on the same routine for years um for the most part yes wow you would you would change like little things here and there over the course of years but your basic foundation is pretty much the same okay so what is your life like when you're training you're here you are I guess you start training when you're 12 and then you do this do you train for four years I don't know why I picked four years um how long were you on the team before you competed in the Olympics? Four years. Okay. But you could be on the team for a year. You could be on the team for a month. You could be on the team for 12 years before you make the team. Okay. So you made it right away and then the Olympics are coming up for four years. Yes. So you're training

for four years. So what is your life? What are you thinking in those four years? Like what are you thinking about life? Like what are you, how are you balancing being a teenager being in school? But you also have this really big thing on the side. I was, I don't know. I would say for the first like three years, it was just like this after school activity that nobody knew about. I was just like a gymnast on the side

and then at school I was a normal high school kid. But for the most part, like my mind was consumed with gymnastics. It was like, how soon can I get my homework done so that I can get to practice and go to bed early? So you loved it. I loved it.

Okay. Yeah. The last year, I was, psycho like every single person I hung out with I was like how is it going to affect my olympics um if I went to dairy queen I'd be like oh I can't eat this because I have to go to the Olympics or I was psycho but yeah I guess it's what you need for the Olympics yeah I don't know so then you get to the Olympics and what is that like because you've been working for this for four years like what what do you feel what goes on through your brain um honestly for me when I

the Olympics I didn't allow myself to like realize I was at the Olympics until I was done so you kind of train for years on year like years on end practice after practice just training your mind to kind of go numb and so I went through my entire Olympic experience just saying like oh it's another practice it's another routine it's nothing new and that was intentional oh absolutely because I mean if you're in the Olympics you're like, oh my God, I'm at the Olympics. You probably have a meltdown. So you've really worked on your mind discipline.

Yeah. I think it's majority of mind. Okay, so you have, so you're just pretending like you're not there. Yes. Okay. And I get all the way through the Olympics and then it's like when you're competing, did you feel like you weren't there?

Yeah. That's great. You kind of have to, you have to. I mean, the beam is four inches wide. If you're on the beam thinking, oh my God, I'm at the Olympics. So what are you thinking about? Um, Like, do you really want to know?

Yes. It's really weird. My coach, every coach is a little bit different, but my coach, just like he would teach you a skill that your body does, he would teach you like every single word for every second you're like on your apparatus of what to think. Okay. So I had like an exact routine in my head that consumed all 90 seconds of my routine. Because he always said like if your mind ever breaks and gets distracted, you would fall off.

Okay. So what is that routine in your head? What does it? It would be like, like cues for your skill. Okay. So like reminding, reminding yourself to like squeeze your butt or keep your stomach tight or... For every different move, you had a different cue. So you're, you memorized, you choreographed the cues as well.

Yes. So that's all you're thinking about. Yes. That's actually great. It is amazing. Because then you don't have time to like be on the beam and look over and see Bob Costas, like, commentating your routine. Right.

Yeah. Genius. Does every coach do that? Or do you think to sure? I don't think so. I think. So he knew how important the mind game was. Oh yeah.

We trained mental more than physical. So we would spend four hours in a gym training like your physical skill and your conditioning and your flexibility. But then he would send you home with four hours worth of like mental training. How do you mentally train? Like what does that look like? Um, okay. Okay, so I always tell someone, like think of, think of a skill of any kind that you do.

So whether it's like writing a song or singing a song or performing on stage and try to picture yourself doing it perfect 10 times in a row. And for some reason our mind wants us to see us fail and like make mistakes. And it becomes this like muscle of the more you work on it, the more you can kind of visualize yourself succeeding. And the stronger you can get and the more you can picture yourself. And they say that whatever you picture your body is actually doing. So if you're not thinking, if your mind goes numb, your body should be able to take over into like autopilot and do what you've been picturing. So do you picture the whole thing?

Like would you just picture your whole routine. I would picture. So an assignment from my coach would be go home, eat dinner, go to bed. And then as you're laying in bed, I want you to picture. yourself walking into the Olympic arena. He would say, what do you hear? What do you see? How is the layout?

What's the floor look like? What's it feel like? What's it sound like? Picture yourself walking up onto the floor and competing your routine. How are you going to salute? What are you going to like say? What are like everything? So you're not no, no surprises.

Yeah. So by the time you get there, you've already done it a million times. Did it fall into place how you had pictured it? Yes and no. I mean, you can never really pick up. picture it but to a certain extent like you go you go so numb by the time you get to an arena that it's like let's get this over with like I just need to do it one more time and then it's after you're like back home rewatching it on TV and you're like holy crap like I just did that so what does

it feel like when you win um a gold medal de Olympics like you can't get bigger than that it's the most overwhelming and underwhelming thing I think you could ever experience in your life okay break that down. It's overwhelming because it's everything you've ever worked for. I mean, it's the happiest, the most proud, the most sad you've ever felt because like you've reached that epitome of your sport and you're kind of like, what do I do now? You've reached the top. Yeah. So I remember like literally being on the stand thinking like I was sad because I was like, what do I do with my life now? Were you planning on coming back? No. Okay. So once you, because you won, so you're like, I'm done. Yeah. But then like, what do you do now? I was 16.

years old. I was like, I don't know what to do. You get on Wheaties boxes and stuff. You start doing brand things. But as far as gymnastics, I didn't know. So it's this, it's an interesting feeling. But underwhelming, kind of in the sense of like people paint that top podium as the greatest feeling you'll ever feel in your entire life. And to a certain extent it is. But you also stand on the podium, just like you've stood on any other podium, may it be like for a second or third, you get a medal, which is, looks a little bit different than others. It's a different arena, but it's just the same thing. And you're like,

is this it? And then you have to wake up the next morning and do something else. So what did you do? How did you, did you have like a post PTSD? Oh, absolutely. How do you maneuver this incredible, like biggest moment of your life you've worked years to get here you've got it you actually got it you know first try yeah and now how do you deal with that letdown like what did you do yeah um i have always said that like the the morning after i remember waking up and feeling like i had ran like straight full speed into a brick wall because everything in my life was determined by gymnastics what i ate, how I slept, who I talked to, who, you know, who I hung out with, my school hours, everything. And again, I'm only 16.

And for me, it was like, I didn't even know how to operate. I didn't know how to go down to breakfast and order because it was like, do I order egg whites with spinach? No, I don't need to because I'm not training for the Olympics. Like, can I get, it was just the most confusing feeling of I didn't know how to be a human being. Yeah. And you've been so regimented.

Yeah. And I think add into that the kid aspect of I couldn't see a bigger picture. I could only see like what was happening right now. And I didn't have a goal in life. I didn't have anything. So I was like, I felt lost. So how did you start navigating those lost waters? My parents helped.

I had an agent at the time who kind of like put me through the gamut of sponsorships and shows. And I kind of did that until I found. I found dancing with stars, which, how old are you when you went on dancing with the stars? At 17. So right after. Right after. Yeah. Was it nice to be in a structured situation again? Because you're like, oh, great, I'm familiar. I'm competing. It's structure. It's intense working out. They tell you what time to show up, what time to leave. I mean, it was amazing. So you're feeling great now. You found a new place to put all of your energy into. Yes. And so I rode that roller coaster. And you won that. I did. I mean, you're just a winner. No. Yes, you are. You know, you're always.

Very hard things. You could win dancing with the stars. Oh. You could. You haven't seen me dance. You haven't seen me dance. Yes, I have. You've seen someone pushed me around the floor and tell me what poses to, like, hit.

But get me on dance floor. I can't, I start sweating. Yeah, but you have that ability to mentally crush. Oh, thank you. Thank you. So you're so relieved. You found dancing with the stars. What did that feel like?

Did you feel like you'd come home again or something? Absolutely. It was a new sport for me. It was a new Olympics. It was a new goal. I knew how. how to train. I knew like everything.

And so I kind of went through that, ended up finishing that, and kind of rode the PTSD again. So now you're like, oh great, I feel awesome again, but now it's the same letdown. So you're having this pattern of like, now you're having huge accomplishments,

huge wins, and then giant letdowns and like, what's next? Yep. So how do you navigate now, the next what's next? So I did, I kind of lived in that what's next lost life

for probably another. year. This is a lot summarized, but I went skiing on my 18th birthday, tore everything in my leg. Oh, you had an accident? Yeah. It wasn't a bad accident. It was like a bunny hill accident. It's embarrassing. So you never hurt yourself in gymnastics. Never. Or Dancing the Stars. No. A skiing accident. Yeah. I'm telling you, I think skiing is so dangerous. It really is. I don't know why anyone does it. No. I always think that. But I go back every year and like, do you still ski? Barely. Yeah. Like I'd cry the whole time. Yeah. It's just. traumatizing yes um but i tore everything in my leg did a reconstructed knee surgery and then felt even

more lost in life just because i didn't have anything i didn't even have my body because now your physical body is yeah able to was it able to do what it could do before not at all um well so i ended up going back to gymnastics to heal my my leg and like heal my body and went back to gymnastics kind of found my identity again because i was like oh i have my structure i have my coach i have everything, tried to make the 2012 Olympics and ended up a week before Olympic trials retiring just because I was doing it all for the wrong reasons. I came back trying to look for an identity that wasn't there anymore. How did you realize that? That's profound. Thanks. I don't know. I had been back in the sport for two and a half years. I made it back to World Championships.

I had been pretty successful, but I just felt empty. I remember doing gymnastics for the 2008 Olympics and feeling like I was on cloud nine. It was something I truly loved. But for two and a half years, I was doing gymnastics because it's the only thing I knew. It's not because I loved it anymore. And so I got to a week before Olympic trials, I had set myself up to be a pretty good contender for the team. And I remember thinking to myself, if I make the team, or just like realizing I was more concerned about making the team. and hoping that I didn't, then...

Hoping that you didn't make the team? Yeah. Wait, so you wanted to make the team, but you didn't want to make the team? No, I was more concerned that I was going to make the team. And you did not want to? I was concerned I was. I didn't want to.

So you're in this process of like getting back involved with being on the Olympics, but like you don't want, your gut is saying I don't want to be on this team. Yeah, no. How did, so you're able to hear your gut? Yes. Okay, so what did, you finally reached a breaking point and you're like, I reached a breaking point where I had, I was miserable. I was probably the unhealthiest I've ever been.

I was pretty much in like a depression. And I remember my parents just saying like, thanks. I remember my parents kind of watching me struggle and saying pretty much like, as any parents would, like you have a week left. You literally have a week. And then you're going to make it to the Olympics and you're going to set yourself up for life. Like you've got this.

Just do it. It's just a mental break. Yeah. Like I had gone through mental breaks before my career. They kind of helped me through it. But this one was different. I just like couldn't, I couldn't kick it. And so I got to the week before Olympic trials.

And all my heart was telling me was like, I'm done. Wow. I don't want to be a part of this. I just, I couldn't do it anymore. And when you're in a sport that's so mentally taxing, where you have to literally think through something every second of every routine, I was finding myself like on the beam being distracted by, this thought of like I'm just miserable I don't want to do this and so I ended up retiring

and feeling the greatest I ever had really a week before you probably would have made the team you retired yeah and I was ecstatic about it you were oh yes but you now you still don't know what you're going to do next I got a call from dancing with the stars oh it was that after so again dancing with the stars was going to start while the Olympics were running the all-star season oh so back again. Yeah. So I went through it. I went throughout. Yeah. So you have had a love relation with gymnastics, dancing in the stars, gymnastics, dancing at the stars. Is there a revolving door? So did you go back on dancing. I did. Did you win? I came in a second. I didn't win. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So how did that feel? Not to win. It kind of sucked. But it was fine. I had a blast.

And then it was after Dancing with Stars where I finally was like, I was 20 at the time and able to see a little bit of a bigger picture and just kind of saw myself going through this whole like process again and I told myself I wasn't allowed to go back to gymnastics. Okay. I wasn't allowed to ski and I had to like find myself outside of both of those. So you had now lived through enough highs, enough lows and realize that now you have to get something outside of a organization like outside of like gymnastics, outside of dancing starts.

You can't just like plug into something. Yeah. You were going to. into yourself. Yeah. 20 years old, that is pretty wise to be able to

grasp that. Yes. I would say yes and no only because at 12 we were started, like we were starting to be taught to be adults. I mean,

we had to operate on such a grand stage that we had to present ourselves like adults. And yes, you're still a child. You don't understand the magnitude of anything. But by the time I was 20,

I had experienced so much. in the company of so many adults, like other Olympians and other sports, that I'd kind of seen people's struggles and talk to them. And I was only 20, but I had talked to Michael Phelps and heard his story and his roller coasters and just learned a lot about the passion of your sport

and what's necessary and was able to kind of see that I needed to step away. Wow. So, okay, 20 years old, you find that. How did you find yourself then? um still working on that um yeah you're doing a great job thanks um because how old are you know 27 okay so for the past seven years what has been going down in the sean johnson self-discovery um the first thing i did after dancing with stars was i started college which i had deferred for a while

um but i had become certified as a trainer so i knew how to like work out without a coach i got certified as a nutritionist, so I knew how to eat as a normal human being and not a gymnast. I kind of like all these things that I was relying on other people to tell me, I would go and kind of educate myself on and be like, okay, I can handle this. I can go into a gym and not flip, but like lift weights and just be normal. Kept working, kept doing motivational speaking. And then I would say, honestly, the best like self-discovery was meeting my husband. He was just able to like cut through all the crap and he's like I don't care about the gymnast I don't care about anything like who are you and what did what did meeting him do for your soul made you just feel comfortable

in who I was I feel like for so long especially coming from gymnastics gymnastics can be really I feel like dangerous as a sport because it's a sport that literally teaches perfection yeah when a score is literally a perfect 10 and that's all you strive for it can and it's subjective to people's opinions. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Like you can actually be deducted on how you look. Wow. It's yeah. It's a brutal sport that way. And I felt like I was living my life trying to attain perfection. And my husband was just like the first person who was like, I don't want perfect. Like that's the last thing I want. I want you to just be you. And I think he was the first person that ever like allowed me to relax. So did you even know how to be you? No. How did I just?

So did he kind of help teach you how to be you? Kind of, yeah. So how did you learn how to be you? And who is you now? After all this, who would you say? Oh my gosh. Who has, after everything that you have gone through, like, who would you, how would you define yourself now?

I have no idea. I have no idea. I don't know. I feel like with my husband, it would just be like these little glimpses of a personality that he would see. He always, he always described it as like, I had a game face. And then I had me. And he said, if anyone came around and recognized me from the Olympics,

I would become this almost like cold figure of, I had to be perfect. I had to say the right thing. I had to look the right way. I had to, you know, I couldn't be seen in public unless I had makeup. And it was just this perfection. And with him, he just got really tired of it. He's like, I don't like that. Why did you act like that in front of that person?

I'm like, well, that's what they expect. He's like, no, they could care less. and he would just like challenge me all the time to to not put on a facade that was politically correct and as for who am I I I have no idea was that hard to to not put on a facade how do you break that because I kind of get that on a very different level of being like at a band forever and being on oh yeah like you know how to just like turn it on oh yeah get people what they want and especially you said your people please are me too being a people pleaser on top of it you can kind of read someone's energy and see what they want and like how they want you to do it's how they want you to

be. So it's exhausting. It's exhausting. And I think I still struggle with it. Me too. I mean, I think it's probably something. Oh, yeah. That'll always be something to work on. Absolutely. But I think the way that I started to work on it was no matter what event I would go to or where, you know, I had to be where I would usually be on, I would take my husband with me. And it was always this like comfort of I'm okay to act like me in front of him and he wants you to act like yeah and I can look at him for reassurance like you're good just be you and I'd start to like turn on again and he'd like you're fine just be comfortable you don't have to do anything like I don't know it was just he's just been my like token I don't know how amazing is that he's awesome yeah so what have you learned like the highs and

the lows of being an Olympic medalist and spending all this time. What would you say are the greatest assets that you learned from this intense journey of perfectionist to what have you learned that you maybe wasn't, maybe it was a low, but it's still a lesson? Wow. I think one of the greatest things, it's the most cliche and cheesy thing you could ever, like you learn as a kid, but truly hard work pays off. And you cannot succeed. by being perfect. I mean, it just will never happen. One of my favorite things about gymnastics,

even now I get to work with a lot of young kids is it's the most humbling sport you'll ever be in. You literally have to fall on your face before you can succeed. Like literally. Yeah, or split a beam or break a bone, I mean, which sounds terrible, but it just teaches kids that you have to fall

in order to attain success, which I think was the greatest lesson for me to learn as a kid. but even through like the hardest times I would say something that I learned like during my comeback when I tried to make 2012 team was a lot of times we get pressured just by society and other people to do what other people want people pleasers um I had so many people who said you know this makes sense for you just finish out the week make the team do all this and you can so easily fall victim to doing something that you can so easily fall victim to doing something that you you don't love and that's miserable. And I think it took a lot of very hard lessons multiple times, multiple Olympics, multiple dancing on the stars to kind of learn that about myself and learn that it's okay to say no to people and truly just like follow your own heart because I don't think you're benefiting anyone unless you do that. But it's hard to walk away from such big things. Like these things that you're walking away from, it's not like, oh, I'm just going to walk away from

like a job interview opportunity or like I don't know something even that feels big like yeah I can't even imagine you're walking from the Olympics I mean that's huge it is but is it all relative it's all relative because it's that like again cliche moral like moralistic story of if you make if you win the lottery are you really going to feel like feel fulfilled as human being and you probably won't. There's no money, there's no title that will make you feel fulfilled because you're always going to want more. And it's always going to feel like, oh, what's next?

And I got to stand on Olympic gold medal podium. And yes, it was the greatest feeling ever. But I still didn't feel like, oh, I'm fine with my life being done and I can just go sit on the couch for the rest of my life and be happy. So being able to turn down these big experiences, it was all because I knew at the end of the day, if you're not enjoying what you're doing, like, it's not going to matter. Did you have fear that you're making a mistake by turning down these big experiences?

All the time. How do you deal with that? Because it's like, what if, you know, like, what if this was the right choice? Do you just have to be so in tune with your gut? I think so. I mean, for me, I was sitting, like, on my gut feeling for so long that I knew my gut didn't want to do it. And I knew the world was saying, like, you should. And so I sat on it for probably a year.

And finally I was just like, I can't deny this anymore. And so when I finally retired and said I was done, I don't know, I just felt right. It felt easier day to day. What do you think the gut feeling is? Like what do you, how would you define that? What does that mean to you? Yeah, like, because it's your inner voice. It is.

How do you define that? And how do you know that you're supposed to trust it? Because as humans, I feel like we want to ignore it a lot. I would say, oh, that's hard. I don't know. I have like a lot of gymnasts that will come talk to me and say, like, how did you know when it was the right time to quit? And I just always tell people, like, if you can ask yourself day after day,

like, what is the intention behind it? Did you have a bad day? Did you meet a bad person? Did you have a bad experience that's causing you to impulsively be like, oh, I don't want to deal with this anymore, or is it a true, like, systematic thing that you want to change? And if you can sit on your gut long enough and keep asking those questions and every time come to the same conclusion, I feel like your gut is probably right.

So what does it feel like to you? Like when your gut was saying, I'm done, I'm done, I'm done. Like, what was the difference in that feeling as opposed to when you went to the 2012 Olympics where you're like, I'm excited to be here, this is awesome? Like, what does the difference feel like? Because I feel like that's something, it's so abstract. Mm-hmm. You know, so how do you put that in words?

I would say at the 2008 Olympics. Oh, 2008, sorry. It's okay. I forget sometimes. I'm like 2000, 2004. At 2008, I had gone through injury. I had gone through failure. I had had meats where I fell flat on my face.

I had a lot of hardships, but they didn't feel like hardships to me. they felt like just challenges that I had to somehow figure out and get through, I would, you know, get a cast on my leg and I'd be like, okay, this sucks. I would cry through it, but it would be, my mind would instantly go to how do we get around this? Like, how can we fix this? What's the process to come back? Whereas in 2012, I almost had to force that. and it became it became more taxing trying to get the motivation to even show up to practice

than it was getting the motivation to you know work through a challenge challenges to me like roadblocks I had a sprained ankle in 2012 and it was life like career ending to me and I almost felt relieved by it I don't know you can just like you have to be able to take a step back and really look at your feelings and understand a bigger picture. Otherwise, I don't know. What do you do with feeling like you're letting people down? Oh, gosh. How do you deal with that?

Because you probably felt like you were letting people down walking away a week before they announced he's going to be on the team. Especially as a people pleaser. How do you do that? I stayed in gymnastics probably a year longer than I should have because I was terrified of letting people down. I had my dad who was like my number one cheerleader, my whole entire career, just saying like, you know, don't quit. And just those like stereotypical dad things that dad say.

And he was so proud and he loved so much to watch me compete. And I had my mom and I had my sponsors and I had my agent. I had contracts for like Nike and Coca-Cola and all these people. It's a lot. A lot. And the fear of letting them down is consuming. Like that will keep 99.9% of the population remember doing it. But it got to be to a point where I felt like my well-being was at jeopardy trying to please them.

Just like my mental health, my physical health, everything. I couldn't operate in a way that would have made them proud and done them justice. So even if I went to the Olympics, I wouldn't have represented any of them in the way that they truly knew me. And so I felt like I would be letting them down on both sides. So I might as well choose the one that makes me happy. And how did they all handle it? Hmm. some great some not so great my parents were fine we're like very supportive they were a little bit

in shock just because it's like what you're a week from the olympics um like are you sure about this are you are you sane or like what's going on um but i think my parents could see such an instant flip of I went from being like this miserable kid to the kid that they knew and they could see that it was the right decision my agent didn't love it rightfully I mean that speaks for itself yeah the brands probably didn't love it but and still to this day there's probably a couple brands that I have very that are still resentful of me yeah um but at the end of the day business business is business and bad things happen in business and it's not personal so I think for the most part everyone got over it and then it happened to be one of the greatest teams and the history of gymnastics

did you have FOMO that you weren't on it no I loved it like you didn't feel like no so that's how you especially know that you've done the right thing because you're not like shoot I could have been there no I was I was sitting in the audience there I actually actually went to the 2012 games and watched every competition from the first row. And you had no feeling of sadness that you weren't there. I had the feeling like any person would musician, performer of any kind, like, oh, I want to be out on the competition floor. But I didn't look at it and say, oh, she has my spot.

It was just kind of like, I'm so proud of you guys. Tusha. I'm good right here. That's incredible. Yeah. Dang, Sean. Yeah. What a journey.

Yeah, a little bit. So how has life been now? How did you get to Nashville? My husband. So I was the creepy girl that followed him. Did you all meet online? No, so because... Followed him, I immediately think like Instagram.

Oh, probably. No. Followed him here. Yeah. So because I didn't compete in the 2012 games. Okay. And I was a spectator. I got to go to other events.

I went to the USA cycling event, which is like Lance Armstrong track cycling. And I met this USA athlete. His name was Guy East. We had a very long conversation. And he just kept telling me, I'm perfect for his younger brother. And when we flew back to the United States, he set us up on a blind date. That was it.

Yeah, pretty much. So Guy knew. Evidently. Yeah. No way. Yeah. So Guy's an athlete as well? He's an Olympic cyclist.

Yes. Dang. I know. Y'all are just a bunch of athletes around here. We've laughed though. Like our baby's probably going to be musician. Which like we are not musically inclined at all. They're going to be the most unathletic, most artistic, creative, you know,

that kid out there. So what brought Andrew to Nashville? Vanderbilt. Okay. Yeah. And I was looking, I was looking at going to Stanford. I was getting ready to start. But I had deferred Stanford four years and hadn't pulled the trigger yet.

So you weren't really worried about starting. Exactly. And he went to Banders. and he's like I'll give you a tour of Vanderbilt and I was like okay um so did you go to Vanderbilt I was supposed to start and it was like the first month of when I was supposed to start at bandy I got booked on another TV show what show celebrity apprentice oh how was that it was not my favorite show so you know our president I do know our president are y'all buds do you all keep up when politically like all politics aside he was very very very very

nice on the show oh I'm sure yeah oh you're fired how far did you make it on that one not far you didn't oh I got fired real soon but I couldn't I couldn't do like the conniving stuff no so I bowed out real quick okay yeah well that's fun yeah but Vandy wouldn't work with that schedule so I ended up transferring to I went to school and Penn like Penn State online it was just like an online program okay so did you finish college yeah oh way to go well kind of no no no no I I have one more year, ish. I mean, you don't need college. No.

My husband has to go to college. I honestly, I hope our child doesn't go to college. I know that's weird. No, it's not. I, I, okay, not to diss colleges out there. Yeah, because college is great. It was, I've never been more mad at life than doing online college. Oh, I was like, you are eating my money for no reason.

And this is a bunch of crap. Yeah. Like, just for a piece of paper? Yes. I got so annoyed with it. I know. I mean, I feel like, yes, if you want to be a doctor, or if you want to be a lawyer or something like that that you need the structured school system for,

go for it. But no. Not everyone needs to go to college. No. Especially if you know your passion. Yeah. Or especially like if you, like you, like you've had all these things happen to you that you're not really needing college for a career. You know?

I was, again, though, people pleaser. I was the kid in school that had an absolute meltdown if I didn't get straight A's and I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a surgeon. I wanted to go to Stanford, and then gymnastics kind of threw a wrench in that. So then studied psychology and threw a lot of money away for online tests that I could Google the answers of. I was just, oh, I was so mad. Oh, my gosh. I was so mad.

So what has life been like for you in Nashville? Awesome. What do you love about it? So I came from Des Moines, Iowa, where it's just like everyone knows everyone. and any type of name it makes it really difficult, which is a beautiful thing. Like I love Iowa, not to diss Iowa at all. But Nashville just became this place where I could be my own person.

There's so many people who've had success and like amazing things happen to them. And everyone respects and loves it, but no one cares. No one cares, which I love. Yes. I loved how I could go grocery shopping for the first time. And someone wouldn't stop me and say, oh, you know, how's your mom doing and how is, you know, Westridge Elementary and just like all this stuff. It was, it was great to blend in for a while. And it's such a good community. It's such a good

community. It's a very small community, which I love. But again, it's like nobody cares. No, which is cool. So have you found, what have you found out about yourself now? Because we kind of talking about this earlier. I was trying to get you to really define who you are now, which is a hard question. Because who can do that. Yeah. But like, after. After Olympics and gymnastics, after dancing with the stars, after falling in love with Andrew and him helping to bring out this other side of you, realizing that you don't have to be on all the time. Like, what, how has, how, how, how, how, um, how do you view life now?

Because like you said, you were perfectionist for so long. And are you able to drop that? Are you able to see life through like, what is the lens that you're looking at life through now? You ask hard questions. I would say for me, I will always be challenged with my past self, the people-pleasing perfectionist mentality.

It's just, it was ingrained in me for so long. But with the help of my husband to just kind of like keep me on track, I feel like I view life as just, I don't know. I feel like I'm very anti what the world has to say. and I hope that sounds okay, but I feel like social media, just kind of the world we live in. Everyone's trying to tell you who you are.

And because I went through so many roller coasters of trying to please people and never succeeding, I'm constantly trying to just do my own thing and show the world that that's okay, even though like inside I'm kind of having meltdowns all the time. I'm like, what do they actually think? I'm reading on my Instagram comments. Oh my gosh.

Do you read through all of them? I, okay, this is really bad. We have a lot of really young kids because of gymnastics who follow us. So I read every single comment to delete anything that I don't want a kid to read. That's sweet. It's sweet, but it's such torture. It is torture. I hate it.

Probably for the most part, though, people are nice. For the most part. But then you have those people who are like. And it's easy to hang on to the bad ones. Oh. I only hang on to the bad ones, obviously. Isn't that crazy? People can compliment you a million times.

one person say something mean and that's the only thing you'll remember. I know. What? I know. Yeah. But I, again, I'm constantly trying to like set an example for kids of like, don't listen to the world. What are your views on social media? I hate it and love it.

I hate majority of what it stands for because it's, it allows people to sit behind a screen and have no interaction with people. and no consequence to their actions. But I also love it because it is truly a community that has helped us in so many ways. It was truly the only thing that got me through the miscarriage. I mean, really? Being able to read people's stories.

I'm not the kind of person that asked for help and tells people what I'm going through, which is weird that my life is on social media. But being able to read people's stories and hear how they got through it and have that community really helped me, which I saw for the first time, the good side of social media.

But I don't know. I don't know what I think of it, really. I'm right in the middle. What do you think about being a mom? Like, what are your, what are your fears? And what are you most excited about and what are you most scared about? I'm scared about everything. Literally everything.

We went to a baby class last night. And they're like, what do you want to learn? I was like, everything. I don't know anything. Literally scared about everything. How do you teach your kid to be a good person, a nice person? and how do you teach them not to listen to the world and not to conform to all these dumb societal pressures

and expectations we have. And if we don't know what we're having. So like if it's a girl, what is she going to have to deal with? And if it's a boy, what is he going to have to deal with? And I don't know. What are you most excited about?

Right now, holding our baby for the first time. Oh, my God. Like, I can't even imagine, like, actually holding the baby. I know. And it's getting close. Yeah. It's, I feel that same way. It's like, it could be today for you.

I was hoping it was going to be yesterday. I had told her that we were going to come on the 22nd. And she's not, she didn't do it. So she's obviously not listening to me. We're all like the wives' tails. Like squats. Squats. Okay, I asked a lot of pure.

Castor oil. Apparently makes you poo and makes you your baby come. I would do it. I would do it. Evening promrose oil. Oh, yeah. Taking that. Red.

Do you have some? Yes. Okay. I was just say I have a whole bottle if you want it. Oh, great. I'm not taking it right now. You're just ready. I'm ready.

Yes. Raspberry leaf tea. Yes. You need to go see an acupuncture. Yes, Gil. We have this great acupuncture. Yeah. I need to go to him.

Maybe he can help acupuncture, foot massages. Because apparently there's pressure points on your feet that make you go into labor. Sex. Yeah. Everyone says that. Yeah. Bouncing on a ball. Yeah.

I've heard from some people, drink a glass of wine like it'll make you go into labor and I haven't really been drinking this whole pregnancy I started drinking a little bit like a sip here at the end yeah I don't know I'm not endorsing that one everyone who uh yes whatever it's fine don't drink wine while you're pregnant but oh I made the mistake of on a blog one time showing that I had like a couple of sips and oh gosh oh yeah yeah yes not endorsing it no not endorsing it but I mean I have heard from multiple people it's totally fine if you have a little bit of wine yeah but doctor would even say But everyone, you do you.

Yes. I don't know. Those are kind of the top ones that I've heard. Have you heard anything else? No. I'm trying to keep baby in right now. Yeah, you want to keep baby in. Yeah.

Baby's got to cook. Yeah, baby's still cooking. Yeah. You just need to have a day of like where you do all of it. I know. I'm going to talk to my gynecology about the castor oil. I'm kind of nervous about that one, but she gives it the go ahead. You've had friends that have done it.

I've had friends that have done it and had great success with it. So. It just like lubes everything. up. Loves everything up, cleans everything out, gets the contractions going. I mean, I mean, you know, I don't know. We shall see. Yeah. Okay, so I wrap all my interviews with leave your light. Okay. So you obviously are such an inspiring person. Thank you. And so many people look up to you in the world. Thank you. And you're so real and honest, which is amazing that you share your heart like you do. Because I think that's one of the greatest gifts you can give to the world is having a platform like you have and being real.

and sharing your soul because it just lets us all know that we're all in this together and we put people on pedestals. Oh yeah. And when you realize that someone that you put on a pedestal is actually a real human, it makes you feel better about your own experience and not alone. So way to go on being that kind of amazing person. Thank you. What do you want to tell people, just like what you have learned, like some advice, some knowledge that you have, something that maybe you wish your 12 year old self would have known, that you've just gathered over the years, something to inspire people who look up to you or who are trying to find their way.

Oh my gosh. I can't, kind of what I've been talking about. I feel like I'm still trying to convince myself of this, like we're talking, the people pleasing. But again, every single person in the world has an opinion and everyone thinks what you're doing is right or wrong. and the sooner you can learn none of them are correct, the easier your life is going to be.

And it's the hard, I think the hardest for both of us, because we're people pleasers, the hardest thing to learn. But when you can just like stop trying to please the world, I feel like success comes, I feel like happiness comes and joy, and life just gets easier.

So I love that. And that is such a hard lesson. Yeah. But it's so true. Yeah. Go you, Sean. Thank you. You're going to be the best mom. Oh, gosh.

So are you. Oh, you're going to be great. What do you think you're having? I think a boy. You do? Yeah. I know. But I can be wrong.

I mean, hey, you never know. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. You're amazing. Thank you. You too. Okay, bye.

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