The Bobby Bones Show - Hitting Rock Bottom to Becoming an Olympic Medalist & Adaptive Athletes

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

HAPPY MONDAY! Morgan brings on two guests this week. First she interviews five-time Olympic gold medalist and multiple world record-holder in the sport of swimming, Missy Franklin. Missy shares her experience training for the Olympics since she was young. But how did it all impact her mental health and was there ever a moment of hitting rock bottom? Then adaptive athlete Amy Bream comes on to share her experience being born without one leg. She went from chasing a career as an artist to participating in CrossFit games. Morgan also asks her to share the way people can be more open-minded when around those with a birth defect. If you liked this episode, please rate, review & subscribe!  Follow Missy Franklin: @MissyFranklin88 Follow Amy Bream: @onelegtostandon Follow Morgan: @webgirlmorgan Follow Take This Personally: @takethispersonallySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, y'all? It's the fifth episode of Take This Personally. I'm Morgan. As you've heard the first few episodes, my hope with this podcast is to help us all navigate life a little bit easier by connecting. Maybe this podcast can help you feel less alone. Maybe it can help you feel related to. Maybe it helps you get through something, whatever it may be. That's what I'm here to do. And this episode is a very inspiring one in many ways. I'm bringing on Missy Franklin, who is an Olympian with several medals, titles, and years of experience as an athlete in her chosen sport of swimming. Then I'm bringing on Amy Bream, who is a Nike adaptive athlete. She was born with one leg and recently

been taking the CrossFit World by storm. Right now I'm joined by Olympian Missy Franklin. Many would know her for her incredible swimming talent. She has five Olympic gold medals, two NCAA national championship titles, 11 world swimming titles. The list goes on. of what Missy has accomplished in her life and career. And I'm just so excited to welcome her to the podcast. Thank you so much for coming on. How are you? Of course, I'm so good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. I'm excited too. Now, tell me a little bit about your story just for anyone who maybe hasn't heard some of it. What guy you started in swimming? Absolutely. Well, I expect many people have not heard it. But long story long, I started swimming from, I mean, as early and age as you can imagine.

My mom never learned how to swim. And so this fear of the water, it's actually proven to be generationally based. So if the parents don't know how to swim, there's only an 18% chance that the children in that household are going to know how to swim as well. So it's really something that's passed down. And I was very grateful for my mom who was willing to face her own fears to not pass them down to me. So we got in a mommy and me, YMCA class when I was six months old.

And I was that baby that was being dunked under and coming back up just, cackling, like just loving every second of it. And pretty much since then, you have not been able to get me out of the water. I was snorkeling by the time I was two. The earliest you can really start summer club is when you're five. I petitioned to do it when I was four, but they wouldn't let me. And then it just kind of took off from there. I did every sport growing up as well, but swimming was just my passion. You know, it was the thing that I really felt called to. And it turns out I had a bit of a knack for it, which happened very early, which is a little different. But I started. I started, doing pretty well on finding some success. And I qualified for my first Olympic trials when I was 12.

And I competed there the first time when I was 13. And that was the Olympic trials for Beijing in 2008. And I was the second youngest person there. And it was just such a surreal experience. I was on the same pool deck and swimming in the same pools as Michael Phelps and Natalie Coglin and people whose posters I literally had on my wall back home in my bedroom. And now I'm next to them. Like it was just so surreal. And so I kind of left that experience going, I made it here, and I've seen it now in person, and this is something that I want more than anything. And so I trained as hard as I possibly could for the next four years. And I came back for the 2012 Olympic trials and qualified for my first Olympic Games in seven events and went to compete in the London Olympics. And I won four

gold medals there in a bronze. And then four years later, qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and won another gold medal there. And then I recently retired in 2018 due to an injury and have just been living a beautiful life ever since that honestly makes my swimming career feel literally another lifetime ago. Oh my gosh. So cool to hear from the beginning about your mom and how that all started to see where you are now. I know that has to be really cool for you too. Did you always see Olympics in your future? Was that always the dream? Or did that not come true until a little bit later on in your life. It honestly was always the dream. I mean, we have pictures that I drew when I was five of of me standing on top of an Olympic podium with a gold medal. And I think there's just something

really special about the Olympics. For some sports, it's the peak. I mean, that's it. And so growing up and being a swimmer and having swimming really be an Olympic sport, that to me was the end-all be-all. This is one of the most incredible things. And to be named the best athlete in the world, just while representing your own country. I mean, just seemed to me like such an unbelievable thing to strive for and almost to a degree impossible. But I think it was because of that that it made it so much more fun. You know, when you set goals that scare you, it makes working towards them and getting closer to them such a fulfilling journey. And that was such a big lesson that I learned. I mean, the entire process, but now especially being able to look back on it was, yes, standing up on those podiums and getting those

medals were absolutely unbelievable moments in my life. But when I look back on my swimming career, those aren't necessarily the first moments I think of. It's actually some of the smallest, maybe seemingly insignificant moments of dancing with all my teammates after Saturday morning practice and Friday night carbol loading dinners before the swim meets. Like those small moments, and you really do realize that it's great to have a destination, to have a goal. But at the end of day really is about the journey getting there. Yeah, and that journey has to be tough too. I know you look at it and you can see all the successes you've had and there's been, gosh, you have so many titles and being one of the best athletes in the world. You have so much success in this sport. But there had to be

hardships on the way. What were some of those moments where you were like, oh my gosh, is this going to happen? Can I do this? What did that all look like? Absolutely. I would say those hardships really came for me in between the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, I think leading up to 2012 in London, I was so naive and that really worked to my advantage. Like I was so young. I was 16, 17 years old and I didn't really have a care in the world, right? Like I was just swimming. It was so fun and I was doing well. And so I trained harder and I swam faster. And like it was all just this very seemingly simple. Of course, it was a ton of hard work, but it kind of made sense, you know? Like I worked harder and harder and harder and harder every single day. And I got faster and I kept achieving my goals.

And I had a blast while doing it. And no one knew who I was. I was the young one. I was the rookie on the scene. So my first Olympics was just so like, no pressure. Like let's just go out, have a great time. Like we're here for the experience. And that's how I performed. You know, you could kind of see that. Like I was just so full of joy. And I wasn't swimming out of fear. I was just swimming because I was just happy to be there. You just love the sport. Exactly. Exactly. And then things really changed over the next four years. I decided to remain amateur. So after London, I didn't accept any money, sponsorships, anything like that because I really

wanted to go to college and swim for my college team because that was another dream of mine that I really wanted to see come true. So I went through that process and had two years at Cal Berkeley. And then I came home to train for the 2016 games. And that's when things kind of shifted for me. I think that year was probably the heart of. of my life because I went from an amazing team environments and having been a part of a team and having a lot of balance in my life with school and friends and swimming. It's kind of really for the first time

ever just honing in on training alone. And I think I really made that decision because I was scared. I really wanted 2016 to be better than 2012. And I had set the bar quite high in 2012. and it wasn't just me that wanted that, but I started to feel those outside expectations and that outside pressure, which I had never really let yet to me before, but I think once you compete and achieve at that level, it does get really hard to tune that out.

And so for the first time in my life, I really stopped swimming because I loved it, and I started swimming because I felt like I had to achieve these things that were expected of me, and it became much more fear-based out of not wanting to disappoint other people as opposed to just going out there and doing my best. So there was a lot that I struggled with during that time. Just a few months out from Olympic trials, I got diagnosed with depression, insomnia, anxiety, and eating disorder, like just a whole gamut of things that just came from essentially lack of balance, just training day in and day out.

And for the first time in my life, feeling like my self-worth was completely wrapped up in my sport. And if I didn't achieve in my sport, then I had nothing else to really offer as a human being. So Olympic trials in 2016 was really, really tough. The first event that I had there was the Hunter backstroke. And I was the reigning Olympic champion in that event. And you have to finish top two in order to make the team. And that night, my first final, I got seventh. I mean, in swimming, it's always close.

But in my mind, you know, not even close to making the team. And I remember going back to my hotel room that night and just sobbing for like several hours. and really thinking, I'm not going to make this team. Not only am I not going to have a second Olympics better than my first, I'm not even going to have a second Olympics. Like, this is just not going to happen. And I kind of just went pretty much as far within myself as I could and said, you know, you've got two options here.

You can give up and you can just say, you know, this is it. Or you fight with everything that you have left within you. And it may not be much. But if you look back at this and know that you didn't do everything you possibly could have, you're going to regret it for the rest of your life, no matter how hard it is. And so somehow I found that within me. And over the course of the next several days, I qualified in three events for my second Olympics. And those games themselves for me were still a massive disappointment.

But the fact that I was able to make an Olympic team in that state and still walk away from a gold medal, that medal definitely holds different meaning than the ones for, my London games. Wow. And just hearing about that, when you were in that really kind of hard, dark place in a moment that was very intense for you, what got you out of that? You mentioned a little bit of like, okay, I saw a turning point, but there had to be something that got you through that moment in time. Yeah. Was it family? Like, what did that look like? Well, my family was amazing. First of all, my mom and dad are my best friends. And so living with them, I don't mean to make that sound like it wasn't a great situation. It was wonderful, but I think it is hard when all of your friends

are at college, right? And you are at home. And so I don't really have any friends around where I am. I don't, again, I don't have any of that balance. So I did have my mom and dad. And unfortunately, I wish I could say that this isn't what happened, but this really is. I just kind of hit rock bottom. Like I just hit a place where I was like, I can't go any lower than this. And it got scary to a point where I was like, I have to ask for help. And that's why I want to talk about it. And why I do talk about it so much is I don't want people waiting to that point before they realize that they need to ask for help. And it was in that moment. And when I did ask for help from my parents, I remember sitting down with both of my coaches and just saying, you know, something's not right.

There's something going on and something's been going on for a really long time. And it was literally in that moment of verbalizing it and speaking it out loud, I had never felt more courageous in my life. And I think not only as an elite athlete, but as human beings, at some point, somewhere, for whatever reason, we're told that asking for help is a sign of weakness. And I don't know where it comes from. I'm doing everything in my power to try to unravel this Because that was that moment for me where I've never felt more brave. I've never felt more strength and being able to go to the people that I trust and love and saying, I need help.

Something is wrong. And I thought that I could do this on my own. But I'm now realizing that it's not about doing it on your own. You're not weak because you can't get through something on your own. You're so strong because you have the power and the trust in yourself to know when you do need help and reach out for that. And so that was kind of my moment of, okay, this is. this is real. I need that help. And then once I did, of course, it all started getting better from there. That's such a powerful message, especially coming from you for many reasons, not only because you are an extremely

gifted and talented human and athlete, but also just because I think it's important to share the side of the story that isn't so glamorous, especially when it does look very glamorous. You're an athlete. You've been on TV and you have all these titles and all these medals and people think, well, that's what they wanted. That's what they, you know, they spent their whole life doing. But hearing you talk about that, that's incredibly moving just to know that I know for me personally and a lot of people that you're going through those same things. And I know we would like to say that celebrities and athletes are not like us and it doesn't look the same, but we all are. We're all going through similar issues in one way or another. It may not look the same way and the journey may not look the same. But there's definitely similar

issues going on there. Exactly. And I think that's one of the most beautiful things that comes out of talking about it is just like you said, it may not be the same experience, but the feelings are often very, very similar. And I remember for a long time after Rio, just as I was kind of struggling to understand why this had happened, my faith is very important to me. And so I kind of came to understanding that sometimes I don't think we're meant to know the why of things that we go through in life. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we find out the why, you know, whether it stays, months, years later, look back and we're like, okay, I see what you did. Like, I understand why I went through that. I get it. But I think there are scenarios where we're just not meant to know that we just have to trust that we

did go through them for our reason. And when I look back on that, I think for me, that reason is we go through the things we go through to then help other people get through similar situations. And to me, it's like if that was what came out of that experience, as hard and honestly horrible as it was, it was worth it and I'd do it a hundred times over because now I'm able to speak about mental health. I'm able to bring awareness to the topic. I'm able to talk to young athletes. And I remember beforehand when I was young and I would have younger athletes come up to me and ask, what do you do when you're feeling really down, when you just don't want to go to practice, when you're having a plateau. And I'd never experienced that. So I never knew what to say. And so I felt so bad that I couldn't help them.

And now, again, as hard as it was having gone through it, I'm able to. I'm able to experience. I'm able to to talk to them from a place of having been there, which is always a really special moment and conversation. Hey, Ernest, what's up? Look, money is something we all deal with, but financial literacy is what helps turn income into real wealth. On each episode of the podcast, Earn Your Leisure, we break down the conversations you need to understand money, investing, and entrepreneurship. From stocks and real estate to credit, business, and generational wealth, we translate complex financial topics into real conversations everyone can understand. Because the truth is, most people will never taught how money really works. But once you understand the system, you can start to build within it. That means ownership, smarter investing, and creating opportunities not just for yourself, but for the next generation.

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wherever you get your podcast. Speaking of young athletes and just people going after their dreams, much like you did from the beginning, if you could give them some advice as they kind of journey, maybe it's a dream that seems impossible, like going to the Olympics,

or maybe it's something very simple. What would you tell them, given all of your experience now? Honestly, I would say as much as you can, just stay true to you and your why. You know, I think in the world that we live in, it's very interesting. And I don't think this applies just to athletes either, but it's almost like being a superb athlete isn't enough. You also have to have the personality. You have to have the looks.

You have to have the social accounts. you have to be funny, you have to be personable, like, you have to come off like that. It's so much pressure. It's almost not enough to just be you. And I think a lot of us feel like that some days that sometimes it just feels like we're not enough. And I would just tell them to trust and believe in your absolute heart of hearts that you are exactly as you are. You are enough. You are worthy. You are not just what your sport or your job or your hobby deems of you. Like you are so multifaceted and you have so many different aspects of you that are wonderful and that make up who you are. So stay true to all of those things and remember why you are doing this, not why other people

want you to do it or what they're expecting to come out of it. But what are your goals for yourself? Why are you doing this? And just stay as true to that path as you can. I love that you said that reminds me about a conversation I had with a friend when he was kind of trying to figure out all these different paths that he could go on. And I was like, what is your middle core? What is your middle core? What is the one word that you could use to describe everything you want to do in your life. If you could stay true to that one thing, and I think that's similar to what you're speaking about now. And it helped him, at least guide him in the direction of what he wanted to find and how he could stay true to exactly what he was trying to do. I love that. But I think that's what you're saying,

and I think that's so important for a lot of people to hear, and to your point, not just athletes. We all need to hear that. Exactly. All of us. If you had to change anything that happened in your career. Is there anything or is it like you said, everything had to happen the way it happened? Just like that. I think everything happens for a reason. And I believe in that so, so, so strongly. So again, as hard as some of those moments were, I wouldn't change a thing. It was really hard retiring on terms that weren't my own as well. Like that was kind of another transition that I had to go to as well. Like I wanted to go to three Olympics. I wanted to go to four Olympics. And when I had to retire at 23 years old. It killed me. I mean, that was so hard. And I had pushed for almost two years

trying to get past an injury and had done everything imaginable and the amount of hours I had spent in physical therapy and with ice on my shoulders and just, I mean, it was exhausting. And I think it was, again, hard because we often glorify like the comeback story. Like there was disappointment. And then you have the like rocky moment of the training and the intensity. And then you come out on top. And it's like, And I wanted that so desperately. And I was the story of there's disappointment, there's injury, you do everything you can to come back, and you just can't. You know, your body just no matter what you do, it's just not there for you.

And so that was hard. But again, I know that in my journey, my path, my life, that was exactly what was meant to happen. And I look at my life now and where I'm sitting and the things that have happened since I retired. And it's like, I can't imagine doing anything different because it means that my life would be different and I wouldn't change a thing about my life right now. And what does your life look like, you know, post retirement, post all of these Olympic medals and all these titles that you have? What does it look like now? Well, I was very fortunate in that that kind of rough time of injury and working through it and going through retirement also lined up with me meeting my soulmate. So that made a significant difference.

But that was around the time where I started dating my now husband. And we got engaged the year after I retired and then got married. Congratulations. And we have the best present of all, which is a baby girl. And her name is Sarah Caitlin. So now being a mom has been a whole other transition. And that has truly been my dream job for forever is being a mom. And she has made that dream come true.

in just so many more ways than one. And I still get to work, which is really fun. I still do a lot of public speaking. I talk a lot about mental health. I do a lot of motivational, inspirational talks, things like that, and still work with different companies. So that's really fun as well because I kind of got the best of both worlds of being a mom and getting to spend a ton of time with my girl,

but also still getting to travel a bit and use the platform that swimming gave me to still inspire, which is very, very important to me. And you're totally doing that. I mean, you're inspiring. me right now. We're sitting here talking. I need to go like swim some laps now or something. I don't know. Are you going to teach your daughter how to swim? Are you going to try to? Of course. Of course. She's honestly, she's been in some lessons since six months old. So same as us. She's a total water bug. Absolutely loves it. But nothing too formal right now. We have her at Safe Splash, which is an

awesome learn to swim school. But during summertime, we were honestly just trying to get her a lot of exposure in the pool. I think for younger ones, that's really the most important thing. You don't have to do anything like I don't want you feel the pressure of doing those formal swim lessons right away. But just that exposure to getting them in the water and around it really helps take some of that fear component away. So when it comes time for formalsome lessons, which again, I also believe there's no time too early. So whenever you're ready, like it's, I think it's a great time. But they're kind of used to it, right? It's not this really big scary thing that they've never seen before. So we spent a lot of time in the pool with her this summer. And now that pools are closed,

we'll start getting her back into weekly some lessons. So she's still getting that exposure all year long. Oh, that's so much fun. You're definitely having a great period of your life now, just a new season of life. And it's really cool to see the transition for you and showing too that sometimes the redirection can be a really cool and good thing. Oh my gosh.

I couldn't agree with that more. And again, just trusting the process. It's really hard when you don't really know where that redirection is going and you've never known another direction. But I think trusting yourself is something that we could all do a little bit more and trusting our strength and our integrity and just our sense of self and knowing that no matter what happens in this life, we're going to handle it. And you know, that's something that I'm still working on. That's something that I think a lot of us

are still working on. But it's really empowering when you kind of feel that trust coming into play of, you know, whatever happens, whatever transitions I go through, whatever paths I might have to go down that I'm not expecting to, I know that I have what it takes to walk it in a way. that I'm going to be proud of. Absolutely. And that's the best way we could totally end this because if you give any more advice, I'm just, I'm going to go like run through a wall and have all these things I need to go do.

You're inspiring me, which is exactly what you want to be doing. And I love that for you. I love to see that your life has gotten to be where you want it to be too. So it's a lot. Just very exciting stuff. And thank you for coming on and hanging out with me for a little bit. Of course.

I love being here. I will do it anytime. As you heard, Missy is doing a lot of exciting things in her life post retirement. If you want to follow along her journey and see the things she's up to, you can follow her at Missy Franklin, 88. Amy Bream is a Nike adaptive athlete who was born without her right leg. She competed for the first time at the 2021 CrossFit Games in the lower adaptive division. She took first place in her division at the 2022 Wadapalooza competition and placed third in her division at the 2022 CrossFit Games.

She's never let her births effect stop her from chasing any of her dreams. And she's obviously taking the CrossFit World by storm. Amy, thanks so much for joining me today. Of course. Thanks for having me. So I met you through Title Nash, which is a kickboxing gym here in Nashville. But you had moved to Nashville with the intent of becoming an artist. Where did the change up happen?

Oh, life's a funny thing, you know? Yeah, I was actually a commercial music major in college. and I moved here in 2014 every intention of, you know, pursuing music, but was a little apprehensive, not quite sure, you know, what it would look like. And, you know, definitely did the whole playing around town thing, all of that great stuff that everyone does in Nashville. And I realized in the first few years that I was doing it more because I felt like it was just what I'd always identified as, like a musician. And that's kind of like what I needed to do. But I wasn't actually enjoying the process. I love music. I still love music. But the more I did it in that

capacity I found I was kind of falling out of love with music. So I decided to lay that down. It was a rough couple of years, if I'm being honest, in Nashville. In 2017, I was just like, let's just start from scratch, figure out what I like. I was boxing at title for fun and then was offered a fun part-time job. I had a marketing position at another company. I just did it on the weekends for fun, and it just morphed into this. I didn't start any of that with a specific intent other than I liked who I was becoming in the process, and I just was having fun and here we are. Also along that journey, you've started to share a very vulnerable side of your life and of your journey.

What inspired you to start talking about and sharing the story of growing up with a birth defect? Yeah, so around the same time, around 2017, again, like I had some things happen that kind of rocked my world a little bit and I wasn't sure what direction to do if I was even going to stay in Nashville. all. And I had two really close friends of mine. They came over for like a girl's wine night. And they were like, you know, why don't you ever share your story? And I remember thinking, because I've thought this quite a bit growing up, like, well, people, you know, I don't want to say anything because I've, I've never even had an amputation. It's a birth defect. I've just always had one like. And so for some

reason, I thought that that like counted me out. I was like, people don't want to hear. It's just like me growing up. It's whatever. They're like, well, you probably have some insight that you don't even realize or just like a cool world. Asking people. that are amputees or anything can be such a taboo. People are a little nervous around it. I've had it for so long, very, very little offends or shocks me anymore. So I was like, well, I want people to know and understand this world. Just understand how cool it is. So if I'm not going to be offended by the questions, I should be the one to like just start the conversation. So that's kind of where it started. And I had no idea it would lead me where I am now. But it's been great. It's funny you say sharing that

side and you wouldn't be offended in anything. And you blew up. up on social media after some videos went viral of you competing at the CrossFit games and being an adaptive athlete. What was that first feeling like when you're like, holy crap, my account was blowing up. Yeah, it was a lot. I wasn't expecting any of that. And it's funny because if you know me, I don't like to cry in public at all. And in that video, I was crying. And of course, it's like what I went viral for. My friends give me such a hard time about it. But yeah, all of that happened within like a week. So it was like a very much a blur. I was not expecting any of it.

And it definitely took a while. It's been quite a year just to adjust to. But I remember, again, I was second guessing kind of like how I was posting because I like to be a dork, you know, just like be myself, whatever. I don't care on Instagram. And I had Jared and Tyler at the gym. And at one point, they kind of called me out. And they're like, you're trying too hard.

You're trying to act like you have X amount of followers, but like you're a dork. And like for whatever reason that's worked for you. So just like keep doing what you've always been doing. just be you. And it doesn't matter how many people are following. Just keep doing it. And that kind of reset my mind. It just kind of took the tension out of it. And I was just, yeah, let's just see where this goes. I love that you have the people in your life that can always make sure to set you straight. That's a good thing to have. Always. I don't tend to like it in the moment, but afterwards I'm grateful for it. We never like being told some of the truth until it actually happens. What's one thing you hope

people take away when they hear you talk about your journey across the board. That's a great question. Definitely the idea that, not the idea, the fact that there's really nothing separating me and anyone else. I specifically remember telling my coach Scooter on the way back from the games. I posted that video and I randomly checked my Instagram and it was like nothing I'd ever posted just like blowing up. And I was like, I think this is a thing, I think. And I told him one of my greatest fears, as much as this is amazing, is that someone like a middle school girl who maybe has lost your leg or deals with confidence, you know, like struggling with that and herself is going to look at my profile and think that we're unrelatable. And there's like a separation between what I've been able to accomplish and what she can do.

And there's really not. I did not grow up an athlete. I didn't touch sports. I didn't wear shorts. I wore mostly pants until I was 21, 22 because I was so self-conscious. And I just did a little bit every day that made me feel uncomfortable. And I put people in my life that I, trusted very few people that I allowed to speak into my life and keep me accountable and just a little bit more each day to like bring me a tiny bit further like one of my favorite quotes is the more that you do it's not that you become less afraid it's that you become more brave and that has been a hundred percent my journey and I truly truly believe that no matter your circumstances even if you're not going to be a crossfit athlete you can go so so far if you just do a little bit out of time

yeah and you mention how you wanted to share this part of your journey because it's important for people to see all these kind of different things you've went through, even if it was hard for you. I think looking at your story, what I've been able to see is that you should never give up on yourself, watching you. You show all the sides of it, everything that's hard, and you want to give up, but you don't, and you keep pushing through. And that's something I've learned just following you and being around you, which I think is a cool

lesson in itself. But what has kept you going through all of those really hard moments in your life where you're like, there's no way. I can't do this. This is not going to happen. I think a couple of things. Definitely, once you cross one hurdle and see the other side of it, even if you don't like, I think you start to recognize, like maybe before the next hurdle comes, you're like, oh no, these feelings are coming back. I don't prefer feeling this way. But you also are like, well, I got over that so I can do this too. Again, like not less afraid, more brave. So experiencing that also in a really real level, I realize the power of the words that I speak to myself for a really long time. It wasn't things that I was saying out loud

necessarily, but I realized how negative my self-talk was. And so I was just really intentional about, again, such a tiny thing. I started my day with, I wrote down three insecurities and wrote the opposite of them. And 95% of the days, I was annoyed and I didn't believe them, but I still made myself say it out loud. And I'm a huge believer that eventually, like, even if you don't believe it, you eventually will believe it. So there's power in that. When I'm insecure and feeling all of those things, I say the opposite of what I feel. And also just placing people in your life that can keep you accountable. There's plenty of times I've been the absolute worst, like such a brat. And then those people know who they are in my life who can speak to me and they have and been pretty direct. And even if I

don't like it in the moment, I trust them enough that I know when I need to be humbled a little bit. It's really made a huge difference. Hey, Ernest, what's up? Look, money is something we all deal with. But financial literacy is what helps turn income into real wealth. On each episode of the podcast, Earn Your we break down the conversations you need to understand money, investing, and entrepreneurship. From stocks and real estate to credit, business, and generational wealth, we translate complex financial topics into real conversations everyone can understand. Because the truth is, most people will never taught how money really works. But once you understand the system, you can start to build within it. That means ownership, smarter investing, and creating

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Two active players giving you a real look at our lives and what we actually think, on and off the court. Nothing's off limits. We talk trade requests. What's the vibe of that when it's like your star players? It's like, well, I want to leave. And then actually now I'm going to stick. We talk tanking.

I mean, honestly, like, I might get in trouble for this answer, but I think it's, like, definitely happening in the WBA. And yeah, we talk about our mistakes, too. They pulled me to their side and was like, hey, man, we got a call last night, man. You can't be rolling around the city like this tonight before games, no, you know, doing this, doing whatever. And of course, family stories.

They'll be like, Mommy, why did you miss that? Mindy, do you play basketball? Check out Game Recognized game with Stuyen Miles on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the only score for chip. I'm Tad Ramos. I'm Tom Boke.

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on the IHeart Radio app, podcast wherever you get your podcast. People always mention the thing about blowing up or going viral that the most important thing is to stay true to who you are. And the way to do that is be surrounded by the right people. Yeah, absolutely. And it sounds like you've found that, which I think is cool. Yeah, yeah, it's been great.

And talking on those hard moments, what's one challenge that comes to mind that you faced that seemed so impossible for you to accomplish, but then you did? Honestly, I mean, keeping it, it might seem obvious, but going into the CrossFit games, I was very new to CrossFit. I had a very unique journey. I actually don't work out at a CrossFit gym. I never have. My first step into a CrossFit gym was the Saturday before I left for the games, which

was like very unique. I started CrossFit in January 2021 when an adaptive athlete told me it was the first year that CrossFit had an adapted division. I didn't know, you don't have to know anything about CrossFit, but there's something called the Open, which is like an online qualifier. You go through a bunch of hoops to be able to get to an, in-person competition like the games. And so I started it for fun on a whim, started following my coach around because he was working with us and eventually it like turned into this thing and I was able to

go to the next round. And all of a sudden I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to this competition. But I was six months into the sport, which like doesn't happen. It was a great opportunity, especially it being the first year of adaptive. All the stars kind of aligned for it. Obviously, I worked very hard, but like there's a lot of opportunity there as well. So I had such fear and anxiety going in. Like, I had to mute every account associated, like a fellow competitor, CrossFit, everyone. Because all the posts I ever saw from any athlete were like, let's go, we're so pumped. I'm like, no one's scared. No one is acknowledging that this is actually quite terrifying. We're about to like work out in front of thousands of people. Like, okay. And it was just so overwhelming

because I was like, I feel like I can't, I feel like I'm the only one that's scared. Like should I, and it was such imposter syndrome. It was unreal. But yeah, I faced that. There was, many things that like helped me through it and I definitely had many moments of feeling weak which I think in that video that went viral the emotion of that was me feeling all of the months and the days leading up to it and the workouts leading up to it which is why it was such an emotional moment between myself and even my coach because he also understood it and so it was definitely worth it but it was not an easy journey I think it's even cooler that that was the moment that went viral because it's showing everything coming to a head. All of your feelings, everything you went

through up into that moment. Yeah. It really was. It sounds so cliche, but it really felt like a movie. It was like, surreal. I didn't even really know it was happening. It didn't really click that I was even crying or I didn't know a camera was on me until like after everything. And people were like, oh my gosh, that was amazing. And it was so over my head. I was like, oh, you watched. Like, thank you. Like I had no clue. And then I was like, oh, someone caught that on film. And yeah. You were just happy to have gotten through it. Yeah, that was what you were feeling. Yeah, I was like, I didn't die.

Here we go. You had said this a little bit earlier, and they say hindsight's always 20-20. Do you feel like your life worked out how it's supposed to instead of how you intended for it to? Yes. Yes. And like that is one of the most annoying things to say to. Because if you had talked to Amy five years ago, six years ago, even people that would see me on social media from high school are probably like, what?

Like, like, I mean, night and day. I still have my personality. I'm still me in a lot of ways, but like also it's like a 180. And so a lot, a lot of moments of honestly pain and struggle of why I didn't understand, you know, why things weren't working out, why like doors are being shut. And I just kept coming up against this imaginary wall and then realizing, okay, well, like, do I want to spend the rest of my life beating my head against a door and actually not enjoying it. I don't feel like I'm growing because I'm not enjoying any part of it. I'm doing it because

I feel like I am supposed to, which really might have come more from outside sources and things that it was, it was just a lot of self-journey. I mean, you know, I feel like from when you graduate college, especially to like age 26 grow so much. A lot of life happens. A lot of life happens. You're like, wow, they did not prepare me for this. So yeah, it was, it was painful. Again, I keep using that word. But now looking back, I'm like, oh, like, that was actually for the good. I just didn't see it at the time. Do you still play music at all now? Is it just more of a passion than it is the job career pursuit? Yeah, it definitely is passion. I mean, I love music. I always will. It was actually also majored in saxophone. Wow. I need to see you play the saxophone. Oh, just such a little dork. But I love it. I love the instrument.

So I obviously, singer, songwriter with piano and saxophone. That's what I. I'm a singer-songwriter. I'm I did and that's, I mean, I played like eight hours a day in college. Amy, you could have your own jazz club. That's what I'm picturing right now. A little workout area over here, a little jazz session here. Like, let's just put it all together. I mean, people do that now and it somehow works. Yeah, right? So I think you could do that. You could just play jazz while people are working out. I'm here for it. Yeah. It could be a vibe. I'm here. There's so many people out there with challenging life circumstances and some that are probably similar to yours in some ways. If there's one piece of advice that you could give through your lens of what you've been

through, what would it be? Realize that everyone goes through it. I think, especially with social media, there's this such an isolation factor for not careful that we look at these highlight rails. And I don't even necessarily feel that there's a problem with someone sharing their highlights. If they're being untruthful about it, that's where I have an issue. But like, yeah, you can show your wins.

That's great. Like if you don't want to show the moments you're not winning, that's okay. as long as the people watching have the maturity to understand, that's not the whole story. And I think it doesn't make it easier necessarily, but there is such a sense of community. Again, like such fear going to the CrossFit games, I remember day one of orientation, me talking with my fellow competitors and just people that I met that are now friends and hearing them, I'm like, oh, everyone's scared. We're just not saying it.

It's not a common thing to say, hey, I'm scared. Hey, I'm vulnerable. That's not something we encourage often. Yes. Yeah. And even like this past year, too, I was able to talk with some other athletes that, I mean, I've looked up to. They've been in the sport for 15 years and are like really big names in CrossFit and I had the opportunity to have some real conversations with them too. And they said the same thing.

One person was like, we all wake up on day one terrified and feeling less than and that we can't do this. And it's like he's one of the biggest names in CrossFit. And just it was such a relief to be like, oh my gosh, we are all in that space. And again, not that you have to go spill your guts on social media, if that's not what you want to do, but just recognizing I'm not alone in this. And so if I feel this, they feel this, and we can just figure it out together rather than seeing it as me versus them kind of thing. That's an important lesson for sure.

There's one more thing I want to ask you being somebody that was born with a birth defect. And I'm not someone who was. If you could tell me something or people who haven't been born with one that you wish you could have told back in the day when you were going through it. and you're learning so much about yourself that you wish people like me would know, what would it be? That is a great question. No one's ever asked me that before. Well, I think there's so much beauty in learning and understanding things that we didn't grow up around or have to deal with because everybody has different challenges just because I didn't have that. Didn't mean I didn't have other things,

but I love learning about other people's because then it allows me to be more open-minded. It allows me to be more sensitive and empathetic towards things. So I think it's important that we're we learned that. Yeah. No, I genuinely love that. I think one thing, probably just an awareness, maybe to create an empathy if possible of like one thing that I'm very grateful about having my birth defect. When I go into the gym, I'm very aware of the potential emotions of everyone around me. I mean, I've always worked hard in the gym and I know that when I walk into a gym, but the chances of a stranger telling me, oh my gosh, that's awesome. Great job. Even if I'm being really lazy, they're probably still going to say it because they see a physical challenge. I've always

thought, well, if I'm going to get the compliments regardless, I want to feel like I've earned them. Like I actually want to work hard. I want to get better. And also do it for the person that's maybe next to me that's actually struggling more because of anxiety, but no one knows it. And so they're just struggling in silence. That's one thing that I'm very grateful that I think growing up with a birth defect, because it does affect you, you know, emotionally, physically, mentally, all of those good things, that it's created that automatic awareness that I wish that I could transfer to other people as well of just even I've had it for so long. I'm really comfortable with it.

It's cool. But maybe the way that people approach someone with any kind of disability. It's like, hey, they're not broken. They're not fragile. They're okay. But like also, let's frame these conversations in a way that's going to make them feel comfortable and not, oh, dear, like, look how cute you are. But like, good job.

No, like, they're killing it. They're actually able to thrive. There are moments when they're just a human being living their life. And let's have cool conversations and learn about prosthetics and their life. in their life without making them feel less than. I think that's the perfect thing to end on an important lesson for all of us to take away from this if they take away anything.

So Amy, thank you so much for joining me and just being on here with me today. Awesome. Of course. Thanks so much, Morgan. Like I mentioned in the interview, Amy is very inspiring to follow on her journey through life. You can check out all the things she's up to on her Instagram

at One Leg to Stand on. I don't know about you all, but listening to both Missy Franklin and Amy Bream this week, seriously has me inspired to chase my dreams. I think it's so cool to hear from people and what their journey to a goal destination looked like because oftentimes those journeys aren't pretty and it's a good reminder that life can get very messy, but our dreams are always possible in the midst of all the mess and the chaos. Make sure to hit up the podcast on Instagram at Take This

Personally or email me at Take This Personally podcast at Gmail. for some comments about today's episode or pieces of advice you may want from the experts or lessons you want from my life. Next week, I'm bringing on Christina Lycarry. She helps people expand their self-awareness and align their energy to create a better world for themselves. And then I'll come on and share my journey to my best self, although rocky and still not all the way there. It's one that I'm still very proud of. That's all for now. I hope to talk to y'all next week. Love you. On a recent episode of the podcast, Money and Wealth with John Hobriant, I sit down with Tiffany the budgetista Aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Anna Navarro, and on my new podcast, BLEAP with Anna Navarro. I'm talking to the people closest to the biggest issues happening in your community and around the world. Because I know deep down inside right now, we are all cursing and asking

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Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey.

With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.