The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos - The Happiness of the Long Distance Runner

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

Georgia Bell was a great runner as a child - but in college she fell out of love with the sport. She hung up her running shoes - and they gathered dust until Covid hit and she began to run again for fun. Turns out that aged 30, she's one of the fastest women in the world and is now headed to the Olympics! Georgia tells Dr Laurie Santos how she regained her enthusiasm for the 1500m race - and reflects on the happiness lessons she's picked up in her dramatic return to the very pinnacle of her sport.   Check out more Olympics related content from Pushkin Industries and iHeartPodcasts here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pushkin. these stories across our entire network, including the latest sports science from What's Your Problem, some amazing swimmer stories on Slight Change of Plans, a cautionary tale's tale about how women had to fight to run the marathon, and an epic season of revisionist history on why America participated in Hitler's Olympics. Here on the Happiness Lab, I'll talk to the coaches who coach the Team USA coaches, and I'll hear from an athlete who fell back in love with a sport that she'd grown to hate just in time to head to the Olympics. Be sure to check it out. Good morning. Good morning.

Hey, Georgia. Nice to meet you. I love interviewing elite athletes, but they're often tricky to schedule, which means a podcast host needs to grab any opportunity she can to chat with them. Thanks so much for taking the time for this.

No problem. Thanks for waking up early to do it. To talk to Georgia, I had to get up at the butt crack of dawn. It's like, it's pretty out. The sun's out already here in Boston, so it's all good. Great. You're East Coast. That makes me feel a little bit better. Yeah, yeah. If it was California, it'd be a little rough. But I was pretty excited to set my alarm for this interview because Georgia has an inspiring story to share. Until recently, Georgia was a cybersecurity expert. She ran competitively as a teen, but had a falling out with her sport and hung up her sneakers.

Then a few years ago, she decided to try out a few amateur races just for fun and learned that she was one of the fastest women on earth. Hi, my name is Georgia Bell. I am from London and was working, but have taken the summer off to be a professional athlete, I named for the Olympic Games in Paris. I really love the idea of like, I'm taking the summer off. Oh, what are you going to do? Are you going to like travel to France or something? Like, no, I'm going to run in the Olympics. It's just what I do. Fingers crossed. Yeah, fingers crossed. Was the intro okay? Because I know, yeah, British people are quite bad at doing their intros. My mom's like, you need to pick yourself up more. You're a British champion. You're a world finalist. So if you want me to do it again,

I can do it with a bit more pizzazz. You did it great. But I think that's another lesson for all of us, right? Is that like, you know, we all have to kind of toot our own horn a little bit too. And Georgia Bell has a lot to toot her horn about. After her return to elite racing at age 30,

she's begun winning both national and international medals. She's also landed a sponsorship deal with Nike. And what makes all this even more incredible is that Georgia spent the last five years

sitting in front of a computer, not out running day after day, year after year, like the runners she's now beating. But Georgia's talent didn't totally come out of nowhere. As a teen, she was pretty much the best runner in the UK. I was English schools champion when I was kind of 14. At that point, you can't really do too much training. A lot of it is down to, OK, this kid is kind of good at this. really do too much training. A lot of it is down to, okay, this kid is kind of good at this. So yeah, it was something that I kind of knew from a young age was something that I had a little bit of talent for. And yeah, it was exciting to be at that level at that age, for sure.

And so talk about those early days, because in the US right now, kids in sports sometimes feel like they're doing it out of pressure to their parents or that kind of thing. You know, was yours from pressure? Did you really like it? What was your relationship with it early on? I beat all of the boys in the races. And one of the parents just spoke to my parents and said, you should really get her down to a local running club. And from there, I just started going Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays down to my local club. So I started running from a really young age. I think the first race I ever did properly on a track, I was aged 11 and just continued to compete from there really. I really liked it. It was really fun. It was really social. You know, it was an opportunity

for me to see my friends. I was good at it, which I think helps, you know, kids always feel like they want to do things that they're good at. So that really helps. So especially in the early days, I was just really enjoying training and racing and just getting to do it as a very social activity. While also, I guess, at the same time, not that I would have had awareness of this when I was younger, but getting all those endorphins and things that are good that come with exercise. What happened when you went to uni? Did you kind of continue when you started college? Yes. So I continued to compete. And I think what happened was either I got worse or everybody else

caught up, but I just wasn't having the same results that I'd had as a very successful youngster. Still managed to get a scholarship to go to university in the US, which is, you know, it was a really big achievement and went over there to the US to Berkeley in California to compete on a track scholarship, but never ran faster than I did in the UK. And I think that's really the point where the pressure started to come in. Obviously, you're a little bit of a business deal if you're being supported financially to go over there and perform. And I think that was probably the point where it went from being something that I really loved, did for fun, but actually this kind of new element of pressure I did in had a bit of an impact on my performance and probably emotionally as well.

The training is very different. These big scholarship programs in the US, they just have a huge roster of athletes and it's kind of a general training program that you kind of fit into and you sink or swim. For me, I sunk, I guess, when I did that out in the US. And, you know, it really worked well for some people, but it didn't work so well for me. I mean, what was that like? That must have been so stressful to kind of feel that pressure. You're far away from home. Like, how did you handle it? Well, I was really loving the whole experience of going to a university in the US. And I still to this day think it is an incredible thing to experience from a running perspective. I just wasn't as good as I was in the UK. I was perpetually injured in and out of boots because

I had stress fractures. And so that just translated to not running as well on the track and not running as fast. And, you know, that was obviously difficult to deal with. You know, there's an expectation on you. You expect a certain amount from yourself, but also your team, the scholarship team, you know, everyone like that. There's an expectation on you. So, yeah, it was definitely a difficult time. And you just have to keep showing up kind of week in, week out, even if you're not fit

because it's your responsibility, you know. Yeah, it was a tough time in lots of ways. I imagine that also been kind of a hit to your identity as well. I mean, I work with college students really closely at Yale, and I think it's hard for them to think of themselves as like, I'm a person who runs, I'm a person who rows crew, like I'm a runner, I'm a crew member, right? Did you have to kind of update your identity to deal with these changes? Yeah, it was difficult because I was used to being from such a young age, I was used to being kind of the girl that's good at running. And then you kind of go through a period where you're not so good at running, but everyone sees you that way.

So yeah, it was definitely a bit of a strange piece for my identity. Also, when I just stopped running altogether, once I graduated college, that was a strange time as well. Because again, I'd gone my whole life being the runner, and then all of a sudden, I was a strange time as well, because again, I'd gone my whole life being the runner and then all of a sudden I wasn't running. So yeah, there were definitely periods of time where this sport that was so combined with my identity, yeah, has some strange experiences coming to terms with who I was without that. So how did you make that decision to stop altogether? That must have been kind of extreme. Yeah, it was in a way. I guess I had finished my collegiate career and I had graduated from Berkeley and I just wasn't running so well.

I'd been doing it for kind of the best part of 20 years. So I just thought I really wasn't enjoying it anymore is the bottom line. Not only when my performance is not good enough to sign professionally, but I also was just really looking forward to finishing running. It had gone from being something that I really loved and looked forward to racing and training to, I just cannot wait to be done with this. I just took a complete break after college, went into the working world, lived in San Francisco. And it was actually a really good period for me because it was a chance to kind of do all the things that you say no to so much, you know, even things like going for dinner, going away with friends, just things you cannot do when you are an athlete. It's a full lifestyle choice. I'm just curious though,

because I think, you know, so many people go through the kind of thing that you went through, maybe not with running, but with something else, you know, this job that you totally love. Now you hate it. Or maybe this volunteer activity that you're into is now putting all this pressure on you I'm kind of curious just like how you navigated that transition and the sort of emotions that came up from that yeah it was hard I mean on the one hand I think people can just continue doing things because it's been habit for so long and it's tough because I do think there is real value in just showing up to things that you don't want to do that's what builds discipline and then if you do enough of those days over a period of time, that's what makes the difference. So in running, you keep showing up. That's when you become fit. You show up on

the days you want to show up on the days you don't want to show up. And then after a couple of years, you become a really good athlete. And I think that can translate into other jobs. You keep showing up for your job, you get better at it, and then suddenly you like it. But I think, yeah, it had just been such a long period. And I just had thought about it for a while. And yeah, I just kind of sat down with myself, talked to my friends and family and just decided that for me, at that point in my life, it was really time for a break. So it's not an easy decision. I'm sure other people going through that, it will be a tough decision. But I think ultimately, if you're not enjoying it and haven't been enjoying it for a while, then you need to make some changes to

make sure that you can be happy. And so how long was the break? And how did you come back from it? I think I didn't go for a run for probably like a year, like a full break. I gained a little bit of weight, but just kind of completely stopped for a while. And then I really got back into it over COVID. So obviously, during that period of time, I was back living in London at this point, and there was just nothing else to do. You know, everything was shut down. And pretty much the only time you were allowed to leave the house was when you were exercising. I obviously took the opportunity, wanted to get out of the house. And then I just found that I was really enjoying that release of just going for a run. And then

suddenly I started adding things into my run instead of just going for a small jog and realized that I was liking that competitive element to it again. What was it like when you first put the running shoes back on? Like, were they the same ones that you had at Berkeley? Like, you know, just kind of curious what that moment felt like. Yeah, exactly. Like it was shoes that have literally been gathering dust that hadn't been touched for so long. And yeah, originally, I'd like the why of getting out of the house was I just need to get out of this house, you know, like we've just been cooped up here all

day. And then suddenly it was a part of the day that I was just so looking forward to. Yeah, I guess it just felt really natural again, just running felt like myself again. That's still how I feel about running today. You know, when I have training or a workout is still the best part of the day, the part that I look forward to the most. And I think everything had just been so intensified in COVID that yeah, it was probably even more heightened when I put the running shoes on and got out of the house because it was just such strange times that we were living in. But it was definitely just like a realization that this is something that I feel like I'm meant to do, I really love. And yeah, it was a bit emotional just coming back to that point and then after lockdown subsided a little bit I'd gained some fitness over that period and entered what we have here in the UK

which is quite big called park run every park on a Saturday just hosts these 5k runs and it's just a really measurable way of seeing your fitness so I I hopped into one of those, ran a pretty fast 5K. I think I did a 16-minute 5K. And then after that, that made me think, OK, I'm actually in pretty good shape. Maybe it's time to get back on the track after five years off. And that kind of started the whole comeback. Let's put Georgia's park run performance into perspective, shall we? Running 5,000 meters in 16 minutes puts Georgia about 90 seconds behind the whole comeback. Let's put Georgia's park run performance into perspective, shall we? Running 5,000 meters in 16 minutes

puts Georgia about 90 seconds behind the British record and just two minutes behind the fastest woman on the planet. For an amateur race in her local park, Georgia's time was pretty amazing. But how did she take the next step to make the steep climb back to the pinnacle of her sport? We'll hear how when the Happiness Lab returns in a moment.

After years as a gifted runner in school, Georgia Bell fell out of love with the sport. She just couldn't see a life for herself as a professional athlete. But the COVID lockdown got her back in her running shoes, and she began clocking some pretty impressive times. But there's a big difference between a park run and the Olympics. Running may seem like an individual pursuit, but it's really a team sport. As a teen, Georgia trained with renowned coach Trevor Painter. If she was going to become a serious contender again,

she'd need his help. I was just going for runs and training on my own, which, you know, is not so fun. But I decided at that point, okay, I've run a decent time, I'm actually going to get in touch with my old coach, who I was working with before I went over to the US on a scholarship. And so I got back in contact with him and said, look, no, we haven't spoken for years, but I've kind of run these times on my own. Do you think it would be worth us working together again and see what we can achieve? And I know that Trevor had always said, you know, I was the one

that got away. He really didn't want me to go to the US. He really thought stay in the UK. I can train you to be an incredible athlete. He has got incredible athletes. You know, Keely Hodgkinson is one of his who is hopefully going for gold this summer. She got an Olympic silver medal when she was just 19. So there's a lot of pedigree in the group and his training. And yeah, we've been working together now for two years and it's just going so well. It's great to be part of the community and getting that guidance. Yeah, I just feel very lucky that I was able to kind of go back to him after all those years away. And he said, yeah, let's give it a go and see what we can do. He must be thrilled to get you back. Like it must be like such a cool thing for him to have the one that got away coming back. Yeah, definitely. I think it's been great

for the whole group because there's, you know, so many athletes that are doing well at different times in their life. You know, I'm definitely one of the more mature athletes in the group. A lot of people just think of like 16 year old phenom runners that go straight into professional contracts and then the Olympics, whereas I'm an example of doing it another way around, but still hopefully getting to that point. Yeah, he's just been a fantastic coach, emotional support and guidance. And yeah, I have full trust in him. And I think that's one of the things that has led to a lot of the success as well. And it seems like now you have a slightly different relationship to running than you did when you left Berkeley. What does it feel like now when you engage in it? Even though I am on a professional contract now, like I am a Nike athlete since earlier this year.

So in a way you would think, okay, there's kind of pressure there as well, but it doesn't feel like that. Like I'm much more mature. I think. I'm making a lot more decisions over my body and racing and training that I just felt like it didn't really have before. And that means that I just feel a lot more in control and enjoying it. So I'm just so grateful for having a second shot with running

that I think it's just translating really nicely into races. Like I'm just happy to be here, seizing every opportunity. So yeah, I'm just loving it at the moment. It seems like you're less injury prone as well. I mean, it seems like there's a kind of different model of training where it's not like push, push, push, but trying to maybe taking in more rest and sort of taking more breaks. Is that right too? Yeah. So I probably do about half the amount of running that I was doing in the US. In the US, I was on 55, 60 miles a week. Here, I'm running about 30, but I'll do a lot more on the bike to

make sure I'm getting that work without any impact. And yeah, take a recovery day at least once a week, and then just some hard track sessions to make sure that we're fit and healthy to compete. Which I think is its own message. I think when we're trying to push ourselves to something, whether it's as an athlete or at work or just, you know, with some sort of new personal habit that we're trying to develop, we can sometimes want to push, push, push and like do it in this extreme way. But sometimes engaging in a little bit of self-compassion and taking that rest can actually mean the difference between being able to do it long term and like just some short blip of whatever we're trying to do. Exactly. And I think for me, knowing what it feels like to be constantly injured and trying

to come back to fitness, I never want to be in that situation again. So I'm much better at kind of listening to my body. I'm very quick to kind of share information with my coach if I'm feeling any kind of concerns. Whereas in the past, perhaps I wouldn't do that. I would just keep it to myself and it would translate into a bigger problem. And so, yeah, I'm just much more mature in terms of looking after myself and making sure that I am maybe doing less miles, but that means that I can consistently build year and year and year rather than taking breaks out because I'm injured. And that's resulting in some good performances on the track. I mean, it seems like you're embodying a couple of the happiness principles that we talk about

on the podcast. I mean, one of them is just this idea of kind of mindfulness or being present. And as I hear you talk about running now, it seems different than the way you talked about it at Berkeley, where it's like, oh, it was this pressure thing and I'm worried about the scholarship. It seems like you're able to just be present now. Is that really kind of what's going on in your runs these days? Yeah, definitely. I mean, being present, there's nothing that you could get as close to that as with race day. Because, you know, you haven't got any distractions around you. And on your phone, there's no screens.

And you just are so in the moment for that period of time. So my race is about four minutes long. And I just love the feeling that you have where you're just so present. You're running off instinct. You're reacting to the crowd, things around you. And yeah, it's just for me, it's the closest thing to just feeling alive when you have that race day moment. And yeah, you're just so there. You're so present. And it's just something really special, I think. I love that. Another one of the kind of happiness principles you've embodied kind of comes with

when you got your Nike scholarship, which is that my understanding is that you were kind of doing these park runs and getting faster and faster, but you were also like working full-time, right? Is that right? Yeah, I was. So I've only, I've gone on a sabbatical

over the summer period. When I started running again competitively, I was working full-time and I have been until quite recently. So in a way, it was good because it took off all the pressure financially. You know, I wasn't relying on running for that in a way that perhaps in the past I might have been or how other athletes might be. But definitely from a timing standpoint, I did not have a lot of time. I was pretty much just waking up early to train before work and then training

after work. So there were really long days and it was really tough. And so yeah, since the beginning of May, I've been on just full running mode and it is amazing. I'm just very happy to have time back in my life to recover, train and not be rushing around. But yeah, it was a big juggling act for the beginning of this year I was at world championships in March taking zoom calls between my heat and my final not an ideal scenario for performing well but luckily luckily it went well but yeah no I'm very happy to be having some time back in my life right now and that's so nicely fits with everything we know from the science you know researchers talk a lot about this phenomenon of time famine,

where you're kind of feeling like you're starving for time. And that's like a huge hit on your happiness and a huge hit on your performance. And so it's so nice to see that you embraced the kind of time affluence, which is the opposite, where you kind of really had some free time. My life when I had that kind of time famine was just, I was always just rushing, like rushing to get to the track to train, rushing to get back to be on my next Zoom, rushing in the five minutes I had between calls to make a protein shake so I could not be starving while I sit there between my next kind of block of calls.

And that kind of took me away from being in the moment, as you say, for lots of those things, because I'm always thinking about the next thing that I have to do and stay on top of. you say for lots of those things, because I'm always thinking about the next thing that I have to do and stay on top of. And so kind of removing that whole time pressure has just meant that I can enjoy those aspects of the day, my training and recovery and all those things that you need to do to be a top athlete. I bet not everybody at your cybersecurity firm is like taking off time to like go to Olympics this summer. So like, how reacted? Are people shocked that you're kind of at this level now? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think once I started running well, which has only been since the beginning of this year, really, where I've been in that elite territory.

So it's gone from being, oh, Georgia kind of does some running on the weekend. She used to be a good runner when she's younger to like, okay, Georgia a british champion she's a nike athlete now she's trying to go to the olympics this summer so it's been a big switch up work have been really supportive but yeah as you say they were very surprised um i kind of told them turn on bbc i'm going to be racing in world championships now i'm taking a couple of days of annual leave to do it and then i think they kind of realized, you know, how good an opportunity this is, especially ahead of the Olympics in Paris. So yeah, people have been incredibly surprised, especially because it's just kind of started as doing some park runs and has now escalated into this World Athlete situation. But everyone is really happy, I think, and excited by the story. Like I've got lots of messages from people, both people I know and also just kind of strangers

who are following the story on social media, just being like, I just heard your story. It just inspired me to get back into my local kind of football club or boxing, or you just inspired me to go for a run. Just hearing the story, I think people can kind of relate to it because when you get into the working world and you start adulting, you kind of just give up on your passions or things you used to do quite easily.

But actually, this is kind of a situation where you continue to do that and actually, if you keep showing up, you can get to these kind of exciting opportunities. That's what I love about Georgia. As she explained, so many of us fall into adulting. We give up on the hopes and dreams we had growing up. Georgia was able to rediscover her childlike joy for running,

and that's taken her right to the Olympics. But Georgia knows that real life is not a movie. To compete at this level, Georgia realizes she'll have to face the same doubts and fears that have ruined many an athlete's career. So how's she handling all that? Well, she'll share what she's learned when the Happiness Lab returns from the break. 1500-meter champion Georgia Bell loved running as a kid, but competing under pressure as a young adult became less enjoyable. Over time, she came to dread her meets. But at age 30, Georgia has returned to her sport with glee.

She says that changing the way she thinks about the stressful parts of competition has made all the difference. The way how I used to see races is I would get really nervous for races. I would feel like this big expectation, and I'd always be thinking about the things that could kind of go wrong and just let doubt creep into your head, which inevitably, if you have that in a race,

it's going to impact your performance. Whereas now I just genuinely go into races so excited. I always think I could be in an office right now doing a Zoom call, but I'm sad I'm in Oregon at Nike HQ going into this massive race with huge athletes like how cool is that instead of thinking oh my gosh this is completely overwhelming feel really out of my depth and so yeah I genuinely as I say just love that feeling of being in the moment racing look forward to it so much as soon as I finished my

last race last week I was on to my coaches like when when's my next one? I think I've got a two week break now. Like, can we get another one in before? I know with an athlete's life, it's not something you can do forever. And I think in a way, just having that kind of time limit on it just makes me appreciate it so much more in a way that I just wasn't mature enough to do when I was in my young 20s. Because, you know, you think the world is your oyster then and in many ways it is, but it's almost like getting a little bit older and just seeing actually, you know, this is really special. This is really unique. Go for it in every race that you've got. And yeah, luckily for me, that's translating really nicely into how the results are turning out in races because I just take advantage of every opportunity and go for it. And I think that gratitude is so important. And I think it does come from maybe not age so much

or wisdom so much, but really this ability to like recognize like this isn't permanent, right? You know, the ancients talked about this phenomenon of negative visualization, right? Where it's like, what if I'm injured and I can't run anymore? What if I'm, you know, way too old to run at the same pace or to participate in races? And it seems like you kind of have that negative visualization almost on the stand. You're not thinking like, oh, I'm so nervous. You're thinking, you know, how many more of these do I have? Like, you know, I'm so grateful. It's so cool to see you do that. Yeah, exactly. And I just, I always smile on the start line and in the call room before we go on to the race, which people probably look at me and think I'm crazy. But I think it's just a good habit. It's kind of like tricks your body into reminding yourself

that like you are going to have fun. It's going to hurt. But like this is a really cool opportunity. So when the camera comes around, you'll see that, you know, some people are super serious and in the zone, but I will always be there smiling and waving. So I'm just thinking, how cool is this? That's awesome. It's so funny. I've started working out with my old trainer again, not nearly at the level that you're working out, but he always in the middle of like, you know, squats or something will be like, and remember to smile. And I'm like, I don't want to smile like my legs hurt. I hate this. But now Olympic athletes are telling me I should do this. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep on. I think it does help.

It kind of tricks you, your mind and your body just a little bit and especially people say if you're doing a long race like a marathon or things like that you know if you see friends and family throughout the race like it's good to smile and just like take a moment and people do say there is a real connect between the mind and the body when you do that like if you're feeling really tired it does give you a kind of boost that you might not have had before. And so I'm curious about how you're kind of dealing with the competitive parts now, right? I'm sort of curious how you're thinking about your comeback and sort of what it means. Yeah, you know, there is obviously a lot of pressure. Team USA and Team GB are probably the hardest teams in the world to make. There are just so many good athletes.

And you have to run the Olympic qualifying time, which is basically the Olympics saying you're fast enough to come. So I've done that. So I know I'm good enough, which is awesome. But I think I just look at it as if you told me this time last year that I would go to the Olympics, there's no way I would have believed you. So I just feel like even to be at this point, I just feel like this is something so special. And I'm just really grateful for the opportunity, which is how I deal with the pressure. I think I'll know I've kind of given it everything, especially with taking the break off work this summer. I'd really given it everything to make it to such a special opportunity.

When you talk about enjoying your races so much, it seems like you're kind of prioritizing fun in a different way. And I think, yeah, they noticed for me that when I am having fun and in a good mood, that's when I'll run my best. And so my coach will always say to me before a race, like go out there and have some fun. And I think that does work for me, for me, because I've had that kind of break from corporate life. And even if you like your job, it is a bit mundane, you know, the commute, the day-to-day Zoom calls. And so for me, I'm like, this is so awesome. I'm going to have some fun out there. And yeah, that's what I see fun as being now. You know, it's not going out with friends. It's not things like going on holiday. For me, it is racing. And that's what I look forward to the most.

So that's what I see as being the most fun. That's so interesting, because I feel like so many people with the same situation, if they could let that competitiveness come in or a certain kind of fear, like, you know, how do you fight off those kinds of things? Don't get me wrong, like I have that competitiveness, like I do want to win, but I just think it's, it should be hard, and it will be. And I think racing is fun when you don't know what's going to happen. So the thing about the distance that I do, you know, 1500 meters, just under a mile is it's,

it does have tactics in it. So it's kind of like a game of chess. So ahead of that race, I'm going to be studying, you know, what other people have done in other races and when I can make a move and based off my strength. And I think it's fun and adds pressure to it you know when there's a championship on the line a European medal that if you take a risk and it pays off like it's the best feeling but you have to put yourself in those kind of dangerous or tricky situations in the race to get the reward if you just play it safe you're not going to win and so that's what I find exciting about it and And yeah, people watching the race will also be like, this is awesome. And when people, when you watch races and people take risks like that and it pays off, like it's just the best feeling for the athlete, but also amazing

just for the sport and the atmosphere as well. It seems like even with taking these risks, you're kind of just like shoving the fear away. Cause I imagine if you're kind of doing something novel that that could be kind of scary and things like, what's your relationship to fear? Is that something you've also kind of pushed to the side? I'm pushing it to the side a lot at the moment. And you know, don't get me wrong, like I'll see people compete and be like, oh, that's, you know, they're gonna be really tricky to come up against or just understanding that the race is gonna hurt, like you're gonna put yourself in pain. I will train for it. I will do the work. And it's almost like that's the tough part, the training day in, day out, the missing time with family, friends, weddings, all that stuff that you have to do. And then the racing is the time

where you get to have fun, you get to actually showcase and you need those pressure environments to get the good results. And it's exciting to see what can come out of that. There'll always be, you know, fear and doubts naturally, but as long as you can kind of overcome them, and I just think I fill my head with more positive thoughts and exciting thoughts. And just over time, I've got really good at pushing away the fear. And especially in the race, I go into races just with positivity. And I hope I can continue to do that. It might be a bit of naivety as well because I'm kind of new back into the sport. But I hope that I keep that naivety because it just means you go for it in races, whereas you could get overwhelmed with some of

the big names and things like that. But I don't and I just like how that translates into racing. It's so lovely how you've been able to kind of re-embrace the beginner's mindset. It's just a reminder to all of us that even if we're used to something, we can kind of get back to the mindset we had when we first started something. Yeah, exactly. It's like when you learn to ski or something, when you're a child, you'll do it better. But when you're an adult, you can think of all the things that could go wrong and you could be a bit more scared. But actually, you know, embracing that kind of young mindset and going for it, like you'll learn more quickly, you'll enjoy it more. And yeah, I've been taking that into races. There's such an interesting moral to your story, right? Which is like, you

know, you were this runner at Berkeley feeling like you're, you know, kind of losing your time and that was it. And now you've really had such an amazing turnaround. Maybe you even want that runner back at Berkeley couldn't have imagined. If you were able to kind of tell her something or kind of go back and give advice in some time machine, what would that be for her? I think I would have just said to her, you know, make sure that you're happy first.

This doesn't mean this is an all or nothing situation. There are opportunities in the future for you to come back and get into running when you're ready, when it feels right. I wish I had known more stories of people who have these comebacks. And hopefully, you know, if someone's hearing this, who's going through a tough time or who used to have a real passion for something and was good at it and it's kind of just died out, like I wish I had known that there are opportunities to come back. And yeah, there are just a lot of amazing stories in the moment with me on the one

hand, who kind of went into the working world, just got back into doing something for passion and fun, kept showing up and is now in this position to go to the Olympics this summer. But there are other stories like Ellie St. Purier, who is an American runner, who is now running faster than she ever did after having her baby last year. You know, if you told her before that she's going to be running even better after she has a baby, like she probably wouldn't have thought that's the case. Now that I'm aware of kind of my situation and my story, you keep hearing others that are similar about having this kind of break and then coming back stronger. So that's what I would just say to my younger self and to anyone else, you know, not everyone's path is linear. There are all these

different scenarios of how you can get to the same spot. And I think the key is just getting back into something and doing it for happiness. And then if you keep showing up, then the results will come naturally. I, for one, can't wait to see Georgia's smile beaming on the Olympic start line. It's so inspiring to see the joy she brings to running. But Georgia also has a lot of happiness tips for non-athletes. She's taught me about the importance of giving myself grace and time, and having the confidence to take risks, and doing stuff merely for the enjoyment that comes from living in the moment. I wish Georgia and Team G be well, but my heart this Olympics will still be with my countrymen and women from Team USA. Partly because I know some of them are benefiting from the lessons they've heard on this very show.

This is such a special occasion for me. I've been a big fan and it resonated so much with me that we were sharing episodes of the Happiness Lab with the coaches we were working with. So join me to hear how happiness science helps the coaches who coach the Team USA coaches. All that next time on the Happiness Lab with me, Dr. Laurie Santos.