The Squeeze - Maddie Mastro: The Mental Game

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

In this week’s episode, Tay sits down with American professional snowboarder Maddie Mastro! Maddie shares how she first fell in love with snowboarding, the moment she realized it could become a career, and what her training schedule looked like in those early years with the full support of her parents. She explains what it means to snowboard halfpipe and opens up about the mantra that’s guided her — “It’s not that serious, it’s just snowboarding” — and how that mindset began. Maddie talks about the internal dialogue that helps her mentally commit to big tricks, along with the role therapy and sports psychology have played in her growth. She reflects on how her definition of success has shifted over time, what led her to shave her head, and how that decision changed the way she sees herself. Maddie also gets candid about leaving a toxic coaching relationship, the moment she realized something was deeply wrong, and how naming that emotional abuse completely transformed her relationship with snowboarding. She shares what her support system looks like today, how she keeps her love for the sport alive without burning out, what rest truly means to her, and the mental health tools she leans on most. Be sure to follow Maddie https://www.instagram.com/maddie_mastro/!To email us your questions or share your story, you can reach out to [e-mail] sure to rate, review, and follow the podcast so you don't miss an episode! Plus, follow us on all of our socials:The SqueezeInstagram: https://instagram.com/thesqueeze/TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@thesqueezepodcastTay LautnerInstagram: https://instagram.com/taylautner/TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@mrstaylautnerAmazon Storefront https://urlgeni.us/amazon/FDXj7 Taylor LautnerInstagram: https://instagram.com/taylorlautner/TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@taylorlautnerTo learn more from The Lemons Foundation, follow https://instagram.com/lemonsbytay/ and visit https://lemonsbytay.comEpisode Sponsors:As an exclusive offer, new listeners can get their choice between organic ground beef, chicken breast or ground turkey in every box for a year, PLUS $20 off when you go to ButcherBox.com/SQUEEZETreat your Palentine with Ollie! Go to ollie.com/squeeze and use code squeeze to get 60% off your first box!Get your health in check and save 20% on your first order at https://justthrivehealth.com/SQUEEZE with code SQUEEZEGet your own taste of New Zealand sunshine today by visiting wedderspoon.com and use code SQUEEZE20 at checkout for 20% off your order.Find your favorite flavor at PremierProtein.com, or at Amazon, Walmart, and other major retailersMB014GJJJKQV82RSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Like, it's not that deep. It's just snowboarding. If this is what you want to do, we got you. I don't think it, like, really clicked in my head of doing it for a career until I was on a podium. I do snowboard half-fiped. You have a bowl and you cut it in half. One side to the other side, like, airing out and doing tricks. Higher, higher, higher, until I got to 22 feet.

And I was like, oh, my God, that actually is really tall. I was getting in this place where there was a lot of mental stuff going into it. It was kind of like a final blowout where there was like a pretty big incident that like this is not okay. This is affecting my snowboarding now. My coach should never be the reason my days are getting ruined. Like you're scared of that? No, you're not. Just like, go do it.

It's fine. I didn't even like realize that was like happening. You don't have to suffer to achieve your goals. Hello, Lemon Jops. Welcome back to another episode. I'm so excited. You guys know how much I'd love to interview athletes. And specifically, Olympians, they are just a different breed of human.

The type of discipline and heart that these professional athletes have to have is so special. And it's something that I love just hearing about and learning. And on today's episode, we have Maddie Mastro on. She is an Olympic snowboarder, ex-games medalist, and one of the most influential women in half-pipe snowboarding today. Maddie made her Olympic debut at just 17 years old and quickly became known for her fearless style and technical progression, including becoming the first woman to land a double crippler in competition. She's been open about navigating major issues, intense pressures, and the mental side of committing big tricks. In this conversation, Maddie shares how her mindset around success has changed, the mantra that's guided her through,

at all, her experience with therapy and sports psychology, and how leaving a toxic coaching relationship completely transformed her relationship with snowboarding and with herself. This conversation is so great and just in time for the Winter Olympics, where you can see Maddie competing this week. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. Maddie, welcome to the squeeze. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. I'm so excited. I love having athletes on the podcast because I just love hearing your guys's mentality. And I always feel like every time we have one on, there's just so much wisdom and we're oh gosh oh gosh i don't know if i've got wisdom no you do you do um so we start each episode off

with this jar it's a little game called citrus got real if you want to pull one of those little like pieces of paper out of there and read it with the little one over here okay what is your guilty pleasure tv show ooh mm guilty pleasure uh the summer i turned pretty I feel like was my guilty pleasure TV show this last It wasn't even summer, I feel like But I guess it was over the summer Yeah, we're rent to be friends I'm so obsessed with that show

So obsessed. And now I'm just like patiently I don't know if I'm like happy or sad That we're getting like a movie It could be either really good Or just like not the same as the show You know? Go either way there Yeah

Like I feel like it might Leave me wanting more Like I feel content where the show left off Same. The first couple episodes took me a minute and then I've like rewatched it many times now. Yeah, I've been thinking I'm doing a rewatch recently. I'm like, I feel like I need to rewatch and get some Conrad in my life. Yeah.

Well, I restarted season one not that long ago. After season three, I like went back and watched. And I forgot like how, like where the characters all started. Like obviously I know, but little like sayings or. Yeah, all of it. the little details. Yeah. Yeah.

And I feel like it helped me because so much time went by before season three from season two. Like I feel like it made me like realized why like certain characters. Piece it all together. Yeah. Yeah. Connect with it. Yeah. So good.

Well, let's dive in. We were just talking. You're from Southern California. How did snowboarding start? Well, I grew up actually in a small town outside of L.A. called Wrightwood. Okay. There's a small mountain called Mountain High.

That's about five minutes down the road from there. Okay. And I just, that was like our backyard. So it was just what you kind of did on the weekends in the winter. Yeah. Or like in the free time that we had. It was just a part of our family in a way of being outside, of being outdoors. And it just so happened that happened to be on a mountain.

Yeah. In my backyard. So I got pretty lucky with that. It's so funny because I feel like when you're from California, like it's, you either are completely like engulfed in like mountain snowboarding snow activities or not at all. Like I never ever did any form of snow activity. Like I just never, I mean, being from here, it's not like, it's not a far drive, but it's not a close drive. Yeah.

No, there's definitely like a cult falling in the sense of like everyone's got like driving around in Southern California with like mammoth bumper stickers. And like you just know there's like this group of people that are so for snowboarding and skiing. Yeah. And then the other half that are like grew up here and never ever like went skiing or snowboarding. in their life. It's one or the other for sure. So it was just like fun for you growing up. When did it like shift that you were actually like work and sport? I don't think it like really clicked in my head until I was like on a podium

like a professional contest of like doing it for like a career. Yeah. So that was probably not until I was like, which sounds funny, but like 16 or 15, 15 or 16. 15 or 16. Yeah, that's when it like kind of clicked that like this could be my career or more so like this is my career that I'm living in right now. It definitely took some time because I felt like I got kind of lucky with how I like grew up of like I had a very normal life of like I went to high school. I like continued playing soccer and doing other things. So it wasn't until I was like fully thrown in or like in it that I it clicked that this was like my, this could be my career if I wanted it to be. Yeah. So what does life look like after you're like, okay, maybe I do like really start to pursue this, take it more seriously. Do like what are

next steps in that? Yeah. That's a good question. I was a lot of like, I think like sacrifice is a word, but like of no longer playing other sports, not going to public or like in person high school anymore like going homeschooled um and then like traveling most of the year doing school or like around the clock um to try to get as much done as you can so you can snowboard whenever you want and kind of going like full 100% all into that when you're 15 16 17 like it looks a lot like that and then when you're older it's pretty similar of like you're traveling a lot you're you're gone most of the year you don't have much time at home with family or friends but it's definitely worth it I say these things are like sacrifices but like it's kind of weird to label them as sacrifices because what I get

in return is like so awesome yeah no for sure were your parents like game for you to pursue it or what was their like take on it they were they definitely were full supportive of like if this is what you want to do. We got you, but at the end of the day, we, like, really don't care what you do as long as you're happy with your decision of that. So they were really supportive in that sense, but they weren't like, they didn't have any hesitations or anything like that, which was super nice. Yeah. That's awesome. Can you explain to our listeners a little bit about what you do and specifically the half pipe, like what it is? Because I thought I don't really know. That's okay. So I do snowboard half-pipe.

That's what I compete in. We call it like a discipline. And snowboard half-pipe is literally if you take a bowl, I guess, you have a bowl and you cut it in half, that's what a half-pipe looks like, just like a U-shaped large mounds of snow. It's 22 feet tall. So it's really tall. And we go from one side to the other side, like airing out and doing tricks. And then we get in a competition, we get like scored and graded on those runs against everyone.

Yeah. And so I do that competitively year round. I feel that's probably like, I don't know if that was a confusing answer or if that made any sense. No, I did. Okay, okay. No, I did. I mean, obviously, like, I've seen your videos and I've seen you compete. But it's just, it's just so crazy that that, that tall.

Like, it's crazy. Yeah. They did like, I recently did like some type of media and they like brought out a huge like long stick and they're like having me raise it up and they're like higher, higher, higher until I got to 22 feet. And I was like, oh my God, that actually is really tall. Like you don't really quite grasp it from like TV at all of like it's actually really tall. Yeah. How did you decide that that was what you wanted to like specialize in? I have no. I mean, I don't really know. I. I don't really know. I. I. I grew up and like so half pipes you have to have a lot of snow to build. Okay. So like in Southern California it can be quite hard to build those because we don't have like large quantities of snow a lot. So I didn't like grow up at my small little mountain.

Yeah. Riding half pipe. They had a half pipe at Mammoth, which was like a six hour drive away. Okay. And I grew up going to that on like the weekends and like for holidays. So I feel like it was kind of like one of those things of like you want what you can't have. Yeah. And like it was this like special thing that I wanted to do because I didn't have it.

But it doesn't really make, I don't really know why I chose it. But I love I love writing half pipe and I love that I did choose it. And I'm very happy that I did. But I don't know like when I was 15, 14, 13, what really was like the deciding factor. It was just like, you want what you can't have kind of vibe. Yeah. That's interesting. Lately my life has felt like a constant juggling act between work, social plans, travel, trying to move my body, and still show up for myself.

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Try Just Thrive probiotic for 90 days risk-free. Visit Justthrivehealth.com and save 20% with promo code squeeze. see the difference yourself or get a full product refund no questions asked take the 90 day just thrive probiotic challenge today at just thrive health.com slash squeeze be the best you with just thrive um on the note of it being so tall um you've talked about how you say to yourself it's not that serious it's just snowboarding where where did that come from um it started i don't know when it started maybe a year or so ago, two years ago. I think it started because I was getting in this place

where there was a lot of mental stuff going into it and it was becoming this like really serious thing when snowboarding for me is like genuinely not that serious and sometimes like life is not that serious. Like it's not that deep. I feel like it kind of stemmed from that thing of like it's not that deep. Like I'm literally strapping a piece of wood to my feet and riding it down a mountain right now.

Like it's not that serious. It's not that deep. I'm going to be happy afterwards. I have like a good life otherwise. So like it's not that serious. And it just kind of helped calm me down in the moment when it feels like there's these like huge, huge things in front of me that are like life or death when they're really. They're really not. Yeah.

It's just snowboarding. Yeah. What does training look like for you? Training is... You're like, where do I start? Yeah, I'm like, what kind of training? Because where do you spend most of your time? Because you probably have to be in snow to train.

So it's a lot of traveling. Okay. We travel a lot to find the snow. And then... So that's a good question. I'm like, where do I start? So we travel from like location to location finding snow, finding a good half pipe to train and compete in.

But our days when we're actually training are very much consistent with each other of like we go up to the mountain eight or nine o'clock and we ride and we take laps through the half pipe until, I don't know anywhere from one to three o'clock in the afternoon, come home, go to the gym, PT, dinner, bed. And so like that looks the same everywhere. we go, but we travel pretty consistently throughout the year to do that. Yeah. This is like such a random question, but I'm like literally thinking like logistically, like you can't just practice, like, you have to physically, correct me if I'm wrong, you have to physically be doing the half pipe

to like practice a trick that you're doing. Yeah. So it's a lot of like repetition. Yeah. of like all the things that like you see us doing in a contest we've done it a lot yeah in training somewhere yeah is it scary like trying any trick for sure yeah i'm not i don't think none of us are immune to like being scared i don't think i mean maybe there's there's probably some like action sports athletes that are immune to fear yeah but i am not one of those people it's definitely scary yeah how how How do you get yourself to fully commit to doing your tricks? Because I'm sure if you even hesitate just like there's like such like a small margin. Yeah, it's a lot of self-talk like of like mentally self-talking and like making sure that like internal narrative is like the right one for the situation of like trying these really scary tricks.

So a lot of self-talk happens. and then like I feel like there's always that like one that haunts you where you like didn't really commit and it like didn't go well because you didn't commit so like I'm like I don't want to do that again so I'm going to commit for now on and do it right but a lot of like internal dialogue for me is what helps me yeah get that going it's so cool I'm just I literally could never I would be wait like so scared that's fair I also don't like height like you know enjoy heights. Yeah, it doesn't really, they don't really go together. Yeah.

Like, you have to kind of not be scared of heights. Oh, it's so, it's so cool. But you've talked about how people often see the medals and the cool tricks, but not really the pressures that come from competing in it. What are those pressures and how have you, like, learned to manage those over the years? There's, like, just like on a human level of, like, your own pressures that I feel like, every human experiences of like wanting to be successful, wanting to like achieve their goals. Yeah. And like those like very somewhat basic pressures of like I feel like everyone can relate to those

ones. I feel like everyone can relate to all of these pressures. Maybe, hopefully, we'll see. Yeah. To the like exterior pressures of like my like maybe there's like I feel like a fan base that I have that I like want to like. I don't want to disappoint them. Or like I have sponsors that are like investing in me and my performance.

And if I don't perform, like, I feel like I'm letting them down. So there's all those external pressures that like are there. Managing them is hard. I don't know if I've like, it's something I like consistently work on. Yeah. I don't know if I've cracked the cuff. code. I go to do I have sports psych and therapy to help me crack that code, but they're like ever evolving and changing. So we're still working on it. Yeah. I love that. When did therapy

start for you? I started therapy about two years ago. Okay. Give or take. I've talked to a sports psych for about a year leading up to that. consistently and then, well, now I do sports psych and therapy together. What do they, what's the differences for those? The difference is a sports psych is a little more like in tuned with like the sport. Yeah. And the like tricks and like the actual like fear of like the trick of like or what's going on like the mental roadblocks like in my like day to day on hill training um

and then the my therapist we tend to focus more on like my mental health yeah where like sports like also mental health is very much involved in there but then therapy is just like an extra help of having another layer of like mental health health support yeah that's that's that's really cool to have someone that because we talk about how different like facets of mental health it's good to have someone that specializes in whatever it is but I think that's so cool like for the sports psych of it all having someone that can actually relate and like understand what you're thinking helps so much because I it definitely it's nice to have someone that like gets it in the sense of like what I'm doing every day with my sport.

Yeah. And so it's good. It like pairs really well with having a therapist as well. Do you feel like your outlook on the sport has changed since therapy and since doing this? Good question. Has it changed? I don't know if my outlook has changed or it's, I mean, yes. Even just like how you, how you, how you.

approach it or how you view it like day to day. Yeah, I definitely, I call it. Yeah, it definitely has changed my entire way that I like go about my day and my sport. Yeah. I'm like, why do I have to, it's changed completely. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I feel like sometimes if you don't actually like think about it, like it's so it's like little increments out of time. Yeah. Your mindset is shifting. And then you're like, wait, actually completely has. Until you take that moment and really. Like, yeah, everything actually is different from like three years ago. A hundred percent different.

Over the years, how does, how is your view of success changed maybe from when you were younger to now? I think, well, hmm, I figured out what. That's a great question. I feel like when you're younger success for me was like completely different and I didn't quite grasp it. Yeah. Or like you don't really like know what success is for you at all. And it's ever changing for me. And it becomes like a lot bigger and like borderline scarier when you're an adult, I feel like.

Because when you're a kid, you don't like know what success is to some extent. And so my version of success is like ever changing of like what's going to make me happy at the end of the day. Yeah. Yeah, so I think like what my version of success would be is like what is going to make me go home happy. Yeah. So it's like kind of like is similar to when you're a kid, but it has a lot. It's a lot bigger if that makes sense. Yeah.

I'd love to hear about this if you're comfortable with sharing this next little bit. But a couple of years back, you shaved your head. Yeah. This is an easy one. I was like, oh gosh, what are we? You're like, what are you about? What skills and are we dragging out? But yeah, shave my head's easy.

Yeah. What, you've talked about how the reason behind that was because you tied a lot of your identity to that, to your hair. Was there something deeper to it or what, like, what was going on? Um, there was a lot of people like, when I shaved my head were like, I think they were like messaging my mom like, is she okay? Or like, people were like asking me like if I'm okay mentally. Yeah.

Um, if I was like having some type of breakdown. which I was genuinely not having a breakdown. I had thought about shaving my head for a long time for like four or five years. And I had always like put it off because I did really put a lot of my like value and image and like my brand into my like, I had really long blonde hair.

Yeah. And I just wanted to see what it was like to like not have that. I like struggled with acne for a long time too and I always like pushed it off because it was like I'll shave my head when I like have clear skin or I'll shake my head when I'm like feeling confident in my body and all these different things and I was like one day I like woke up and I was like that's silly like I could have acne when I'm 45 yeah or like I could hopefully not the case but I could never be comfortable in my body ever and so then I'll never get to do this thing that

I've wanted to do for so long. Yeah. Because of these, like, really silly things. And so I just shaved it off. And I highly recommend shaving your head. Everyone should shave their head. It's like, it sounds very extreme, but it's so, so good and so nice. Yeah.

It's just like, I feel like it must feel like so liberating after for some. Like, why is that? Like, I'm sitting here thinking, like, I could literally never shake my head. Which is fair. And I, like, thought the same thing a lot of times of, like, no, I don't think I could ever shave my head. Because I think it is, like, a really scary thing. Yeah. But it almost became, like, my fears of, like, what would happen when I shaved my head is, like, I would feel, like, less feminine.

Or, um, I was, like, a little worried about becoming misgendered or, like, being presenting more masculine and, like, had, like, some negative thoughts about that just in, like, a fear side. but then once I did shave my head, it was really actually nice to like just like embrace it. And I felt like way more comfortable and confident in like my skin and myself of like who I was as a person. And then it was like, okay, if you're not feeling like extra feminine today, like you get to like do your makeup or like put on some fun jewelry or like do something that like helps there. So there are like really like I was scared to shave my head. I was like and I thought that when I shaved my head that I was like for sure going to like go to bed crying and like being like what did I do like why did I do this and I didn't cry once over

like having a shaved head. Yeah I've cried harder at like bad haircuts with like actual hair and I've never I didn't cry over having a shaved head at all. Oh my gosh. That's so funny. Yeah I was going to say did it shift the way you really saw yourself? as a person and an athlete? Yes. I think it forced me to like be confident in my like self, like as a person. Yeah. It like forced me to like just be myself and be confident in that and not like have

anything to like fall back on of just like everything's been quite literally shaved off. Like there's nothing to like hide behind. There's no there's no like hair to hide behind or anything. anything. So like I just had to be like confident and comfortable in my person and being. Yeah. And I feel like it really helped me do that. Yeah. It is officially the month of love. And let's be honest, the one who gets the most unconditional love for me is my dogs. Truly. No judgment. Always excited to see me and somehow still obsess with me even on my worst days. And because they give us so much, I really believe that the least we can do is make sure that they're eating food that's

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What made you finally realize that something not good was going on? I actually didn't really, well, there was like different layers and stages of like a realization of. a realization of like it wasn't good when I like really realized it wasn't good wasn't until like I had like left the relationship pretty much like completely yeah um and then like some time afterwards when I like started to like unpack it and like it was still like lingering and like really started to like unpack it that's when I started therapy it's around that time that's when I like realized it wasn't um it wasn't good it was very very bad so it took some time

and because I didn't fully grasp what was happening when I was in it at all by any means. What finally gave you the strength to remove yourself from that because I think that's something that even though it sounds so

niche to like being an Olympic athlete with a trainer like I feel like that relationship goes in you know in intimate ones and family ones didn't work. Like it just is kind of a universal thing. How did, how did you get the strength to do that? Because I imagine there's so much also pressure. Like, I think the normal person, myself included,

doesn't realize how much pressure. I feel like we kind of see it like in tennis when I, like, we watch tennis and like they always paned the coaches. I'm like, well, what is he like coaching him? Like, yeah. There's so much depth to a coach in a sport, even if the athlete is an Olympian. They're like at the top of their sport. There's so much pressure there. Um, But how did you like get the strength to separate that? Well, the, it was kind of like a final blowout where there was like a pretty big incident that like I was like, no, like this is not okay. This is affecting my snowboarding now. Like this is, you're like making, you're ruining my day.

Yeah. And I don't, I don't want my days to be. You shouldn't be, my coach should never be the reason my days are getting ruined or like they should never be a reason like I go up to training and I don't get what I want done is because like a coach is like doing some something unprofessional and is not being a coach. And so that was kind of where I drew. That was like the final day where I was like no. Like this is now affecting what I want and my snowboarding, which is why we're here, which sounds like. like kind of selfish but it was like yeah I'm here to snowboard I'm here to learn stuff I'm here to get better yeah you're my coach you're supposed to help me do that yeah and you're not helping me do that right now so this is not this is not gonna work yeah but I didn't realize like the gravity of like why it wasn't working until I had already had like left yeah the situation and I like look back on the relationship and I was like whoa that was that was crazy yeah

I mean, honestly, that's like what it takes sometimes, though, is like you just know in your gut that something needs to change and you don't realize how toxic a relationship is or a work environment or whatever it may be until you're like completely out of it. Yeah. Because that was me. I'm a nurse and I worked as a COVID nurse. And I didn't realize the extent of my PTSD that I was diagnosed with in all of these symptoms until I like actually removed myself from the environment. Yeah. And then I was like, whoa, like I am like actually not okay at all. Or it's like, yeah, when you like go into like a normal environment or like a contrasting environment or it doesn't even need to be contrasting. Just like you leave that environment and it's you're just a normal life. And then you look back and you're like, wow, that was really not okay. Okay or right. And so I totally relate to that bit for sure. Yeah. Do you feel like your love for the sport was kind of dying? Oh, fully. With when you're. in that environment. I think my like, I like say it of like, who, um, I think my like love for the sport was dying.

And then like also I think I just really didn't like myself as like a person as a human in that relationship. I just was like molding and conforming and being what I thought this person wanted me to be. Yeah. And so I think it was like hard to like do something that you love. Yeah. When you like don't like the person. and you are.

Yeah. And you also don't like the sport you're doing or the people you're doing it with. But you don't even like, I didn't even like realize that was like happening. Yeah. Because I say like my desire to like achieve my goals was so huge that I was like I will do anything to get there. And it was like if I'm going to suffer for five years in this like toxic coaching relationship, then if that's what it takes, that's like what it takes then I guess to like

achieve my goals. Yeah. Which like you don't have to suffer to achieve your goals. I love that. That needs to be heard loud and clear. It's obviously have to work hard. But if it's not a good environment and it's not healthy and you are suffering, like that's not. Yeah, the work is so much harder than you don't have to make the work harder than it needs to be. Yeah. I'm sure now, like, looking back on it, like, I feel like you seem like you have like a breath of fresh air now. Like definitely. There was like, It came in like waves of like different like working through all the like trauma that came with it. But even like when you're working through the like trauma and like then when you get past it, I feel like the like underlying narrative is like I'm so happy I'm not there anymore. Yeah. Or like I'm so happy for this growth.

And I feel like that is like a version of like breathing fresh hair. Yeah, I love that. The sport seems very mentally taxing and the training and everything, the travel. What does your support system look like? So we travel, I travel on, like, Team USA. So I have all my teammates. And then on like my, like, for like more of like my, you have your teammates. But then I have like a PT that I travel with.

Her name's T2. She's someone that I would like very highly put in like the top tier of support. She's like one of my favorite people in this earth who's a huge part of my snowboarding. My boyfriend also snowboards and competes and does the same. Yeah. The whole everything exactly the same. So he's a huge part of my support system. And then I travel with my dog everywhere, which is super fun.

So she's part of my support system. And then my new coaches are a huge part of my support system as well. I love that. We are all about dogs being a part of our support systems. because it's very true. That's really cool that your boyfriend does the same thing. Yeah. So I'm sure like there's a lot of,

because a lot of the time, like when I was in the hospital, like my husband couldn't really like, he could empathize with me, but he could not like relate at all. Yeah. So that must be nice. No, it's super nice. And I think like in snowboarding or like everyone's like or in any space, a lot of people are like, no, I want someone that is like something.

completely different or has like absolutely no clue about our world. But after like having a boyfriend who is in my world and gets my world, it makes my life like, I don't, I couldn't do it any other way. Yeah. Because I feel like he there's like a level of understanding of like obviously what you do is so time consuming. And there's a level of like, no, you have to, you have to keep up with this crazy schedule in order to excel. No, that's like the nice bit of like we both have like this understanding of like where snowboarding like stands in our life and how you have to like prioritize that and like the things that like you have to sacrifice and it's not like any type of like it's not because I don't love

you but it's like because snowboarding is my job. This is what I love to do. And so we're okay with like having time apart and like traveling a lot. And so he gets it. It makes like all that stuff a lot easier. Yeah. How now how do you keep your love for the sport alive and not like feel burnt out? Because I'm sure at some point, I mean, I could be wrong.

But I don't know if there's like a level of like monotony that comes with it. It's like I'm doing this again. Like same routine. How do you like keep that spark alive? That's something that I've, I. that's a good question. How do I keep that spark alive? It's something that I've like struggled with.

Yeah. And I have gotten like, we call it like burnout. Yeah. I have gotten burnt out before. And something I struggle doing. I have a really hard time. I'm like that type of person where I say I have like two years. It's like stop, sit lay on the couch, do absolutely nothing or like go, go, go, go, go.

So like when I say I'm going to do something like we're going, like we're doing it. Yeah. So it's hard for me with snowboarding to like slow down and not. like overdo it and do too much. Yeah. So it's something I've been working on. Taking breaks is really hard. I think the people in my life are like getting better at forcing me to take a break. Yeah. Because I'm not really good at like taking a break. But taking a break, having time off, going home, more is not always better. It's a learning process for me. Yeah. But those are some of the things I'm trying to do to help with my with that with burnout in general yeah yeah I'm

very thankful for my husband because I'm like the same like when I commit to something I'm like a thousand percent in like I will be like working until like I would I would be on my laptop like working or doing things like all day my husband's like it's 930 p.m like you need to yeah close it down we're going to watch it we're going to watch a show we're going to watch a movie and you're going to turn your brain off yeah yeah you're right yeah turning the brain off that's like It's impossible to do when you're on that 1,000 commit program of like this is what we're doing. Yeah. What does rest look like for you?

Rest, good question. I think rest is hard. Rest I feel like as an athlete is like a hard thing. Yeah. In general. So like rest is hard. That's a good question. To me, rest would be like not doing like.

Anything. Yeah. Like rotting on the couch. Yeah. Like taking a day off and like completely taking the day off of like, don't go to the gym. Don't like go exercise. Don't do cardio. Like take the day off and do like like rot on the couch or do things that are completely completely different from your sport in any way, shape or form. Yeah. Yeah. But it's hard to do that. But that would be what I would call rest. Yeah. What are some of your biggest mental health tools? self-care tools that you love? Therapy. I'm like, I feel like I'm, I should be like a spokesperson for therapy because like someone's like telling me their problems. I'm like, have you thought about therapy? Like therapy's changed my life.

Yeah. So therapy is a huge one. I think there's like, can be, maybe even like as an athlete, I feel like in snowboarding in particular, not a lot of people like go to therapy. which is fascinating to me after I've gone to therapy now yeah because I think everyone can benefit from it um so therapy is a big one what was the question again just like self-care oh self-care

things you do yeah therapy um taking like a good shower like nothing beats that of like taking a good shower putting on like a clean comfy outfit yeah um watching your favorite show like doing something where you can like turn your brain off and it's not overwhelming in your head anymore and you can just like relax yeah uh and sleeping yeah is another one uh yeah i love yeah i love sleep i love sleep why do you think a lot of people in the snowboarding sport don't do therapy i don't um i think there's like i think in snowboarding there's like this mentality of like kind of like tough it out of like it's all good ill buff like we'll be fine yeah like you're scared of that no you're not just like go do it it's fine yeah um or like it like kind of like tough it out mentality yeah or like kind

of culture of like being tough and like uh so i think that's why yeah um it's also like i don't think there's a large conversation or like dialogue around like mental health and therapy and like different forms of like how to help your mental health. So I think there's just like not enough conversation around it as well. Yeah. How did you get into it? Was did you do the sports psychology first? Yeah. I did sports psych first. And she was helping me through my like trauma with my coach. Yeah. And I think they were like kind of going on like almost a year of like working me through this trauma of like me sitting down in sports psych sessions and like crying about it and like figuring out what the heck was going on where like one day she looked at me and she's like

I think you need more help and that I can't provide for you in this circumstance. Yeah. So I think you should look into getting a therapist. Um like I'll help you look into getting a therapist. So she was actually my sports psych was the one who was like kind of pushed me towards that and encourage me because she was like I can't provide the care you are needing for this situation. And I'm super grateful that she was like able to do that as like a like professional to be able to like yeah, like hey, you need more help than I can provide. That's awesome. Were you apprehensive to going into therapy or? No, I was instantly like, okay. Yeah, you're like I'll take whatever. I need it. Yeah, like I need help. I need some or I need like some type of extra support.

Yeah. Because this is really. affecting me. Yeah. On the note of what you were saying of toughness, I agree there's definitely like such, I see it in my friend. I have a lot of friends that are Olympic athletes in whatever regard, but, and friends with a lot of professional athletes too. And I see it a lot in that because obviously, like, you have to be so mentally tough to be at that level. But even just in, you know, me average normal life. Like, there's still such a stigma around like tough it out and what therapy is. And that's been like the biggest thing I've learned is like it's actually not a form of weakness.

It's, I feel it's really preparing yourself for when shit hits the fan and when, you know, life does get rough. You have those tools and you're, you have someone that you can confide in no matter. or what like obviously you know I can confide in my husband and my family whatever it is but there's just something about having a person that you can go to and just say something and you know they're not going to like judge you or just you can say something and they're like you don't believe that and yeah I'm like yeah no you're right yeah they're able to like help you really break down and like figure out what that thought means and if it's like if it's true or not yeah um yeah I know I feel the same of like having this like toolbox that you can pull from or like

I think one way that helped me kind of spin it in my head of like, I want to be successful in my snowboarding. I want to like achieve my goals. And I do all these other things. Yeah. Like I go to the gym. I work out five days a week. I do sports psych. I travel all over the world and train for hours and hours and hours.

I like can't stop thinking about snowboarding. Like why would I neglect this like other part of it? of like what I think is like the biggest part of like the mental side of it. So why wouldn't I try to like make that better? Yeah. So I can succeed more for snowboarding. And so like that's like kind of how I started out with like sports psych and things like that. And I like kept evolving of like yeah. Why wouldn't I like get a bigger, better like toolbox filled with tools? Yeah. And that encompasses like mental health and a therapist and a sports psych. And this like I'm like, I'm like, building this whole team of people that can help support when you need it or even when you don't

need it. Yeah, that was one of the biggest things. I've honestly taken from this podcast was we had Lindsey Vaughn on. She was our like second guest years ago now. And that was like one of the biggest takeaways I've had from anyone in life is she obviously has dealt with a lot of injury. And she was like, why aren't we treating our mental health the same as an injury? Like you do all of these things of PT and you do this and that to help heal like why aren't we doing that for our brains like it's literally the same thing very yeah it's the same thing when she said that I was like that that literally makes sense makes total sense yeah makes complete sense yeah I really like that actually that makes total sense last question I have for you is what are you most proud of yourself for um

I'm most proud of myself for I guess like it sounds like kind of simple but just like where I'm at today I share a fair bit amount on social media, but I don't share all of it in its entirety. I share tidbits here and there. And so I don't know, like it's hard, but not everyone has seen the whole thing of what goes into it and what goes on. So I'm proud that I'm where I'm at

and I've gotten through what I have and I'm better for it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, great. I'm so excited to watch you. I feel like I'm about to enter this Olympics, like, with a fresh set of eyes, because I have learned a lot today about snow and sport and all of the things. But I'm so excited for you. Thank you so lovely. Yes, this is so much fun. Thank you. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to. too in this episode.