“I’ve felt a roller coaster of emotions over the last two weeks. I’ve felt depressed, grateful, anxious, loved, overwhelmed, and lonely. There is a strange serenity in realizing the things I was stressing over really don’t matter. My mind which had been racing about where to go, what to do, who I am, and who I want to be suddenly silenced.”

“It’s been awhile since I shared a personal embarrassing story with you all so I thought I’d bring that back today. I’m writing this as I sit by the fireplace with my big toe in a bowl of warm salty water.”

“Letting go creates space for deep self reflection, new opportunities, and experiences. It opens up a whole new world you couldn’t see before because you were filling all your head space with something that you have no control over.” 

“Someone had asked her what she really wants to be doing with her life when she gets out of the cult, she said she had never thought about it. She wrote something along the lines of, “but that’s the definition of depression, not being able to see your future." As soon as I read that I had my ah ha moment… Look at that, I am depressed. Thank you for pointing that out to me, Lauren.”

“After surgery I started taking a positive psychology class online at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Barbara Fredrickson (10/10 would recommend and it’s free!).”

“While I definitely had very different hopes for the end of this year, I feel excited to use this recovery time to explore my coaching side more. No, I am not happy I tore my ACL, but I am grateful for the growth, opportunities, and perspective shifts along this recovery journey of mine.”

“I realized that rugby can still bring me joy, energy, and warmth even when I can’t play.“

“Physically I felt stronger than ever aside from a pesky little bruise on my chin. Mentally I was motivated but definitely stressed about finances and the living situation, especially not knowing where we would be staying the following week.”

“I want to emphasize that being sad is not weak, crying is not weak. I know I am strong and I feel even stronger with the wonderful support surrounding me but I think that’s the hard thing about vulnerability is it doesn’t make you feel strong. It’s scary and that’s how you know you’re being brave.”

"One roadblock almost never ruins you.

There might not be 1000 ways to accomplish something, but there is almost always more than one way.

Know what you want. Be flexible about how to get there."

“I walked out of the hospital probably 30 minutes after I was stretchered in with a prescription for what is essentially the Spanish Advil in hand.”

“Why are you training so much? You’ll never make any money doing that anyways.” And at the time, how could I tell them they were wrong? The only examples of professional athletes I had really been exposed to were men. Little boys get to see themselves in those examples.

I remember at High School All American camp we had a nutrition talk and one of the speakers said, “What do you want more? That cookie or to be on the National Team?” That was almost ten years ago; and it STILL has an impact on my thinking around food. If I eat this does that make me uncommitted or unfit to be an elite rugby player?

You will make mistakes. You will have negative thoughts. Call them out. Focus on the now. AND GO FORWARD STRONG BABY!

“I believe every coach needs a coach. Or at least would benefit immensely from having one. If I didn’t believe in the power of a coach, why would I be one?”

“Your current thoughts are perfectly designed to deliver your current life.”

“What a comforting feeling human connection is. Our highs our heightened and our lows are lessened when we experience them together.”

“I get paid almost half the salary as the men’s players while working additional jobs and responsibilities added to my contract.“

“There’s a lot of things that I’ve learned from bopping from place to place and if I can prevent someone from having a stressful cry in the airport, I want to do it!”

“Two days and 2 COVID tests (just to be safe) later, I was on my flight to Bilbao ready to take on the next adventure.“