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Change is Inevitable. How do we Navigate the Changes in our Bodies?
33 Plays3 months ago
It is okay to be different, to change, to not look the same, feel the same, be the same. Alex and Natalie dive into the topic of body image and how we perceive our bodies. If you want to perform in your sport, you need the confidence to believe in what your body can do.
ALSO College Prep for Success Course is OUT on January 31st. It is on pre-sale now for 25% off: https://natalie-tyner.mykajabi.com/offers/Bjzvscaz
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Transcript
Weather Woes and Positivity
00:00:00
Natalie Tyner
Hello, and welcome back to A&N Track Talk. Okay, guys. I need to let out a little rant because if you know me, you know I really freaking hate the cold. And I try to be really positive about it, but generally, you know, for somewhat of a good reason, I just really struggle with it. Like, different little health problems, you know, with the cold, whatever.
00:00:27
Natalie Tyner
But for real, it has been so cold and I really have been working on it, just trying to think warm thoughts and imagine I'm on an island. And it's helpful because it is sunny and cold in North Carolina most of the time. And so I can just pretend that like it is summer. But I'm working on not complaining about it and it's somewhat is working. So if you need some inspiration to get through the cold months, there you go.
00:00:57
Alex
Natalie, you can do this. Also, sometimes I think it's good to complain about the cold because it creates like a camaraderie between everyone. like In Chicago, I feel like we're all just like suffering together and it it like bonds you guys. um Yeah, it's been the same year. I was on the treadmill pretty much all of last week, which was weird. Did my first ever treadmill pre-meet, which was also weird.
00:01:25
Alex
um But we're going to get through it. We're going to get through it.
Adapting to Weather and Body Changes
00:01:27
Alex
It's going to be warm again soon.
00:01:29
Natalie Tyner
yeah we will make it to the other side and like to some degree I think there is there is an okay point of like bonding over the coldness but I feel like it's the same thing within the summer like I get so tired of people constantly like blaming everything on the cold or blaming everything on the heat or just a constant complaint about it all the time and like we're at the point where like nothing's going to change right now so how can we adapt to it, still have some complaints in there, but be willing to just like take it at the same time.
00:02:07
Natalie Tyner
And I think there's some people who are like good at that and others who have to work harder, kind of like me.
00:02:13
Alex
if
00:02:15
Natalie Tyner
But, you know, so I'm going to send my clients other day and just giving them the motivation that, you know, we can get through this. It's just a few more months. And then we will all be so happy that we stuck it out and now it's warm.
00:02:30
Natalie Tyner
And then hopefully we will not complain about the heat.
00:02:35
Alex
Absolutely. On the bright side. In Chicago on Thursday, the high is 45 degrees, so it's basically summer already.
00:02:43
Natalie Tyner
45 degrees this summer.
00:02:45
Alex
you
00:02:46
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, right, right. No, I mean, I think the high here this week will reach into the 60s, which is nice, but the mornings are still in the 30s.
00:02:53
Alex
Ooh.
00:02:56
Alex
Mm.
00:02:56
Natalie Tyner
But end is in sight for sure.
00:03:00
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:03:03
Natalie Tyner
about the weather. This is not a podcast about the weather, I swear. Sometimes I just got to start with a little rant. So let let's actually dive into the podcast. So Alex and I were discussing what topic we were going to talk about this week and then we just went off on this giant rant and here we are. So we really want to talk about our bodies and how they change and fluctuate and how it's okay and just so much more to that but I think it's a really important topic and I'm excited to kind of dive into our stories with it.
Body Image Struggles and Acceptance
00:03:40
Alex
Yeah, so this all came about because last week I was running my first track meet and like like since 2022, so it's been a long time. But literally, I stood in the like starting corral area, and I was just looking around at all these other women. And I was like, oh my god, they're so much skinnier than me. like I literally do not belong here. like I'm not ready for this.
00:04:08
Alex
um And I knew those thoughts were wrong like in the moment but also like I was still having them and they were like my experience. um And the race ended up going really well but it was like crazy to like I feel like I talked to this about so many talk ah to so many people about this and still I'm like having those thoughts. But then later on I ended up talking to some of my teammates about that and we ended up getting into this really lovely conversation. um But I think it really brought to light like how many people struggle with thoughts like that. um And so it's really important to talk about. So I'm excited to dive into it more.
00:04:50
Natalie Tyner
Yeah. And then Alex was telling me about it and I was like, dude, me too. And, you know, not the racing recently part, but when I was racing in college, it was a constant struggle for me. And I had really worked to heal my relationship with food and, you know, I was fully fueling my body and all of that stuff, but I still often struggled with that body dysmorphia and it was always so frustrating because dan because instead of standing on the line or walking up to me being confident in my ability and what I can do and what I've trained my body to do and how capable I am, I walked up already digging myself a hole, believing that I didn't look like the other girls and that every girl that passed me was thinking about how I didn't look like a runner.
00:05:41
Alex
Yeah, it's just so crazy to think that we base so much of like how fast we expect to be or how strong we expect to be based on an aesthetic. Basically, when you can flu your your body can fluctuate so much and everyone's body is going to be a little bit different um and can still do amazing things and run fast and be athletic and be healthy. um But we get so many signals throughout our lives that like tell us that there's a certain way we're supposed to look. um And it's crazy, like like you said in college, like you're in a place where you're crushing your workouts, you're probably fitter than you've ever been, but you're still believing that other people are going to run faster than you solely because of the way they look.
00:06:25
Alex
ah And I know that like this is a huge, especially because of social media, I think it can really influence the way we see
Impact of Comments on Self-Perception
00:06:34
Alex
ourselves. like Even when I was in high school, I remember seeing a picture of one of the best high school runners in a race and her arms were just ripped. And so I was like, well,
00:06:44
Alex
If my arms become ripped, therefore I will be as fast as her. So I started doing pull-ups every single day, which looking back like logically makes no sense, but we base so much of our logic and evidence off of what we see rather than, I guess, like our training or what we feel.
00:07:04
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, I think this has become a huge problem. And I think, you know, social media is part of that. But I think there's also this, you know, deep rooted feelings and words from other people that, you know, we hear all the time. And sometimes we are hearing it through social media. But I remember when I first started running, I was told I didn't look like a runner. And I would be told those to my face.
00:07:33
Natalie Tyner
or somebody would, I'd finish a race, you know, I remember finishing my first race and afterwards, I think my first race ever, it was a cross-country race, I got seventh place. And afterwards, my, whoever I was talking to was like, well, those other girls just look like runners. They just really look like runners. And that deep roots into you that like, oh, so I don't look like a runner. What do I need, do I need to look like them?
00:08:04
Natalie Tyner
And having that expectation that you need to look like somebody else is and not going to go well. Everybody's body is different. You can't try to be something you're not. And so those comments constantly continued throughout high school. And I mean, that was fuel to my ah already struggling eating habits. And by the time I was in college, yeah, I found more confidence, but I remember one day like hanging out with some friends and friends of the friends were like, what sport do you do? And I responded with track and cross country as one would. And they go, oh, you must do like the 400 something because your quads are so huge.
00:08:50
Natalie Tyner
And honestly, I was just like ready to start crying in that moment. Like I was so insecure about my legs. I had constantly been told I looked like a soccer player. I looked like a sprinter and I didn't look like a runner.
00:09:01
Natalie Tyner
And it became so deep rooted in me that I had to look a certain way to run a certain way. And I don't really know how that even makes sense.
00:09:09
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:09:11
Natalie Tyner
Like why are we telling people that if their legs look different than somebody else's legs, then they don't belong as a runner. And this constant, constant, deep rooted comments are are so problematic.
00:09:21
Alex
Yeah.
00:09:30
Natalie Tyner
And I know I'm not the only one who's hearing
Body Image Across Genders
00:09:32
Natalie Tyner
them.
00:09:32
Alex
Mm-hmm, It's crazy too because some of those comments like feel malicious, but also even people will try and say a compliment.
00:09:45
Natalie Tyner
Mm-hmm.
00:09:45
Alex
Like, so say it's the reverse situation. They're like, Oh, you just look like a runner.
00:09:50
Natalie Tyner
Mm-hmm.
00:09:50
Alex
Then you're still going to internalize that too, because you have to stay that way. and people don't realize how much weight that has.
00:09:54
Natalie Tyner
Exactly.
00:09:58
Alex
um And I think it's so important to really like be careful about what we're saying, because like you said, those comments stick with you so much, even when you are trying to help or trying to be nice.
00:10:10
Alex
um Even like when I was in middle school, I pulled a muscle doing something stupid, but I went to physical therapy. um And so my PT just,
00:10:21
Alex
was trying to help me because she thought I was too skinny and wanted me to like eat more and feel my running and everything, which was very valid. um But she said to me, like I know you think that you're going to have to, with every pound you gain, it'll make it harder to run fast. um And i that thought had literally never occurred to me. I was too young to have even like really considered that.
00:10:47
Alex
But from then on, it had absolutely planted a seed in my mind and she was completely trying to help me. and But then it created this logic in my mind that extra pounds equals running slower. um And so throughout high school, obviously I grew a lot and gained a lot of weight and I ran a lot faster. And so I had to like constantly use that as like evidence of why what she had said was wrong. But it created this constant battle of like needing to prove to myself that that wasn't true versus just not having that internal conflict at all.
00:11:23
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, and I think it's so hard because I don't think people realize how much power their words have. How much power the things that they say can really affect how we think and how we feel and how we respond to these situations.
00:11:43
Natalie Tyner
and Just ultimately, like what we're saying to others. Because like you said, like it may come off like a compliment. Somebody may be like, wow, you really look like a runner. Or you you know they may be just trying to help you. But you don't know how somebody is going to interpret that. You don't know how that's going to come up later in their life. like The things that we're remembering from middle school, the messages. you know Middle school, high school. like We're remembering these messages and I remember them clear as day. like they are They have stuck with me for years.
00:12:23
Natalie Tyner
and I think there's so much to this because I think this is a conversation. you know This conversation that we're having, this needs to be had. We need to be talking about these things, but at the same time, we need to know how to talk about them. We need to know how to properly address these things.
00:12:43
Natalie Tyner
so There's a lot more to come to this, for sure.
00:12:49
Alex
I think, like you said, it is so important to talk about it because you realize, like, even as we're talking about this now, we all have these stories that we remember so clearly that have stuck with us for years and years. um And even when I was having this similar conversation with some of my teammates, like when I shared my story about going into that race and feeling like I didn't belong there at all, then of course they were all like, oh my God, no, like, how could you think that?
00:13:16
Alex
But then in turn, they all started to share their own stories and we ended up having this really like open and vulnerable conversation. But it's crazy because you kind of assume that, like I don't know, you assume that no one else is having these thoughts, but in reality, it feels like almost everyone is. um So just opening that up and realizing that, like one, it's okay to talk about it and also learning how to talk about it in a way that's careful without trying to,
00:13:46
Alex
like create comments that are going to be internalized is really important. So hopefully we can continue to have that conversation, but it's definitely challenging.
00:13:58
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, ah it it is really challenging and I have talked to many others who have struggled with this as well. And I think it's important to add here is like it's not just girls and women who struggle with this. Like I have talked to men, I have talked to other in other people of all ages, dinners, etc.
00:14:22
Natalie Tyner
and excuse me and i And I do think girls and women can have more harmful impacts on their body because of our hormonal makeup, which in turn like makes it more obvious, right? If they're not feeling properly. he But a lot of guys struggle with this as well. And I think it's important that People know that and that guys are having conversations about this because it can affect their health as well. It's just not the same as it affects women's health.
00:14:56
Alex
absolutely. And I think something important with that too is that like this isn't always the case but i feel like as women and girls we're more likely to talk about it whereas i feel like guys might struggle with that more on an individual level so in that way it can carry a greater harm because you're not having like that reinforcement from your friends and people who care about you.
00:15:20
Natalie Tyner
h
00:15:20
Alex
um And it is crazy because it's just so based off of aesthetics like even I remember one time one of my male teammates like had just won this really big race and one of the other guys said something along the lines of like, oh, I can tell you're fit because of the way like your veins on your arms pop out.
00:15:40
Natalie Tyner
Mm-hmm.
00:15:41
Alex
Um, and so it's just so based off of these aesthetics, like that has no indication really.
00:15:41
Natalie Tyner
and
00:15:46
Alex
ah I mean, actually, I don't know the science behind that, but there's so many other factors that influence how fast you can run or how well you can do your sport, but people just base it off of what they're looking like.
00:15:49
Natalie Tyner
No it doesn't. Mm-hmm.
00:15:58
Alex
Um, and I think obviously yes, we have kind of gotten better at trying to,
00:15:59
Natalie Tyner
Yeah.
00:16:04
Alex
spread the word that like all bodies can achieve these really great like athletic and other feats and everything. Even just looking at like the Paris Olympics, there was those ads on um like all the different women who were participating in these sports and have just vastly different bodies, but they're all there um at the Olympics and like pushing their bodies to the limits doing these amazing things. um So it's like we're getting there and we're starting to talk about it, but it's still a far way to go.
00:16:33
Natalie Tyner
Yeah. I mean, I think there definitely is work being done and it is interesting. Like, you know, the story you're sharing about your teammate who ran really well and the the comments that were made. And honestly, I've seen a lot more comments made about that between, you know, guys than between women, because I think there's almost almost a feeling like they feel like they can make those comments.
00:17:03
Natalie Tyner
because they aren't women or whatever it is. And I don't know exactly what that that mindset is, but I have worked with multiple youth boys who have this idolization of what they should look like to be fast.
Performance vs. Appearance in Training
00:17:22
Natalie Tyner
They're telling me they want to look like um the Kenyans or they want to have they they tell me they can't do any upper body work.
00:17:29
Natalie Tyner
because their arms are going to be too bulky. They put too much muscle on. And I think there's just such a lack of education because that's that's not how it works. If we're working with runners and you know we're not sitting there doing bicep curls to try and grow muscle in your biceps, like this isn't the goal here. you know there's There's specificities around upper body work that you do.
00:17:58
Natalie Tyner
But I think there's just such a lack of education and there's such a lack of conversation around this. Such a lack of conversation for men and for women. I think there's there's so much more that can be done and i it's frustrating because you know i don't I don't know the answers.
00:18:17
Alex
Yeah, It's, it is really interesting, like with what you were saying about like the bicep curls or whatever, because obviously like for each sport there are, there is a way to train and, or there are multiple ways, but there's like certain intentions behind the training that you do, but it's not based off of like what your end result is going to look like. It's more based off of how will this training prepare you to be one sustainable with your training and to like your body is naturally going to take what it needs from the training and like it will take care of itself you don't need to strive to make it look a certain way because naturally like by training and being sustainable and consistent over time like
00:19:00
Alex
your body's going to make the adaptations that it needs to make. um But yeah, it's just so hard to like, because even I know that, but I still have those thoughts. um And I think it is so important to be careful about the way we talk about it, especially with teammates, because you just never know the way like something is going to be like internalized or taken. um And it's crazy, back to this conversation I was having with my teammates, like,
00:19:30
Alex
we all admitted that we'd had these kind of harmful thoughts about ourselves. But then when anyone else shared theirs, we were like, oh my gosh, no, like, that's not true. Like, you're amazing. You're like, you're absolutely fine just the way you are. um And so then someone made the comment that like, if we could see ourselves the way that like our teammates, our friends, people who care about see us, we would have so many fewer problems because never once have I like,
00:20:00
Alex
looked at my teammates and thought about what their body looks like. I'm literally just thinking of like how impressive it was when they covered a move in a race or like our friendship or things like that. But yet we, so we see each other in these nice like lights, but then we are cast such a critical gaze on ourselves.
00:20:24
Alex
um which is crazy. And I even had this realization like a few weeks ago. um I had just been like feeling insecure about my legs. And I think like obviously with the way my training has changed over the years, my body has also changed. I'm also just older. um But I was just feeling insecure about it. And then um i was I had been like at my friend's birthday party and was talking to this um person who I hadn't met before.
00:20:54
Alex
And she was like, oh my gosh, like your legs look great, just out of the blue. And I remember being so shocked because like I had been feeling so insecure about it, but then she like said that to me, but then I was like, what if she feels insecure about the way she, and I just realized that like we all just cast such a critical gaze on ourselves while we're like and admiring other people. um And so it's just so tricky and it's like,
00:21:24
Alex
you're your thoughts about yourself almost can't really be trusted.
00:21:29
Natalie Tyner
No, you're, you're so right. And as, as you were talking, I was like, we need one of those mirrors from the cartoons when we were kids that would like, I don't remember what the mirrors would say. They might've said something negative, but I'm thinking like a talking mirror that tells you what other people see in a positive light. You know, like when you, you look in the mirror and they're like, you are so strong and you have done amazing things, you know, whatever it is, like just compliments to a degree that makes you realize that your body's more than what it looks like.
00:22:06
Natalie Tyner
It's what it can do.
00:22:08
Alex
Mm-hm.
00:22:08
Natalie Tyner
And that would be a magical thing. Maybe that's going to be my next invention.
00:22:14
Alex
put Love it.
00:22:16
Natalie Tyner
But overall, like I think the first place to start is we need to have conversations like this. And we need to have conversations like what you have with your teammates. like It can't get better if no one speaks up. it And I think they're, you know it's not that nobody's willing to talk about it, but I think there's a little bit of a fear of talking about it because we don't always know the right thing to say. And and I totally get that.
00:22:43
Natalie Tyner
like you don't want to trigger somebody else, but you also want to have the conversation. So it's finding that balance between the two.
Acceptance of Body Changes and Mental Health
00:22:54
Natalie Tyner
And I think in the end, talking about the way that you're feeling about it and sharing that with people that you can trust and feel comfortable with, that's the best way to start having a conversation.
00:23:01
Alex
Mm hmm.
00:23:07
Natalie Tyner
If you start attacking somebody for what they're thinking or feeling or saying that that's going to make it a lot harder. But at least just sharing your feelings towards it, I think is really important. And I mean, I encourage everyone to have these conversations with their teammates, whether male or female, like speak up about it, see how others feel about it. Like, what are they thinking? How are they feeling?
00:23:33
Alex
I mean, even reflecting on this conversation that I had last week, like, I could tell during it that we were all kind of filtering, like we it would be like pauses, like thinking because no one wanted to say something that could be misconstrued or taken the wrong way. um And so it is a tricky conversation to have. But just the fact that you're willing to do it and also like talk about your own experiences in an honest way, I think kind of gives people the freedom to do the same. But yeah, it's tricky to start that conversation.
00:24:07
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, for sure. And I think there's a side of it that, you know, talking about this is also a benefit to your performance. Like the way you're thinking and feeling about yourself will affect your performance. And so I have this song that I've always loved by NF and it's called The Search.
00:24:34
Natalie Tyner
And the one line from it that I always think of is just think about it for a second. If you look at your face every day when you get up and think you'll never be great, you'll never be great. And I think the same thing applies to this as well. If you get to the start line of every race or you walk up to the soccer field of every game and you're thinking about how you're not good enough about how your body is not looking the way it should, quote unquote. It doesn't look right, does it doesn't feel right. How can you ever expect your body to perform for you? And I i just don't think it's going to.
00:25:13
Alex
Yeah, And there are so many other things that you can be thinking about, like the training you've put in, the hours of work, the sleep, the lifestyle that are so outside of how you look and more inside of the things you've controlled to be great, because you're so right. Like the way we think about ourselves is a huge indicator of how you're going to be able to perform.
00:25:39
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, and on top of that, you know, our bodies change. You know, we can talk about the way we perceive our bodies and what leads us to these, you know, body dysmorphia of thoughts, you know, and we can talk about how the way people talk and the way people say things and what we hear in social media, but there's also of value and just straight up recognizing that our bodies are not the same as they are one day to the next. And we're not going to perceive it the same one day to the next. I mean, our bodies freaking change from first thing in the morning to when we go to bed at night. In the morning, you haven't ate or drank anything yet. Your body looks a lot different after eating and drinking and exercising all day. And your body is constantly changing.
00:26:31
Natalie Tyner
You can't constantly have these thoughts of like, oh, I look great right now. And then the next day you don't. It's okay that you look different one second from the next.
00:26:44
Alex
It's so just interesting the way that there can be so much fluctuation, even within the range of a single day and or a single month, like where you are in your cycle. There are so many factors that can influence that. I definitely noticed this. I think over winter break, I just had like too much time to think, but there would be within one day, like I could be one hour like bloated and questioning like,
00:27:15
Alex
Am I eating too much? Should I be running more? Should I be cross training more? And then literally hours later, it will like fluctuate. And then I feel so much more confident in like, not just the way I look, but in my training and it's like, I hate to like admit that I have had these thoughts because I just know they're like not right or even healthy, and but they just crop up. um But something that has helped me a lot is I found this Instagram of um this professional high diver, Molly Carlson, who posts a lot about like her mental health and everything. um But she posted videos literally documenting like how her body changes throughout the day.
00:27:59
Alex
where she'll post something about how like she almost didn't want to go to practice that day because she felt so insecure about her genetic cellulite. um But at the end of the day, she's still doing these amazing things. like She's one of the world's best high divers. And it really, to me, like drives home the fact that even when we know like these thoughts aren't helping us, like they still crap up. And that's okay. like It's okay because we know it's not right, but like naturally it happens and there's no need to, like I guess, be angry with yourself. But I think it's important to realize that so many people are having these thoughts and just constantly remind yourself that it's not true or helping you.
00:28:48
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, I mean, having those thoughts is definitely not going to help and it is hard over time. I mean, since I've hit puberty, my body has fluctuated so much over the years. And I think that can be really hard on people. I mean,
00:29:09
Natalie Tyner
speaking for myself, of course, but also on everyone, like everyone struggles with this. And i I look back at pictures and things are so different at different times in my life. And the way I look is different and ultimately just the change is hard. And the thing that I love most about it though, is that no matter what my body looked like, no matter how harsh I was talking to myself about my body,
00:29:37
Natalie Tyner
it was still able to perform when I put the work in. Like when I was training, it was still able to perform. And even today after I, you know, I stopped running competitively almost two years ago and it was mostly due to injury and just my, my body being not in a great place. And when I look back on it from when I was running 80 miles a week to the sparse 10 miles that I'm barely doing now,
00:30:04
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, like when I look back to those pictures of April, 2023, like my body was different, but it was also so damaged and not healthy. And I've spent two years working on repairing it. And in that process, I've worked to gain healthy weight and muscle that allows me to move the way I want to again. And I think taking that perspective that if you, you know, what you're training for,
00:30:34
Natalie Tyner
matters. Like when you when you're doing the training, when you're making the training work, your body may look different. And it's okay, like, you can still do the things. And, you know, the moral of all of that is that our bodies are ultimately glass about the way you look. It matters what they can do, how you can take care of yourself. And it it takes a lot of energy and effort to break out of this disordered eating and body image world that we are in.
00:31:10
Natalie Tyner
You know, you have influencers telling you to eat a piece of grass and run forever and and that's the key to looking like that. And I'm not saying that all influencers have had, like there are some people putting out great messages.
00:31:24
Natalie Tyner
And I think it's really important to look at where you're getting these messages because it does take a lot of energy and effort to break out of
00:31:30
Alex
Thank you.
00:31:35
Natalie Tyner
the the thoughts that you're having. So having good influences really, really matters. And it is taking me years to break out of this comparison game of looking at others and comparing whether my body looks like that or not.
00:31:52
Natalie Tyner
And if I'm going to run as fast as them because they look more like a runner than I do, whatever that means. Right.
00:32:01
Natalie Tyner
But there are still
00:32:02
Alex
Yeah.
00:32:03
Natalie Tyner
times, moments, days where I still feel that way. And every time that happens, I just tell myself to trust in my body, trust in what I can do.
00:32:19
Alex
absolutely. That's a really good point. And I think there's so much power that comes from just believing in yourself and the work you've put in. um And it's hard because you're not only comparing to others, but I think what you kind of hit on there is comparing to old versions of yourself, which can be really tempting, especially when you've experienced like a success in that older version. And it's so easy to want to compare or to want to try and look like that again.
00:32:52
Alex
But it's not I think it's so important to realize that it's not like an equation that like looking like this equals running whatever time. Because at any given point in your life, your body just has such different needs. like My body's needs now are different than the needs they had when I was 15 years old. And I have to realize that because just simplifying it to only appearance takes out so many important parts of the equation.
00:33:21
Alex
um But it's tempting. It's definitely tempting. And, um, ultimately I think. So important to realize that you have to also focus on what's going to be sustainable for, you know, not just your running in your sport, but your overall health, um, and your life as a whole. So, um, yeah, but it's definitely like a constant, constant battle of trying to win that comparison game with your own mind.
00:33:50
Natalie Tyner
Yeah, it it really isn't. I think, you know, we've talked about this quite a bit throughout this entire episode of everybody feels this way. We just don't talk about it enough. And in our last episode with Sarah, she talked a lot about how she struggled when she gained healthy weight her freshman year of college. And then she wasn't running as fast in that time. And she felt that comparison game come in and the constant stories we've been told that skinny equals fast and While we know that it isn't true, it's still a battle to remind ourselves of that. And so I think Sarah's story holds a ton of value. So if you haven't listened to it yet, please go check out our last episode and hear all about her story. I love the way she fully just lets us see what she's gone through and how it relates back to so many struggles that we all face in our everyday lives. And I think it can connects really well to the story that we talked about today as well.
00:34:48
Alex
mean, Sarah's story is incredibly powerful. I think her plot is obviously different and unique, but at the same time, I think it's really empowering because so many kit people can relate to the underlying themes that she talked about.
00:35:02
Natalie Tyner
Oh yeah, I mean, I was relating the entire time to it. So I, I love it.
00:35:09
Alex
Oh yeah, absolutely. It's definitely hard, like with what she talked about, navigating your own changes that your body is going to undergo because it's easy to want to revert back to what you already know versus as your body naturally changes in a way that's healthy and normal, especially as you go through your college years. That's completely normal, but it's also completely unknown to you. So that can definitely be a scary territory to navigate. um But ultimately, you have to kind of go through that scary unknown in order to get to a place where you're going to be
00:35:45
Alex
healthy and sustainable.
00:35:48
Natalie Tyner
Exactly. And honestly, I think that's part of the biggest message we want to leave you guys with today is our bodies are constantly changing and adapting to meet the demands that we put on it. And with the pressure of sports, it can be hard to see your body changing or to feel that your body is different from others and not really know what to do with that. But ultimately know you're not alone in these struggles. Women and men struggle with this every day.
00:36:18
Natalie Tyner
And it's important that we continue to have these conversations about these things so we can break the stigma around body image, eating disorders, and mental health, and hopefully continue to make progress towards this getting better for everyone.
00:36:32
Alex
here Yes, absolutely. And of course, it's important to remember that as much as like sharing these stories is so helpful, um we are not mental health professionals. So at times, if you need additional help or resources, reach out to a mental health professional or someone you know who can help you find um someone who can help, because that is really important.
00:37:00
Natalie Tyner
Yeah. and And I think this is a good time to add that the college prep for success course that I've been developing is launching this Friday, January 31st. And in this course, I work with you a ton on mindset and we do discuss a lot of mental health resources that you can take advantage of and how to find those. So I am so excited for this launch. Make sure to check it out on my Instagram or my website at NatSportPrep.
00:37:27
Alex
Oh my gosh, so exciting. I can't believe that's already coming up this week. and I know you've been working on that for a while and I know this will be really helpful for a lot of people, so I can't wait.
00:37:37
Natalie Tyner
Yes, I know, I'm so excited.
00:37:40
Alex
All right, well, that is all we have today, but thank you for listening and we'll see you next time.
00:37:46
Natalie Tyner
See you next time.