73. Victoria Garrick on Student-Athlete Mental Health, Body Image, Intuitive Eating, Vulnerability, and College Lifestyle

Oct 3

This week's guest is former D1 Athlete, Victoria Garrick. Victoria is known for her mental health advocacy on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and her Ted Talk where she shares her insight on student-athlete mental health, body image, intuitive eating, and being real!

Victoria's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victoriagarrick/

Victoria's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@victoriagarrick4

RealPod: https://open.spotify.com/show/0RFZBETSom9yZQbkv1ZIYO

Victoria's Website: https://www.victoriagarrick.com/

This week's DBT Skill is IMPROVE, learn more here.

Victoria and I dive into the following topics…

+ What performance anxiety looks and feels like

+ How student-athletes can prioritize their mental health and their sport

+ Navigating moving to college, pursuing academics and a sport as an 18-year-old

+ The importance of overcoming mental health stigma to access resources if you need them

+ Balancing your mental health while also honoring your commitment to your team

+ How Victoria went from struggling with binge eating to having a healthy, intuitive relationship with food

+ so much more!

Mentioned In The Episode…

+ Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch: https://amzn.to/3uHs1jR

+ Breaking Free from Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth: https://amzn.to/3mdeBrS

+ The Intuitive Eating Workbook by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch: https://amzn.to/3l2xUVy

+ The Intuitive Eating Workbook FOR TEENS by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch: https://amzn.to/3oATmTE

SHOP GUEST RECOMMENDATIONS: https://amzn.to/3A69GOC

Episode Sponsors

🛋This week's episode is sponsored by Teen Counseling. Teen Counseling is an online therapy program with over 14,000 licensed therapists in their network offering support with depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, and more via text, talk, and video counseling. Head to teencounseling.com/shepersisted to find a therapist today!

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🍓This week's episode is brought to you by Sakara. Sakara is a nutrition company that focuses on overall wellness, starting with what you eat. Use code XOSADIE at checkout for 20% your first order!

About She Persisted (formerly Nevertheless, She Persisted)

After a year and a half of intensive treatment for severe depression and anxiety, 18-year-old Sadie recounts her journey by interviewing family members, professionals, and fellow teens to offer self-improvement tips, DBT education, and personal experiences. She Persisted is the reminder that someone else has been there too and your inspiration to live your life worth living.

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a note: this is an automated transcription so please ignore any accidental misspellings!

Welcome to she persisted. I'm your host Sadie Sutton. Every Friday, I post interviews about mental health, dialectical behavioral therapy and teenage life. These episodes break down my mental health journey, teach skills to help you cope with life and showcase testimonials from individuals, including teens, just like you, whether you've struggled yourself or just want to improve your mental fitness.

This podcast is your inspiration to live a life you love and keep persisting. This week on She Persisted.

Victoria: As I went through that, I didn't really understand it.

And I also was kind of embarrassed and ashamed because I was an athlete and I felt like. You know, to not have confidence and not believe you could get the job done was like a sign of weakness or was a reason my coach would bench me or my teammates wouldn't trust me. So I really suppressed that. And I didn't talk about it or let anyone know what was going on.

Sadie: This week's DBT scale is the improved skill. Improve is an acronym that stands for imagery, meaning relaxation, one thing at a time, vacation and encouragement it's within the distress tolerance module. So it's a way to distract yourself from your current suffering and then revisit those emotions at a later time when you're less emotionally distant.

So diving right into imagery is imagining relaxing scenes, imagining everything is going well and using the skill of imagery to bring herself a sense of calm, peace and joy with meaning you are finding purpose or meaning in a painful situation, focusing on what positive aspects of a painful situation you can find repeating these positive aspects and repeating these positive aspects in your mind with prayer, you're opening your heart to a Su-Preme being God or asking your wise mind. You're looking for strength to bear the pain, and you're turning things over to God or a higher BA for the art, you are doing relaxation. So this is all self-soothing. Whether it's deep breathing, changing our facial expression, doing yoga, taking a bath soothing through the census. One thing in the moment, you are focusing your entire attention on what you are doing. Keeping yourself in the moment, putting your mind in the present, focusing your entire attention on the physical.

And really paying attention to what's going on through your five senses for vacation, you are giving yourself a brief vacation from your current experience, whether that's getting into bed and pulling the covers up over your head, going outside and diving into nature, reading a book, watching a movie, turning off your phone, really just taking yourself away from your current reality and taking a step back.

And lastly is self encouragement and rethinking the situation. So you're being your cheerleaders. You're saying you got this, I'm going to make it through this. I'm okay. I'm going to make it out of this situation. I'm doing the best I can. I can stand it this too. Shall pass whatever your mantra is.

So that's the improved skill for taking away some distress so you can survive through the moment. And then later a different point process, the emotions that you're experiencing.

Hello. Hello and welcome back to another episode of cheaper assisted. If this is your first episode, welcome to the show. My name is Sadie. I'm an 18 year old freshman at the university of Pennsylvania. And I'm your host. We have a very exciting interview this week with a special guest Victoria Garrick. I was so, so honored to have her on the show to pick her brain about student athlete, mental health, her experiences with depression and anxiety. We talked all about body image, body acceptance, intuitive, eating you, name it. We covered it in this interview. It's an amazing one before we dive into that interview, I wanted to give a little life update I had a big change in the mental health world this week, which is that I am switching therapists. I, like I said, I'm a freshman at U Penn. And that meant that I moved all the way across the country from California to Pennsylvania to start school and due to regulations, certifications from the board of psychology.

What are the, whatever the name of it is. Psychologists certified in California cannot treat practice with clients in Pennsylvania. So that meant that I had to find a new provider in Pennsylvania. And this was something that was really scary and overwhelming. And the past finding a new therapist, wishing treatment providers, hasn't been the smoothest transition at boarding school.

It was something. Wasn't involved in that decision. It was something that was just kind of sprung upon me and was very overwhelming and confusing. And I felt very out of control before that when I was at home. It was something that invoked a whole blown mental breakdown. I was like, I'm not doing therapy anymore.

I will only do therapy. If I work with this therapist, I quit. I ended up loving my new therapist. When I switched at home. She was one of my favorite people ever, but I just was like, I can't handle this transition, this change. It was a lot. So to handle those kinds of transitions, that in the past have been really difficult is always an interesting experience.

It's always something that brings fear. I know that I'm able to cope with emotions that come up. I know that I'm able to handle things that life throws at me, but sometimes I'm like, am I, am I strong enough to do this? Can I do this? Can I do this and be effective? I doubt myself. And so that was totally what happened here.

I loved my last therapist that I worked with in California. She was exactly what I needed after I came out of treatment during my time at home, transitioning to college, like she was,

Perfect for the point of that. I was at in my life and not perfect in a way where it's like I went to therapy and I just kind of didn't do anything. And I was not ever uncomfortable and wasn't pushed to do growth, but it was the exact opposite. I was constantly being pushed to experience more emotions and question why I think a certain way and be more compassionate and explore that mindset.

And so she was someone that really helped facilitate growth in a really amazing. And it was something that I hope everyone finds on the therapist. I would send her funny tick talks we would geek out about our website designs. she would let me do my bullet journal for my diary card, just so many things that she was able to adapt and cater to me and just be a, an amazing clinician.

And as I looked back at these two years of treatment, it was really interesting because the two years before that brought so much growth, I became not depressed. I stopped struggling with suicidality. I stopped struggling with self harm. I stopped struggling with anxiety. These were huge, crazy big shifts in my life.

And that isn't something that happened right in the past two years. this shift in therapists and treatment providers caused me to really look back and reflect the fact that I had maintained my growth from that really dark place that I was initially in. I'd continue to grow, whether it was with healthy habits, relationships, mindset, over the past two years, which is something that I think is really worth celebrating, even though it might not have been as monumental as stopping, being suicidal.

So as we wrapped up our sessions and I knew it was coming, I knew that I had a month after I moved to Penn until we stopped working together. It was something that was really bittersweet. I was so sad to end working with her and I was so happy and grateful for all the work we'd done together. And so definitely brought lots of tears to which I would be in session.

Like, I don't remember I'm crying. I don't like this. That she'd be like, I would be worried if you're not crying. Like this is a, this is a good thing. Safety . And so it brought lots of emotions and we were talking as we wrapped up our session about what I was going to work on in the next couple of years.

And of course I'll keep in contact with her and see her when I go home. But she made a comment. She said, and maybe not too long from now, you wouldn't even need therapy. And I was like, not. No, we'll stay there. B this is, well, we'll keep this for now. And it's crazy to think about that because therapy has now been a staple in my life for almost eight years since I was in sixth or seventh grade.

And it's changed over time. I've done outpatient. I've done inpatient. I've done. Group, family, individual, DBT, CBT, everything you can imagine I've done. And it's been so. Beneficial to my mental health, to my life, to my relationships. And so, again, it's just like wondering if I can handle the transition between therapist.

If I really think about it, I'm like, yeah, I can, but I get scared that emotion comes out and I'm like, can I handle this? Am I strong enough for that same thing with graduating quote, unquote graduating or not continuing therapy at some point in life? I think it's something I'd be able to do, but it's a really scary, daunting thing to not necessarily have that support system in place that I've now had for so long.

So I wanted to wrap this up by sharing a piece of wisdom that she gave me the end of our session. And she said the most valuable thing in life is validating other people and using your suffering to understand them. And that just spoke to me so strongly because I feel like that's exactly where I'm at with how I feel about my mental health journey. Now it gives me such a super power of being able to understand what individuals have gone through and speak to that experience with the podcast in life and constantly want to grow and improve and, and educate myself further. And I think that's something that's really cool that you don't really think about when you're in the struggle.

You don't think about how you can use your experience to then relate to others and help them feel better. But it's so true. It's a super power. So I just wanted to share that little update.

this week's podcast episode is sponsored by teen counseling. Teen counseling is an online therapy program with over 14,000 licensed therapists in their network. They offer support on things like depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, and more. What you do is you go to their website, you fill out a secure survey about what you're hoping to work on in therapy, whether that's decreasing stress related to school, improving your relationships, navigating feelings of depression, anxiety, whatever it is you want to focus on, they match you with a professional that can help support you there.

They send a super discreet email to your parents. Don't worry. I tried it. I sent it to myself. All it says is that Sadie or your child wants to talk to a licensed counselor on teen counseling.com.

They can then click a link to learn more about teen counseling and give consent for treatment. From there you meet with a professional counselor via video talk or text. So head to teencounseling.com/shepersisted to find a therapist that fits your needs today. Again, that's teen counseling.com/she persisted.

And with that, this week's episode is Victoria Garrick. She's a former D one volleyball player at USC. She has since graduated and is now a mental health advocate.

You can find her on Tik TOK, Instagram, her website. She has a podcast called real pod. She says, all of our social media is at the end of this interview. but she is just such an amazing individual in the mental health space. And again, I was so honored to have her come on, she persisted.

So let's dive into it.

Hey Victoria, thank you so much for coming on. She persisted. I'm so excited to have you here today. Yeah. Thank you for joining.

Victoria: Thanks, Sadie. I'm excited to be here and chat with you.

Sadie: Yeah. So diving right in going deep. Tell me your story. You've obviously overcome so much.

You've been through so much are now sharing your story. So walk me and listeners through, through that journey that led you to the mental health advocacy you're doing now.

Victoria: Of course. So I had my first experiences with mental health. Well, obviously my whole life I've, you know, had mental health and had times where I've been insecure, I'd struggled or whatnot, but I think it really became significant and severe for me in college and being a student athlete at USC, I played volleyball.

Was the first time I experienced performance anxiety. And

Sadie: I interrupt you diving deep. What did that performance anxiety feel like? Look like? What was that experience for people that aren't familiar with that,

Victoria: It's basically when you are anxious or fear doing pretty much what you do best, right?

And so for me, that was volleyball and. Really anxious before games, during games, you know, a hard to sleep at night because I was afraid of making mistakes and messing up and just very, very anxious around performing. So it didn't affect me like at the time socially or. You know, in school you know, I wasn't anxious about studying for tests and things like that.

Of course I had normal nerves, but my anxiety was very centered around volleyball which had to do a lot with the level I was playing at, which was division one. And at the time we were on, we were the number one team in the country. So there was a lot of pressure. And then as I went through that, I didn't really understand it.

And so, because I kept it a secret and I ignored what was really happening to me, things only got worse. And then my sophomore year was. I experienced a major depressive episode. And that was kind of the pivotal point for me, where I realized, you know, my mental health had really gotten through. Poor place and something that I never thought would happen to me because I was outgoing and I was driven and I was athletic.

You know, I just thought this one happened to me and I know that's really privileged way of thinking. And it was, and it is looking back on it now. But mental health can happen to anyone no matter who you are or where you are, what.

Sadie: Yeah, no, I wouldn't 100% agree with you there. And I think I relate to you a lot and then I didn't really realize what was going on and I didn't pay attention to it.

I wanted to ignore it and tuck it away. And if I were to ask for help, that would mean that it was real and too overwhelming for me to handle alone and that I couldn't just avoid it anymore and hide from my problems. And so really admitting like this is really difficult. I don't know what's going on.

This is outside of my comfort zone and I need support was. Easily the hardest thing. I did throughout my entire treatment journey because you're, you can't go back from that. And I that's good in a way, because you have this entire group of people in most cases, willing to utilize their resources and knowledge to support you and guide you through their journey.

But it's also really scary. And you, you fear being rejected or being told that what you're feeling is an okay, or isn't real or isn't right in all of these things. So I, I totally relate to you on that aspect. As a student athlete, you just talked about how much pressure students are under in high school and college.

And I kind of want to hear your perspective on that, what that experience is like and how student athletes can prioritize their mental health while also continuing to do what they love.

Victoria: Well being a student athlete is taking the normal level of classes and amount of classes that everyone else takes.

And then also playing for the sports team at the school, obviously, and that has its own hours, demands, homework, commitments, studying, et cetera. So it was just a lot of time and energy. And I didn't feel like I. I was prepared for it and I didn't know how to manage it or navigate it. And I think that is the biggest kind of issue or disconnect is these 18 year olds are thrown into this lifestyle that.

They don't know how to get through on their own most of the time. Right. And that's certainly what happened to me was I did my best. I tried to keep trucking along, but at some point there's too much to manage. I'm young. I don't know enough. And I'm not able to get through it in a healthy way. So.

For student athletes, you know, leaning on support, reaching out to people letting the school help you. If they have, if they have things set up to help you is really important. And I had to get over the stigma to lean on those resources, but I would encourage everyone to lean on the resources in their community if they have them or just loved ones in their life because you can't get through it.

Sadie: Yeah. So when you were struggling, you made the decision to step back and prioritize your mental health and really utilize those resources. Walk me through that decision and what that was like to, to tell people, you know, like my mental health is struggling and this isn't an option for me to maintain all of these things at this point.

Victoria: I was just talking with a teammate one day and I really trusted her. And I think I just got to a point where I was admitting, you know, this is really hard for me. How do you do this? And she said, oh, I see a psychologist at the health center. And that was kind of the first time I really. I could talk to someone and I never thought about going to therapy before.

And it was really weird for me to think about doing that. But she did it. And so it made me feel a little bit more okay. In doing it myself. And then I started meeting with a psychologist and then kept meeting with her once a week for the next two years until my senior year where I was in a much better place.

And I didn't need to wait.

Sadie: Was it difficult to tell your team, your coach, all of that kind of thing, that, that you weren't going to participate anymore? What was that reaction like? Were people supportive? Were they validating, did they understand where you were coming from? Are there, were they upset that you were taking a step back?

Victoria: wasn't until my junior year that I, so first started seeing a therapist and maybe being in my sophomore year. At the end of my junior season is when I took a mental health leave for about two, three months. And it was, it worked out for me in the sense that we were having a coaching staff change and.

In the program was kind of like up in the air and lots of things were changing in the administration. So for me to like take this break was, it was almost like perfect timing because so many things were going on that it wasn't even going to be like organized training. Anyways. I'm just waiting for the new coach to calm, whatever that was.

So that timing worked out and I was able to take the break. You know, when I did take that. It is tough when you're a part of the team and you put yourself first. Everyone wanted a break, everyone deserved a break. I asked for it and the athletic department gave it to me, which I was so grateful for, but it's definitely tough feeling like you are putting yourself first and kind of walking away from your team in a sense when you are an athlete and putting the team first and not thinking about yourself as a part of like what's ingrained in us from the get-go.

Sadie: Yeah, I think it's really interesting. And I was really lucky in that I was able, and my family was able to pretty much drop everything. When my mental health got really bad. Left a random week in the middle of freshman year and did four months of residential treatment and then did 14 months of therapeutic boarding school.

So I was really able to drop everything I was away for a year and a half, and that's something that's not necessarily accessible to everyone. And it wasn't perfect timing like. Well, if I could have done it over the summer, or I, I could have left before I started high school, like that would have worked better, but it got to a point where I wasn't able to go to school.

I wasn't able to show up for these commitments that I had made because without my mental health, I had nothing, no energy to output into any of these other things. And so. If you don't take the breaks that you need to, it becomes impossible to keep up with these things that you're so passionate about.

And that seemed more important.

Victoria: I think it's great that you shared that because I got lucky with my timing. Right. But like Susan had ended and I could, I could step out and. Whereas you didn't have that experience. And I w I think that's really real for people to understand is like, it might not be the timing you want, you might get lucky or, or, or you might have to miss out on something that you were so excited about.

Like your first year at college or prom or something like that. It's worth it in the long ride. I'm sure you feel that way now because you figured out how to deal with something and set yourself up to better navigate it. And now you can do all these really cool, fun things and live your life because you took care of it when you needed it.

Sadie: A hundred percent. And when I look back, like when I entered treatment, I was suicidally, severely depressed in and out of the hospital, struggling in a very acute way. I left treatment, having not struggled with depression or anxiety for two years now. And if I hadn't gone into treatment at that point, I don't, I didn't know if I would be here at this point.

So you are sometimes forced to take breaks and I was. Backed into a corner. There weren't any other options. It wasn't like I was like, mom, dad, I think the best option is for me to leave home. They were like, this is what we're doing. And I'm so grateful for that. But it's, it's very true. I'm forever grateful and it changed the entire course of my life.

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So I want to dive into body image and your journey there. Talk to me about what that was like for you. And, and what that still like for you today?

Victoria: With body image. I think the most pivotal part in my relationship with myself was. When I did become a college athlete and I was Olympic lifting and gaining weight muscle fat all of it and my body was changing and I was kind of getting farther away from skinny and you know, my whole life, that was the type of body.

With praise and that I thought I wanted to be in, needed to be, to be validated. It'd be beautiful and all those things. So it was really hard for me when I started gaining weight and my body changed. Eventually I was able to appreciate, you know, what my strong body was doing for me and start to question the narrative around that there's one body.

And that was really helpful for me because. I thought, huh. You know, being muscular and bigger and having that and whatever else comes with a body, that's trying to allow me to play sports at my dream level, like is a beautiful thing. And I was able to really flip the switch on how I viewed myself and then, you know, come my senior year and my graduating, I miss being muscular.

And I feel frail and it's funny how that can happen.

Sadie: Yeah, it's a total shift. So you've been really open with struggling with binge-eating and how you are now able to implement intuitive eating. So I kind of want to talk about that, what that was initially like for you when you realized I want to make a shift with my relationship with food and what that shift was.

Victoria: Yes. So I had. Trying to combat my weight gain by restricting and counting calories and all those things. And then I would be so hungry and stressed and that I would cope with food and that's kind of what led me down the binge eating cycle. And so in repairing my relationship with food. I had been. So like in the thick of diet culture that I couldn't go on a diet or have an eating regimen that just wasn't gonna work for me anymore.

What really needed to happen was I needed to get back in touch with my self and my intuition, and really listen to if I was hungry and what I was craving and what sounded like it would taste good and all those things. And that's the practice of intuitive eating. A mindfulness practice that incorporates rational thought and emotions and awareness.

And if anyone's interested in intuitive eating, you know, I recommend you check out the book by at least rationale in AAA or the intuitive eating workbook by Elise rash or Janine Ross books are my personal favorite. And now I am able to have a really healthy relationship with food and have no restrictions.

That is the thing that people who binge it's shocking to them. It's like, how do I stop bingeing stop restricting? And it's really hard for vendors to think about stopping restricting because they feel like they're going to absolutely lose control around food, but it's like, you're already losing control around food because you're not allowing yourself to eat and listen to your body.

And once you do, there's nothing sexy or enticing about the binge. Yeah, you can eat whenever you want.

Sadie: No, I remember the exact same thing. And I remember I would talk to my therapist and I would be like, after, like, what am I even supposed to do? And she was like, you wake up and you eat like normal the next day and you don't do anything different.

And that night, the next night, it's not going to be as overwhelming and all the emotions come up. And I remember one of my most effective skills was I knew I was also on a medication at the time. Made me super hungry so that didn't help. But I would plan. I'd be like, okay, I'm going to eat my two bags of goldfish before I go to bed.

And that's my snack and it's not bad. It's not something negative that I'm going to attach feelings for and then get, feel overwhelmed and out of control of my emotions and take that out somewhere else. And that was something that was really, really effective. I want to ask you about kind of rewiring thought patterns around relationship to food and body image, because that's such a pivotal part of that.

It's an internal monologue. It's something that you are overwhelmed by. Are there certain thoughts that you have that you intentionally rewire and shift and, and narratives you like to change when they pop up for you? I

Victoria: think for the most part, my relationship with food is, is really healthy and I feel blessed to be there now.

However, Of course, I have moments or days where a thought creeps in on, have I eaten too much cheese or if I look at everything I've eaten today, it's not healthy. And you know, those, those words and those triggers come back to me. So I think the thing that I try to always redirect to is okay, like I trust myself number one, number two, I've been through a lot with food.

So I understand why I'm having these thoughts or why X, Y, Z is happening. I have compassion for myself. And three let's take a deep breath. Figure out how to navigate this. So I think it's really just pausing having that kindness and compassion with myself and taking whatever step is next. I think with diet dieting and history of dieting, it's easy for people to be like, ah, oh my God, I ate this.

I gotta freak out. I gotta eat that. I got to lose 10 pounds tomorrow. I got to like, you know, you free your mind. Just bring it back in. Okay. How, how does this make you feel? Do I understand about this? Okay. What I want to do next, just deep breath. And you know, you don't have to make all these crazy up and down decisions.

Sadie: And even just creating the space to be aware of the thoughts that are going through your head. I know, I remember I was sitting in therapy almost four years ago now, and I was talking to this therapist and she was like, okay, what are the thoughts that are going through your head when you go and look in the mirror?

And I was like, I don't even know. It just happened so quick. I just died nothing. She was like, well, that's not possible because you're saying that your emotion shifted. So what's going on there. And I like took a minute to. This is the six different places that my eyes looked. And this is the 60 different thoughts that I had and creating the awareness and the space for those thoughts.

Instead of suppressing them, allowed me to feel the emotions and process through them rather than avoiding them and feeling so overwhelmed. And that was hugely effective. So, so many freshmen are moving, adjusting to college right now.

And you spoke to your experience of feeling overwhelmed by that transitioning, struggling, navigating that shift. What is your advice to students that are coming into college and are like, this is a totally new experience. I don't feel prepared for what's going on here. I don't know what to do.

Victoria: I would say, first of all, that's normal.

A lot of people feel that way. Right. And I think that I remember kind of being drawn to be something that I wasn't like, you know, because of all those feelings you're like, okay, well then how should I dress? And what should I say? And who should I hang out with? Sort of really take a step back and be like, okay, there's a lot going on.

This is normal. How can I like what feels genuine to me and the relationships I want to build and the things that I want to do and really stay true to yourself throughout the process and all the chaos and navigating it

Sadie: a hundred percent. What are your favorite practices, resources, principles that you implement now to maintain, improve your mental health?

Victoria: I would say that. Really taking care of myself, you know, self care that buzzword has been a big, you know, like shows that really, I like to watch. I like, I love the voice. So I watched the voice on Mondays and Tuesdays, I make the time also time with family and friends and also Making sure that I'm not going to burn out.

I think I have a tendency to like work really hard and overwork and make all these goals and do all these things. And then I hit burnout and then I like don't have anything left in me. So that's something I'm trying to strike a balance with of like, how can I work hard and integrate self-care so I can maintain this for a long period of time.

Instead of being like super determined and driven and accomplish lots of things and then like crawl in my bed and. Crawl in my bed hybrid in my bed and like roller on my apartment for like three months and then get back, you know, so trying to strike a balance there. And also being honest with myself and honest with others, if I can't make something, I don't want to do something.

Just being honest about, you know, I don't have enough energy left or this doesn't, this isn't a place I want to put my time this week. And really prioritizing what is important.

Sadie: A hundred percent. I totally agree with you there. And I think that that makes a lot of sense and is applicable to, so, so, so many people I want to ask you about being vulnerable, and sharing your story with so many people.

It can be scary. Sometimes it can be overwhelming. What's been your experience there. Are you looking back? You're like, there's no regrets. I'm so glad I shared what I went through or are there moments where you're like, wow, this is a lot of people that are looking to me for support and to constantly be that, that resource and, and inspiration.

Victoria: It's super exciting. And I felt really grateful to have that also I definitely do feel a pressure that comes along with it. And maybe you feel that same way, you know, starting to talk about mental health and have people look to you to have these conversations, then share your thoughts on them.

It's a beautiful thing, but also sometimes I Do carry that weight of, you know, like needing to inspire and needing to say the right thing. And I don't, I don't always know the right thing and I still struggle. So you know, all of that has just been something that I have navigated over the years, but overall, I think it is such a special thing in this world to like show up as ourselves and be accepted.

And for that, you know, super great.

Sadie: I love it. I love it. My last question, which I like to ask all my guests, what are your current like top three mental health habits, resources, tips, tricks you talked about in general kind of creating balance in your life, but is there a book you're loving a podcast you're listening to going on a walk every day, things like that.

Victoria: I think that working out has been something I've been trying to do. It's really hard. And I think when people hear about working out, they think like, oh, it's about the aesthetic and the body image part of it. But for me, it really makes my body feel so, so good. And I want to like, get the serotonin and like release the endorphins and swag my heart.

So that is something I've been trying to do more of is like move my body and as hard as it is to get going it's always something that makes me happy once I've done it.

Sadie: Yeah. I love it. I love it. Anything else that you're loving?

Victoria: I also would say quality time with people. I think a lot of what I do is online and it's connecting through a phone.

So being able to. Put that away and just talk to someone and go on a walk and connect really is something that makes me feel present and joyful these days, especially coming out of pandemic. I love it.

Sadie: Yeah. A hundred percent. Where can people find you connect with you continue to consume your content.

Victoria: They can find me on Instagram at betray Garrick, and then in my bio is probably every other thing. LinkedIn bio. So and my podcast is called real applied. So that is where they can connect with me. And thanks so much for having me on and letting me be a part of this conversation with your. I think, you know, teen mental health is so important and it's a pivotal time in life.

So to really start thinking about these things and getting aware of them is everything because I didn't really fully start to understand. So I was like 18.

Sadie: Yeah, no, a hundred percent. And when we think about teenagers, they're already like biologically more susceptible to feeling intense emotions. They haven't had the time to create a resource in a network of support for themselves because so much of their life is already determined.

So if you can build those skills early on, when you do experience challenges, like every single person does, you're able to navigate those with ease and with confidence and with an ability to cope, which I think is just so, so, so important.

To recap this week's episode, Victoria. And I talked all about student athlete, mental health, improving your mental health as a college student, and how to navigate that transition, intuitive eating and her favorite tips, tricks, resources there.

What it's like to struggle with body image and Benji dang her experiences again, and all sorts of mental health tips and tricks from her story.

If you enjoyed this week's episode, please share with a friend, family member or post about it on social media. Make sure you're subscribed to the show. So you don't miss any future episodes and leave a five-star review on apple podcast. Let me know what you think. Thanks for listening. And I'll see you next.

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