What If I Can? Confidence, Courage, and Reinventing Your Life

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Welcome to Loud and Lifted. Today's episode is

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such a good reminder that it's not too late to

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do something big. In fact, it may be exactly

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the right time. I sit down with Jeannie Zappe,

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speaker, swim coach, and founder of Eternal Optimist.

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At 56, Jeannie completed the triple crown of

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open water swimming, which included a 29 -mile

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swim around Manhattan, a 21 -mile swim across

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the English Channel, and a 21 -mile swim across

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the Catalina Channel. Now, that most of us can't

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relate to. But what I love most about Jeannie's

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story is that this isn't about endurance swimming.

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Before all of this, she spent 20 years in information

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technology, serving in several senior leadership

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roles within higher education. Then in 2010,

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she made a major pivot, listened to her gut,

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and reinvented herself as a swim coach, returning

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to something she loved earlier in life. In 2021,

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she launched the Eternal Optimist, a motivational

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speaking and swim coaching business. So yes,

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Jeannie has accomplished some extraordinary things

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that most of us can't even wrap our head around.

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But the bigger reason I wanted to have her on

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is because her story speaks to something so many

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women wrestle with. with quietly. Did I miss

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my window? Is it too late to reinvent myself?

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Can I still do something bold, meaningful, and

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maybe even a little crazy? Jeannie's whole message

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centers around one powerful question. What if

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I can? And honestly, that is a much better question

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than the ones most of us tend to ask ourselves.

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This conversation is about courage, confidence,

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reinvention, and what it looks like to stop counting

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yourself out before you even begin. Welcome to

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Loud and Lifted, Jeannie. Thank you so much for

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being here. Thank you for having me, Betsy. I

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am glad that you're not working like a really

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hard week in the Cayman Islands or anything like

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that. You're home, you're local, and you're...

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podcast. Yes. It's a good place to be, even though

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the Cayman was wonderful. Yeah. Yes. We're going

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to talk about why you were in the Cayman the

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other week in just a minute. So before we get

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into your very interesting life today, just talk

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us through of just your background, who you are

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and how you got to where you are today. Well,

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at 60 years old, that's, I'll try to, you know,

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and I can't even believe I'm saying that number,

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but I am A coach from Mechanicsburg lived a long

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time in Lewisburg and worked at Bucknell and

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in a different career which was IT, IT support

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and landed here in Mechanicsburg 15 years ago

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where my coaching definitely has grown and one

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thing led to another when I was getting some

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certification to be a better coach. I discovered

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open water swimming and a one -mile swim around

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a lake in 2010 has led to channels and channels

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and channels. So you grew up doing the traditional

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swimming in a pool inside of high school, whatever,

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rec center type of swim. And then at what age

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did you decide that you should go to open waters?

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I was kind of a late -onset swimmer, which sounds

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kind of crazy at 8th grade, kind of late. I grew

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up with an above -ground pool in the backyard,

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and my sisters and I, you know, doing handstands

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and making whirlpools. But my parents always

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thought it was really important that we know

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how to swim. And I took swimming lessons at Knoebels.

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And when we moved right before 8th grade, we

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moved to a school that had an indoor pool. And

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they put us on the swim team. Actually, my mom

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and dad put me in adult swim lessons the summer

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after seventh grade. And I did not fit in, clearly.

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And the coach came over and went, get out of

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there and go on the swim team. You'll learn everything

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you need to learn on the swim team. And that

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was probably a big understatement. And so I became

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a swimmer in high school. and in Bloomsburg at

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Central Columbia and loved it. It was my my thing.

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And but I I took it down. I'm swimming at Penn

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State. I just didn't know anything about collegiate

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swimming. And I didn't even try and didn't walk

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on, didn't contact the coach, nothing. But I

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continue to swim and swim for fitness my whole

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life. And I raced a little bit in my in my mid

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40s, I think, in a pool. And then, I don't know,

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I got certified in efficient freestyle, teaching

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efficient freestyle. And everybody in the class

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seemed to be triathletes or open water swimmers.

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And here I was an IT person coming to get certified

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in efficient freestyle coaching. And then I thought

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I should try it out. And that was in 2010. So

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at that point, you decided, hey, I mean, swimming

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has always been a part of your life. It's been

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a passion, something you're comfortable with.

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But then it seems like you probably were really

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stepping outside your comfort zone of entering

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these open waters. which is a whole level of

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swimming, right? Like you talk about swimming,

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swimming the English channel or in water outside

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Manhattan, like that just gives me anxiety thinking

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about letting go of the distance. So what made

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you want to do that? And especially at that age,

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you know, you weren't you were 25, right? This

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wasn't like out of college. Yeah, I think I was

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45. And I think the first time I went into a

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lake in Hazelton, and did a one mile swim, I

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felt It was a combination of swimming and adventure.

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And it scared me, but it excited me more than

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it scared me. And I have a quote all over my

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house that says, do something, I think it's right

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up there, do something every day that scares

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you. And I think it's Eleanor Roosevelt, but

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I'm not sure. And I think it scared me, but.

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It was so exciting and I swam a mile so easily

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in freestyle and in high school I was not a good

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freestyler. I was a breaststroker, a butterflyer.

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Freestyle perplexed me. I just didn't know how

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to make it feel good or be fast. But now that

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I was coaching and I thought, you know, if I

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want to be a better coach, I better walk the

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walk. I can't just tell people how to swim more

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efficiently. I have to... do it so that it was

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like my lab like I learned how to coach by doing

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it and One mile led to two miles led to three

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miles led to six led to swimming down the Hudson

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in various stages of hard swims and and eventually

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Being invited on to some relays around Manhattan

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across the English Channel and Catalina Channel.

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I did them all by in six -person relays, where

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I didn't know what I was saying yes to, but I

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did. I said yes. And at the West Shore Y pool,

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a friend of mine who was 78 years old at the

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time said, do you want my spot on a Manhattan

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relay? I'm busy that day. And I didn't know what

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I was saying to Ted, but I just said yes. And

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before I knew it, I had an email that night welcoming

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me to the relay. I didn't know what I was doing

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swimming around Manhattan. So after you said

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yes, did you have second thoughts? After you

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saw that email, were you like, oh my gosh, what

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did I get myself into? How did you kind of keep

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going forward? I asked them. I said, don't you

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want to know anything about me? they're like

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now you're replacing ted you're fine you know

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so i thought okay i can do this yeah i had second

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thoughts um and then when i got there they said

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you're starting off you're leading us like so

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you have to jump in down by in the battery looking

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at the statue of liberty and start swimming in

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the east river But at the same time, this stuff

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scared me. But also I had confidence in my swimming,

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not in my open water swimming so much, but I

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had confidence in my own swimming ability enough

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that I could jump in. And when you're on a relay,

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you're doing what you're doing for five other

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people. You know, like I'm not alone. But so

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there's pressure there to not go check, please.

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I'm not going to jump in. which some people do

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and unfortunately they get to the English channel

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and they go check please I'm not getting in and

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that's not good but I yeah I I think I had the

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the encouragement of relay teams and and swimming

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for others and I wanted to do my best so I love

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that and if you think about that from a professional

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setting, right? Like we talk a lot about to build

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your confidence, you have to step outside your

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comfort zone. And people listening to this probably

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can't relate to swimming the English channel,

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but they can think about, oh, I've been hesitant

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to talk up in a meeting. I've been hesitant to

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ask for a promotion. Whatever it is, it's usually

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probably verbal, not physical for most of us.

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But has a different mental sort of approach.

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So how do you relate that to most of us listening

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to this aren't going to go swim 10 miles in terms

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of like living that in your everyday? Like how

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do we get that confidence and how do we have

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the opportunity to raise our hands, pay something

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at a meeting, but how do you sort of like look

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at that from a professional situation? Yeah,

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from a normal person situation. I mean, you said

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it, not me. I was going to introduce myself as

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a normal person. person, a normal woman, mother,

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you know, and, um, and then I realized, I, but

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I am normal. Like, I'm just, I'm not any different

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than anybody else. You do extraordinary things

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though. Well, thank you. You know, I really feel

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like we get one life and this is not, you know,

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you've, you've heard it before. It's not a dry

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run. It's not a practice, you know, and, uh,

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we, you know, live your life and live it, live

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it well and live it big. And You know that from

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Duck Donuts and your whole previous experience

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and taking a risk and being a CEO and all that

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goes along with that. I think when I talk to

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people about what I do and the mental side of

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what I do, it's really a mental thing. People

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think it's a physical thing that I do, but the

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physical thing happens because I swim all the

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time and I train and I... like yesterday was

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five thousand yards today will be five thousand

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tomorrow be something else. But i think you take

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little steps right and you know if it's speaking

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up in a meeting start speaking up with in a smaller

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in you know environment i didn't go. You know

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in twenty ten from a one mile swim in the lake.

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to 29 miles around Manhattan or 21 miles across

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the English Channel. That took from 2010 to 2021

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and 2022. So you know, if it's reaching out to

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somebody that you're afraid to talk to, picking

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up the phone when somebody says, you know, Betsy,

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you should talk to Jeannie. And, you know, because

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Kara said that to you, you know, and then you're

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like, Hey, Jeannie, let's talk. And and I say,

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Hey, Betsy, let's talk. And so you start small.

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and in safer environments, and you practice in

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small, safer environments, and build that confidence.

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So every day that I went to the pool and I did

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something that was a little difficult, or I went

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into the Hudson and swam a harder swim, I built

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that confidence. You know that. I think from

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your experience that you don't go from zero to

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60. I think the biggest thing that I that I use

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all the time is say yes. Just say yes. Like if

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somebody says at work, do you want this opportunity

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to lead this little, this team? But you're out

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of your comfort zone. But somebody is saying

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that they have confidence in you. So why would

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you say no to that? You know, say yes, you will

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figure it out. What's the worst that can happen

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in most cases? Like, I'm not talking about jumping

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out of an airplane, which I won't do, by the

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way. And, you know, I will jump off of boats

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in the middle of the Pacific, which my son says

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is what his nightmares are made of. But, you

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know, I wouldn't walk into a class at the Y a

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few years ago. I was afraid to walk into an exercise

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class at the Y because I thought somebody would

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judge me and say, You don't belong here. You

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don't know the moves. You don't know how to lift.

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You don't know how to do this or that. And I

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found out that I walked into the Y with friends.

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I reached out to friends and said, do you want

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to go with me? And we walked in and found a very

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welcoming environment. So it's never what you

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think it is. One of my favorite quotes recently

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is, if we can... If we can imagine the worst

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happening, why can't we imagine the best happening?

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That's so great. That's true. You know, if we

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take a risk, in all likelihood, it's going to

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work out. Right. In some regard. Yeah, absolutely.

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And you hit so many good points. And you're right.

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So many times we think we have to be 100 % buttoned

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up. before we raise our hand, take the promotion,

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apply for another job. And the reality is no

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one ever is 100 % ready, but it's during the

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training, to your point, that you can along the

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way, and then saying yes, taking that risk, because

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what's the worst that can happen? In your case,

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there could been some crazy things that happen

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to me. But in a professional setting, a lot of

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times, it's just what's the worst that can happen?

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Like you might need support, you might need to

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get other additional feedback on how to do something.

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But a lot of times it's just, it's moving forward

00:14:28.019 --> 00:14:30.279
and taking that risk. But what's the best that

00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:34.580
can happen? What if you take a risk and your

00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:39.259
boss says, wow, you're a natural leader? Or what

00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:42.320
if you decide to change careers? I had a 20 -year

00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:45.940
career, you changed careers. I had a 20 -year

00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:50.740
IT career. And one day I woke up and said, I'm

00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:53.299
not an IT person anymore, or I don't think I

00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:56.379
am. And I don't think I want to. I don't think

00:14:56.379 --> 00:14:58.820
this is feeding my soul. Not that every job feeds

00:14:58.820 --> 00:15:04.220
your soul. But I think I just had run the gamut

00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:06.759
at what I had done. I had all the positions I

00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:10.740
wanted. I got a new boss and the boss said, what

00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:13.019
do you want to do? And I said, I think I'm done.

00:15:13.419 --> 00:15:16.259
I think I just did everything I wanted to do

00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:19.240
there. And I did not know that I was going to

00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:22.259
go back to coaching, which I did in college.

00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:25.620
as my summer job, but I always wanted to be a

00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:30.240
coach. So I finally listened to my heart at age

00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.519
45 and said, you know, how am I going to, how

00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:36.679
am I going to listen to my heart? I always wanted

00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:39.480
to be a coach. And when I went off to Penn State,

00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:42.700
I just didn't know what to major in. How could

00:15:42.700 --> 00:15:44.960
I be a coach? I thought I needed to be a teacher

00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:49.360
to be a coach. I didn't ask anybody. I just tried

00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.259
to solve everything myself. Isn't there a lesson

00:15:52.259 --> 00:15:55.419
in that? Yes. Oh my gosh. Well, and it's funny.

00:15:55.580 --> 00:15:57.460
I have an 18 year old going to college, you know,

00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.580
in the fall and we're asking these babies essentially

00:16:01.580 --> 00:16:04.019
to make a decision about what they major in,

00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:05.299
what they want to be when they grow up. They

00:16:05.299 --> 00:16:06.840
have no idea, right? They only know what they've

00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:08.779
been exposed to. But even as you're going through

00:16:08.779 --> 00:16:10.720
college and you get your first job, I mean, I

00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:12.419
remember that panic of being like, okay, is this

00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:14.500
what I'm doing? for the rest of my life. Like

00:16:14.500 --> 00:16:17.200
you don't have to be stuck. And even I love that

00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:20.419
you were doing this career for 20 years and 20

00:16:20.419 --> 00:16:22.500
years into it. You're like, you know what, I

00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:24.220
think I need to go do something different. And

00:16:24.220 --> 00:16:27.759
that takes such courage, right? And, and probably

00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:31.279
support around you. But what gave you that courage

00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:33.899
to say, you know what, I need to, I need to totally

00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:35.919
switch gears here and go a different direction.

00:16:36.379 --> 00:16:40.379
My head to really good. work friends who had

00:16:40.379 --> 00:16:44.139
left before me in the organization and one and

00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:47.500
one left to go consult and One was working somewhere

00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:51.740
else and I distinctly remember Them taking me

00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:54.159
out for dinner when they came back to visit and

00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:59.100
they said Jeannie You can let go You it's okay.

00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:02.759
You can let go and I don't think if they would

00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:06.089
have told me that I could let go I would have.

00:17:06.210 --> 00:17:08.210
I also came home and told my husband, I have

00:17:08.210 --> 00:17:11.029
to tell you something and you can't say no to

00:17:11.029 --> 00:17:15.549
it. And he said, what is it? And I said, I have

00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:17.990
to quit my job. And he said, what are you going

00:17:17.990 --> 00:17:21.849
to do? And I said, I don't know, but I know that

00:17:21.849 --> 00:17:24.809
there has to be something else and something

00:17:24.809 --> 00:17:27.890
else that feeds my soul. And in some regard,

00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:31.789
you know, I can't be crying in the parking lot

00:17:31.789 --> 00:17:35.069
of the Chinese restaurant every day. because

00:17:35.069 --> 00:17:38.170
I didn't want to install email systems anymore.

00:17:39.509 --> 00:17:42.230
Giving somebody a new email system is never good

00:17:42.230 --> 00:17:45.710
news. It's like, oh, we're changing technology

00:17:45.710 --> 00:17:50.369
on you again. I'm sorry. I was always apologizing

00:17:50.369 --> 00:17:53.109
and I'm sorry we're making things so difficult

00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:56.250
for you. I'm sorry the internet is up or down

00:17:56.250 --> 00:17:59.470
or email is up or down. And I wanted to make

00:17:59.470 --> 00:18:03.130
a difference in somebody's life. So thank God.

00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:07.410
that Chris said, it's okay. You know, I don't

00:18:07.410 --> 00:18:11.230
think he had a choice, but it took a while to

00:18:11.230 --> 00:18:13.509
figure out what it was I was going to do and

00:18:13.509 --> 00:18:16.769
how I was going to do it. So do you think you

00:18:16.769 --> 00:18:19.309
would have made that decision or felt comfortable

00:18:19.309 --> 00:18:21.470
making that decision if you didn't have the support

00:18:21.470 --> 00:18:24.150
of your friends and family? I don't think so.

00:18:24.269 --> 00:18:27.369
I think I needed, you know, obviously, you know,

00:18:27.450 --> 00:18:29.470
Chris has been patient with me as I built my

00:18:29.470 --> 00:18:35.319
business and rebuilt an income. I think that

00:18:35.319 --> 00:18:38.000
a lot of people didn't really, you know, why

00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:40.400
would I leave a job like that? A stable job,

00:18:40.740 --> 00:18:43.779
right? You get a paycheck every other week. Yep.

00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:48.099
And I had leadership positions and whatnot, and

00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:53.400
I was probably somewhat good at it. Yeah, I think

00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:57.099
you know, I had a friend who I saw Surprisingly,

00:18:57.460 --> 00:19:01.099
it was my son's coach my son swim coach At a

00:19:01.099 --> 00:19:04.000
funeral and of all places and he said we need

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.480
to get you coaching again And I didn't know what

00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:09.940
I was going to do when I had left my job, but

00:19:09.940 --> 00:19:13.680
I said I don't know how to coach anymore. And

00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:17.660
he said yeah you do and you're gonna call me

00:19:17.660 --> 00:19:21.359
and I haven't coached since college and I met

00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.400
him at the pool. I thought we were both getting

00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:28.059
in. No, I got in and he corrected all my strokes.

00:19:28.059 --> 00:19:31.839
Oh, funny. And I was like, oh, at 45, you know.

00:19:32.180 --> 00:19:34.559
But I started coaching and I coached for a while.

00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:39.519
And I got to coach my son and his friends. And

00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.220
it was the time of my life to share that with

00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:47.059
my son, Matt, and his whole swim career. I got

00:19:47.059 --> 00:19:49.930
to share with him and. That was really special

00:19:49.930 --> 00:19:52.950
and his friends. So when you were coaching beyond

00:19:52.950 --> 00:19:56.190
the technical, right, fixing people's performance,

00:19:56.269 --> 00:19:59.150
what were you trying to instill into sounds like

00:19:59.150 --> 00:20:01.549
mostly kids? What was some of the platforms that

00:20:01.549 --> 00:20:03.890
you really leaned to as a coach? That's a really

00:20:03.890 --> 00:20:06.769
good question. And I think you really get me,

00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:11.029
even though we just met. I think I teach confidence

00:20:11.029 --> 00:20:15.869
through swimming. I teach self -esteem and I

00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:21.839
teach self -belief. and I like them to get rid

00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:26.759
of limiting beliefs. And the vessel or the mechanism

00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:31.079
is swimming. But what I really care about is

00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:34.740
that they believe in themselves and that if they,

00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:40.500
that hard work, focus, grit, I'm sure you've

00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:44.660
probably seen. Angela Duckworth and her lovely

00:20:44.660 --> 00:20:48.680
Ted talk and book called grit and, you know,

00:20:48.819 --> 00:20:52.920
focus toward a single goal over a long period

00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:58.799
of time. You know, will with a lot of grit and

00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:02.079
grittiness will actually is more successful than

00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:06.539
raw talent and and not having that same. work

00:21:06.539 --> 00:21:09.279
ethic. So yeah, when I coach these kids, I do

00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:12.140
a lot of, yeah, I coach, I change their strokes,

00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:14.400
and I change their starts and turns. And I help

00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:17.319
them with strategy. But I help them with mindset.

00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:20.059
And I help them with self belief and confidence.

00:21:20.940 --> 00:21:23.700
And everybody, not everybody, I was gonna say

00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:25.700
everybody stopped swimming at some point. But

00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:29.279
that's not true. Here I am. But you know, the

00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:31.119
a lot of competitive swimmers will stop swimming

00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:34.920
at some point. And but who are they and and what

00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:37.700
did swimming do for them as part of their story?

00:21:38.380 --> 00:21:42.059
And, you know, my son texted me two days ago

00:21:42.059 --> 00:21:46.259
and said, sharing swimming with you growing up

00:21:46.259 --> 00:21:48.779
and having you as my coach and doing all the

00:21:48.779 --> 00:21:50.559
meets with you and everything was the greatest

00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:55.599
joy of my life. And I. I totally agree. It was

00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.400
one of the greatest joys in my life to be able

00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:02.500
to share that with him and everything that he

00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:07.059
learned through that process. He can't tell you

00:22:07.059 --> 00:22:09.920
some of his times, but he can tell you who he

00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.859
swam with, what relays he was on, the difficulty

00:22:13.859 --> 00:22:16.940
that he overcame when he was injured or didn't

00:22:16.940 --> 00:22:19.940
get something that he wanted, didn't make it

00:22:19.940 --> 00:22:23.071
to a certain meet. Those are the things that...

00:22:23.069 --> 00:22:26.609
that built us as humans. So I don't really care

00:22:26.609 --> 00:22:28.190
about the swimming. I mean, I love the swimming

00:22:28.190 --> 00:22:31.329
and I have a passion for swimming, but I love

00:22:31.329 --> 00:22:34.190
my relationships with the kids. That's so great.

00:22:34.529 --> 00:22:36.349
I just noticed that and I can't remember it off

00:22:36.349 --> 00:22:39.089
the top of my head, but it was about the percentage

00:22:39.089 --> 00:22:41.529
of women who are in leadership positions who

00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:43.470
played sports. And it didn't have to be college.

00:22:43.589 --> 00:22:50.640
It could have been high school. sport. It's beyond

00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:53.359
swimming. It's about being able to deal with

00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:56.220
resilience and competition and building confidence

00:22:56.220 --> 00:22:58.819
to what you talked about earlier. And, and I

00:22:58.819 --> 00:23:01.339
think that's the part that runs parallel. And

00:23:01.339 --> 00:23:04.359
I love that my girls play sports or play volleyball

00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:06.759
because it helps to build that. And it gives

00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:09.539
you the teamwork. And when someone's to challenge

00:23:09.539 --> 00:23:12.299
on your team or on your relay, you know, it's

00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:14.339
there's all these parallels to this isn't just

00:23:14.339 --> 00:23:17.650
about sports. This is about like, your life and

00:23:17.650 --> 00:23:20.289
how you're able to be better when you go through

00:23:20.289 --> 00:23:23.250
these things. So kind of going back to your building

00:23:23.250 --> 00:23:26.490
the confidence and the limiting the beliefs.

00:23:26.730 --> 00:23:28.829
And I always show a picture when I talk about

00:23:28.829 --> 00:23:31.190
confidence of this woman who's like absolutely

00:23:31.190 --> 00:23:34.109
right, like six pack, beautiful shoulders. I'm

00:23:34.109 --> 00:23:36.410
like, I want to look like her. Well, that's great.

00:23:37.069 --> 00:23:39.230
Want to look like her i'm going to have to go

00:23:39.230 --> 00:23:42.609
to the gym go every day have a plan Be consistent

00:23:42.609 --> 00:23:45.329
and that's the part where it's like I think sometimes

00:23:45.329 --> 00:23:49.269
we disconnect of there's work that goes into

00:23:49.269 --> 00:23:51.890
building your confidence and your courage and

00:23:51.890 --> 00:23:54.410
And being able to be consistent about it because

00:23:54.410 --> 00:23:55.990
that's the hard part. We can think about it.

00:23:56.009 --> 00:23:59.769
Absolutely. Absolutely One of your messages that

00:23:59.769 --> 00:24:02.670
I see you talk a lot about is optimism and I

00:24:02.670 --> 00:24:05.140
love Optimism, I think I'm a fairly optimistic

00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:08.500
person. So tell me how that plays into all this

00:24:08.500 --> 00:24:11.160
and into the mindset as you're working with,

00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:14.680
whether it's kids in a pool or just from a professional

00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:17.859
career standpoint, how do we approach optimism?

00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.740
I think that it's a choice. You know, I think

00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:26.660
some people think that, and maybe some people

00:24:26.660 --> 00:24:32.119
are born more glass half full than others. But

00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:35.660
I also think it's a conscious choice, don't you?

00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:39.519
I mean, you have the choice like anybody else

00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:44.740
to say, you know, it's gonna be a bad day, or,

00:24:44.779 --> 00:24:48.259
you know, it might just be a great day. And now

00:24:48.259 --> 00:24:50.779
it's not every day. And it's not all the time,

00:24:50.779 --> 00:24:53.680
right? I think it's impossible to be optimistic

00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:56.880
all the time. And I was really worried about

00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:59.819
naming my business Eternal Optimist, because

00:24:59.819 --> 00:25:03.009
I thought, people are gonna say to me I can't

00:25:03.009 --> 00:25:07.650
have a bad day and I can't be sad and I can't

00:25:07.650 --> 00:25:10.549
Be normal, you know, just kind of like letting

00:25:10.549 --> 00:25:13.529
life get a hold of me and sure enough people

00:25:13.529 --> 00:25:15.509
do say that they're like But Jeannie you're the

00:25:15.509 --> 00:25:18.190
eternal optimist, you know, you can't have a

00:25:18.190 --> 00:25:23.650
bad day, but I can and I do and But if given

00:25:23.650 --> 00:25:26.579
the choice and when given the choice uh glass

00:25:26.579 --> 00:25:29.299
half full and i and i know that i've been like

00:25:29.299 --> 00:25:33.519
that my my very good college friend sean uh and

00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:38.240
i always exchanged glass half full um pictures

00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:42.019
and cards and because he was too he is glass

00:25:42.019 --> 00:25:45.019
half full as well so and i know i think when

00:25:45.019 --> 00:25:48.440
um i was gonna swim the channel and i have a

00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:51.339
crew that comes with me i do not do any of this

00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:54.819
these channels alone. They are not solo sports.

00:25:55.180 --> 00:25:59.160
They are, or solo activities. My dear friends,

00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:03.640
best friends come with me and on these things

00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:05.880
and they take care of me. They're my crew. They

00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:10.039
feed me, they encourage me. Susan and Deb and

00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:12.500
on the channel I had another friend named Cathy.

00:26:13.779 --> 00:26:17.539
But Susan and Deb are like on every boat, every,

00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:21.819
you know, and with me when I train. But I know

00:26:21.819 --> 00:26:23.900
that when we were going to going to the channel,

00:26:24.059 --> 00:26:26.700
I wanted to have a team name, and I wanted to

00:26:26.700 --> 00:26:30.180
have the word optimist in it. And our optimism.

00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:33.079
And I was playing with things. And it was during

00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:36.000
COVID and or right after COVID. And Susan said,

00:26:36.420 --> 00:26:38.640
we're just going to have to be eternally optimistic

00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:41.859
that we're going to get there. Because England

00:26:41.859 --> 00:26:46.119
was shut down. We're shut down. It was a mess.

00:26:46.879 --> 00:26:49.039
and quarantine and all kinds of stuff. And I

00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:51.480
said, Susan, that's I think that's our name,

00:26:52.019 --> 00:26:55.220
eternal optimists. And so we became the eternal

00:26:55.220 --> 00:26:58.000
optimists thinking that we were going to get

00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:02.579
to to England. And I and we were I was going

00:27:02.579 --> 00:27:06.140
to get the opportunity to swim. And I had to

00:27:06.140 --> 00:27:09.339
wait two weeks to get in. The weather was not

00:27:09.339 --> 00:27:12.400
cooperating. I went in two hours before my swim

00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:17.390
window closed. and into the channel. And I was

00:27:17.390 --> 00:27:20.450
optimistic. I just adopted that whole mantra

00:27:20.450 --> 00:27:23.269
that if I was going to get the chance to swim,

00:27:24.109 --> 00:27:26.769
I was going to make it to France. No ifs, ands,

00:27:26.769 --> 00:27:29.289
or buts. And they were going to get my butt to

00:27:29.289 --> 00:27:34.599
France by being on the boat. I think it came

00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:38.259
from just me being who I am and acknowledging

00:27:38.259 --> 00:27:40.980
that I'm a glass half full, optimistic kind of

00:27:40.980 --> 00:27:43.539
person most of the time, meant a lot of the time,

00:27:43.539 --> 00:27:47.980
but then embodying it and calling us that. And

00:27:47.980 --> 00:27:50.859
I totally find that if you call yourself something,

00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:56.440
you believe it. And if you call something something,

00:27:56.920 --> 00:28:00.519
you also believe it. So I'm training again for

00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:03.039
another channel. for the English Channel again

00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:08.019
this summer at 60, raising money for a foundation

00:28:08.019 --> 00:28:10.640
in Pittsburgh called Clear Thoughts Foundation,

00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:14.799
which funds researchers for dementia and all

00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:18.740
kinds of dementia. And because it has hit our

00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:24.579
family very hard. And I think that I had declared

00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:28.720
that my swimming was going to be joy. My training

00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:32.039
was going to be joy and my time at the Y was

00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:36.180
going to be respite and joy. And darn it. It

00:28:36.180 --> 00:28:40.940
is like I don't look at it like I have to. Right.

00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:43.339
I look at it because I want to. And I think,

00:28:43.859 --> 00:28:46.059
you know, when you name yourself something or

00:28:46.059 --> 00:28:49.180
when you call yourself something, are you talented?

00:28:49.460 --> 00:28:53.759
Are you tough? Are you strong? Are you optimistic?

00:28:54.420 --> 00:28:57.230
Are you confident? And when you use that language,

00:28:57.529 --> 00:29:02.130
I think you believe it and you act it and you

00:29:02.130 --> 00:29:05.730
act it. Yep. Which can be positive or negative,

00:29:05.730 --> 00:29:08.049
right? Sometimes we have that negative voice

00:29:08.049 --> 00:29:10.349
in our head telling us a story that we're not

00:29:10.349 --> 00:29:13.210
ready. You can't do it, whatever it is. And it's

00:29:13.210 --> 00:29:15.109
flipping that and telling yourself a different

00:29:15.109 --> 00:29:17.730
story that you'll start to believe. And again,

00:29:17.930 --> 00:29:19.390
you have to put the work in. You can't just think

00:29:19.390 --> 00:29:22.049
that and then not go work out. Right. Like you

00:29:22.049 --> 00:29:24.930
have to put the work in, but you're showing up

00:29:24.930 --> 00:29:27.369
with that mindset that it's joyful, you can do

00:29:27.369 --> 00:29:29.710
this, you're going to achieve it. It's telling

00:29:29.710 --> 00:29:31.730
yourself a different story, which I think is

00:29:31.730 --> 00:29:35.049
so important. And again, I think optimism is

00:29:35.049 --> 00:29:37.589
such a good word that people sometimes think

00:29:37.589 --> 00:29:40.009
it's like, oh, you're unrealistic or you're living

00:29:40.009 --> 00:29:42.430
in this dream. Like you're not going to be understanding

00:29:42.430 --> 00:29:44.269
how this is. And that's not what it is. Like

00:29:44.269 --> 00:29:46.500
you still are going to have bad days. You still

00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:48.720
have to be resilient, but it's your mindset going

00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:50.420
into like, hey, I'm going to get through this.

00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:52.640
I'm going to be able to accomplish this and just

00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:55.200
be positive about it versus, you know, going

00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:57.539
to the negative side of things. So I think that's

00:29:57.539 --> 00:29:59.359
really important. And people think, oh, I'm just,

00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:01.259
I'm just kind of negative. Well, that's going

00:30:01.259 --> 00:30:05.119
to majorly impact how you approach your personal

00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:07.079
life, professional life, whatever it is, that

00:30:07.079 --> 00:30:10.660
it has a negative impact on how you show up.

00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:13.000
So I love the eternal optimist. You will believe

00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.579
it one way or another. You know, I think, I think

00:30:16.579 --> 00:30:19.859
the day that I said to my, the whole what if

00:30:19.859 --> 00:30:25.359
I can mantra also showed up, you know, like when

00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:28.380
I, one day I was sitting in the, and that's kind

00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:30.980
of a version of optimism, right? What if I can't,

00:30:31.059 --> 00:30:33.400
instead of saying, what if I can't and what if

00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:37.119
I shouldn't and what if I, it's, what if it's,

00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.579
I'm being selfish. What if this is stupid? What

00:30:40.579 --> 00:30:43.599
if this is too much? You know, I, one night I

00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:46.839
said to my son, Guess what I just did? I just

00:30:46.839 --> 00:30:49.240
booked an English channel pilot. And that was

00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:52.819
in 2018. Before I even swam around Manhattan,

00:30:53.319 --> 00:30:56.200
before I did anything big, you have to book a

00:30:56.200 --> 00:30:59.319
channel pilot that far out. But I didn't know

00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:01.559
what I was doing except that I was booking a

00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:06.259
pilot. And I sent an email to a pilot in England,

00:31:06.940 --> 00:31:09.940
threw it out into the universe, right? And maybe

00:31:09.940 --> 00:31:12.339
the universe will conspire to help me. That's

00:31:12.339 --> 00:31:14.720
another one of my mantras. Love that. And Matt

00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:17.640
said, what if you make it halfway, mom? And I

00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:20.059
said, well, if I make it halfway across the English

00:31:20.059 --> 00:31:22.900
channel, I don't think that's a bad thing. But

00:31:22.900 --> 00:31:24.940
that's not going to be my goal. My goal is going

00:31:24.940 --> 00:31:26.980
to be I'm getting to France and I'm going to

00:31:26.980 --> 00:31:29.380
put the work in to do it. I didn't know how to

00:31:29.380 --> 00:31:31.799
yet, but I was going to figure it out. And I

00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:35.019
said to him, but what if I can, Matt? What if

00:31:35.019 --> 00:31:38.200
I can do it? Not what if I can't? You know, what

00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:41.000
if I can do it at 55? And then what if I can

00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.619
tell people about it and say, you're not dead

00:31:44.619 --> 00:31:47.799
at 55. Maybe you're in, you know, I would, I

00:31:47.799 --> 00:31:50.539
just spoke at a conference a few weeks ago called

00:31:50.539 --> 00:31:53.819
prime time for women. And it was on international

00:31:53.819 --> 00:31:59.039
women's day and or week. And, you know, they

00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.980
call women at our age in our prime. Is that a

00:32:02.980 --> 00:32:06.339
great way to talk about ourselves? Right. You

00:32:06.339 --> 00:32:08.869
know, so I really do believe that you know, what

00:32:08.869 --> 00:32:11.730
I did at 55, I couldn't have done it 45 or 35

00:32:11.730 --> 00:32:16.950
or 25, because I didn't have the mindset and

00:32:16.950 --> 00:32:22.130
the mental tenacity of life and of all the things

00:32:22.130 --> 00:32:24.329
I learned in life, not just through swimming,

00:32:24.529 --> 00:32:27.630
but through, you know, my jobs and the years

00:32:27.630 --> 00:32:32.069
that I had in the 55 years that I had it got

00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:36.759
me to France. Oh, I love that. So if someone's

00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:39.240
listening to this, maybe they're 35, right? And

00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:41.960
they want to flip that mindset and they want

00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:44.200
to have that, what if I can, instead of the fear?

00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:47.420
How do they begin? How do you practically begin

00:32:47.420 --> 00:32:50.759
to just have that mindset of, what if I can't?

00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:55.200
Stop saying, what if I can't? Stop saying no.

00:32:56.059 --> 00:33:00.559
Stop saying, that's not me. And catch yourself.

00:33:03.779 --> 00:33:07.160
don't go there, you know, and especially as women,

00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:12.880
you know. There's so many women I know who are

00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:17.180
amazing women and and they put themselves down

00:33:17.180 --> 00:33:21.140
or say they can't or they shouldn't or they're

00:33:21.140 --> 00:33:26.019
not allowed to or it's selfish. I have to be

00:33:26.019 --> 00:33:28.099
a mom. I have to be a wife. I have to be this.

00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:30.740
I have to be a daughter. I have to be, you know,

00:33:30.740 --> 00:33:34.500
and you are all those things. Also, there's chapters

00:33:34.500 --> 00:33:36.759
in life, as we all know. The whole notion that

00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:39.920
you can have it all at once is kind of an old

00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:43.759
one. We all tried that, right? And realized that

00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:46.660
like eating a plate of food, you can't eat everything

00:33:46.660 --> 00:33:51.420
you like in one sitting. But stop the language.

00:33:52.099 --> 00:33:57.299
Listen to yourself. But I can't do that. Oh,

00:33:57.500 --> 00:34:01.259
my husband would never let me do that. What about

00:34:01.259 --> 00:34:04.440
my kids? What about your kids? Maybe you want

00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:09.280
to show them that there are no limits to what

00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:13.539
they can do. Or, my mom tried and she didn't

00:34:13.539 --> 00:34:19.000
make it, but my mom tried. My mom likes to tell

00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:22.019
me that I live two or three lives in one. I guess

00:34:22.019 --> 00:34:25.079
I'd like to live two or three lives in one than

00:34:25.079 --> 00:34:29.519
a half a life in one. or a partial life, it's,

00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:31.760
you know, we all know that when things happen

00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:34.679
in life and life gets hard and there's illness

00:34:34.679 --> 00:34:38.420
or someone you know is ill or you get sick or

00:34:38.420 --> 00:34:41.659
something terrible happens, you know, we get

00:34:41.659 --> 00:34:45.019
one life. What are you waiting for? That's what

00:34:45.019 --> 00:34:47.300
I want to tell people. If there's something you

00:34:47.300 --> 00:34:50.659
want to do, change your career, change your life,

00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:52.539
change your relationship, change this, change

00:34:52.539 --> 00:34:55.500
that. You know, what are you waiting for? And

00:34:55.500 --> 00:34:59.860
maybe it's not time yet. But at some point, it

00:34:59.860 --> 00:35:03.039
should become time if it's important enough.

00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:05.820
Absolutely. And saying we don't have time is,

00:35:05.820 --> 00:35:09.900
I think, one of the biggest excuses. And sometimes

00:35:09.900 --> 00:35:12.860
there's validity to that, but it's prioritizing

00:35:12.860 --> 00:35:15.860
or making a plan. Hey, maybe I can't do this

00:35:15.860 --> 00:35:18.920
this year, but I can plan for next year. And

00:35:18.920 --> 00:35:21.659
it's just having a plan and being intentional.

00:35:22.710 --> 00:35:25.789
Time is limited, right? And, and as I get older

00:35:25.789 --> 00:35:28.010
and you see people get sick that never thought

00:35:28.010 --> 00:35:30.030
they'd be sick under the age of 50 or whatever

00:35:30.030 --> 00:35:32.409
it is, like, I mean, just things happen. So trying

00:35:32.409 --> 00:35:35.429
to be as, as to your point, like living your

00:35:35.429 --> 00:35:38.170
best life and what if I can and taking advantage

00:35:38.170 --> 00:35:40.170
of that, I think is, is really important. And

00:35:40.170 --> 00:35:43.489
I think as we get older, we start to realize

00:35:43.489 --> 00:35:45.690
that we're not here forever, right? Like everyone's

00:35:45.690 --> 00:35:48.510
not here forever. So we think we have unlimited.

00:35:48.869 --> 00:35:52.539
We think we have unlimited days. And, you know,

00:35:52.699 --> 00:35:54.599
you have an 18 year old now and you're wondering

00:35:54.599 --> 00:35:58.199
how the heck, you know, she became 18. And, you

00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:03.559
know, the the days are long, the years are short.

00:36:04.860 --> 00:36:08.099
And what are you waiting for if there is something

00:36:08.099 --> 00:36:11.739
that you want? You know, a lot of people are

00:36:11.739 --> 00:36:14.539
just content. Yeah. And they don't want to be

00:36:14.539 --> 00:36:16.320
out of their comfort zone. They don't want to

00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:18.880
be. You know, my mom always is like, why would

00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:22.429
you want to be cold? You know, why would you

00:36:22.429 --> 00:36:28.829
want to like, you know, hurt or, you know, challenge

00:36:28.829 --> 00:36:33.369
your body? And other people do that too. They're

00:36:33.369 --> 00:36:35.889
like, why would you want to do that in 60 degree

00:36:35.889 --> 00:36:41.869
water? I don't know why. It's just an accomplishment.

00:36:42.250 --> 00:36:45.829
I mean, I never swam. I was a runner. Yep. It

00:36:45.829 --> 00:36:47.809
was a challenge of, you know, I participated

00:36:47.809 --> 00:36:50.250
in some Ragnar race. It was like a 200 mile race.

00:36:50.380 --> 00:36:53.539
relay is overnight, like that last race where

00:36:53.539 --> 00:36:56.059
you hadn't slept the night before for 30 minutes.

00:36:56.219 --> 00:36:59.619
Your whole body hurts, but it was more than just

00:36:59.619 --> 00:37:01.320
the physical part. It was the mental part. I'd

00:37:01.320 --> 00:37:03.710
be like, I can't let my team down. I have to

00:37:03.710 --> 00:37:06.210
only run three miles this morning. Like get your

00:37:06.210 --> 00:37:08.989
shit together. Let's go. Like this is the conversation

00:37:08.989 --> 00:37:12.070
in my head to myself. Like what, what if I can,

00:37:12.210 --> 00:37:13.769
what's, you know, what's, what's the worst that

00:37:13.769 --> 00:37:15.690
can happen? Even if I end up walking, like if

00:37:15.690 --> 00:37:19.329
you walk it, you're showing up, right? You know,

00:37:19.329 --> 00:37:21.389
and I think that's the bottom line. Like show

00:37:21.389 --> 00:37:25.070
up and show up for yourself. Yes. You know, who

00:37:25.070 --> 00:37:28.150
else is going to show up for you? You know, like

00:37:28.150 --> 00:37:31.210
this is your life. You know, you're the author

00:37:31.210 --> 00:37:34.650
of your life. Whatever it is. Whatever it is,

00:37:34.809 --> 00:37:36.929
write your story, but write something. Write

00:37:36.929 --> 00:37:40.690
something. Yeah. And then no regrets. You know,

00:37:40.750 --> 00:37:43.809
like, I don't want to hear, I'm 70 and I should

00:37:43.809 --> 00:37:49.280
have. You know, no regrets, man. Just... What's

00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:51.400
the worst that can happen? Yeah, that's so good.

00:37:51.420 --> 00:37:55.940
This has been so great I love this and best of

00:37:55.940 --> 00:37:58.539
luck in your upcoming. What do you have coming

00:37:58.539 --> 00:38:00.920
up this summer? What's the race another English

00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:03.260
channel another English channel at six years

00:38:03.260 --> 00:38:06.079
old back when I was 55 I thought wouldn't it

00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:10.199
be cool if I could do it at 60 And here you are

00:38:10.199 --> 00:38:12.920
an update Once you complete it, because obviously

00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:15.280
you will and you'll kill it. So we'll want to

00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:17.239
hear that news so we can celebrate you this summer.

00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:20.300
Thank you. And thank you so much for having me

00:38:20.300 --> 00:38:23.619
today. Absolutely. Thank you. I really love this

00:38:23.619 --> 00:38:26.079
conversation with Jeannie. Yes, her accomplishments

00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:28.599
are incredible. I mean, completing the Triple

00:38:28.599 --> 00:38:31.519
Crown of open water swimming at 56 is objectively

00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:34.989
wild in the best possible way. But what stayed

00:38:34.989 --> 00:38:37.130
with me most was not just what she did. It's

00:38:37.130 --> 00:38:40.130
what her story represents. Because this was a

00:38:40.130 --> 00:38:42.190
woman who had already built a successful career.

00:38:42.309 --> 00:38:45.590
She'd already done a lot. And still, there was

00:38:45.590 --> 00:38:48.090
another chapter waiting for her. A bigger one,

00:38:48.230 --> 00:38:51.110
a bolder one, one that require courage, discomfort,

00:38:51.389 --> 00:38:54.650
discipline, and a whole lot of belief. I think

00:38:54.650 --> 00:38:56.730
that's what makes this conversation so powerful.

00:38:57.230 --> 00:38:59.389
So many women are high functioning, capable,

00:38:59.849 --> 00:39:02.469
responsible, and accomplished, but still quietly

00:39:02.469 --> 00:39:05.130
wondering if they're too late, too old, too far

00:39:05.130 --> 00:39:07.969
down one path to choose another, too established

00:39:07.969 --> 00:39:10.889
to start over or maybe too practical to chase

00:39:10.889 --> 00:39:14.090
something that feels bold or deeply personal.

00:39:14.630 --> 00:39:17.289
And Jeannie's story pushes back on that. It reminds

00:39:17.289 --> 00:39:20.289
us that reinvention is still available. That

00:39:20.289 --> 00:39:23.409
meaningful ambition does not expire. That confidence

00:39:23.409 --> 00:39:25.929
is not something you either have or you do not.

00:39:26.030 --> 00:39:28.630
It's something you build by moving, trying, stretching,

00:39:28.829 --> 00:39:31.289
and sometimes looking a little crazy along the

00:39:31.289 --> 00:39:34.010
way. And maybe, most importantly, it reminds

00:39:34.010 --> 00:39:37.090
us to ask a better question. Not, what if I fail?

00:39:37.349 --> 00:39:39.769
Not, what if I'm too late? Not, what will people

00:39:39.769 --> 00:39:44.019
think? But what if I can? So if this episode

00:39:44.019 --> 00:39:46.039
spoke to you, send to a friend, send to a woman

00:39:46.039 --> 00:39:48.519
who is in season of wondering what is next or

00:39:48.519 --> 00:39:50.960
feeling the pull towards something bigger, even

00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:54.039
if she can't fully name it yet. And if you're

00:39:54.039 --> 00:39:56.199
enjoying Loud and Lifted, make sure you follow,

00:39:56.480 --> 00:39:58.400
rate, and share the show. It helps us keep bringing

00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:00.719
more of these honest conversations to women who

00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:02.900
are still growing, still evolving, and still

00:40:02.900 --> 00:40:06.159
becoming. Until next time, stay loud and stay

00:40:06.159 --> 00:40:06.480
lifted.

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.819
Welcome to Loud and Lifted. Today's episode is

00:00:02.819 --> 00:00:04.960
such a good reminder that it's not too late to

00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.459
do something big. In fact, it may be exactly

00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:10.210
the right time. I sit down with Jeannie Zappe,

00:00:10.550 --> 00:00:13.289
speaker, swim coach, and founder of Eternal Optimist.

00:00:13.669 --> 00:00:16.809
At 56, Jeannie completed the triple crown of

00:00:16.809 --> 00:00:19.809
open water swimming, which included a 29 -mile

00:00:19.809 --> 00:00:22.449
swim around Manhattan, a 21 -mile swim across

00:00:22.449 --> 00:00:24.929
the English Channel, and a 21 -mile swim across

00:00:24.929 --> 00:00:28.269
the Catalina Channel. Now, that most of us can't

00:00:28.269 --> 00:00:31.030
relate to. But what I love most about Jeannie's

00:00:31.030 --> 00:00:33.450
story is that this isn't about endurance swimming.

00:00:34.090 --> 00:00:36.929
Before all of this, she spent 20 years in information

00:00:36.929 --> 00:00:39.409
technology, serving in several senior leadership

00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:42.609
roles within higher education. Then in 2010,

00:00:42.750 --> 00:00:45.670
she made a major pivot, listened to her gut,

00:00:45.850 --> 00:00:48.929
and reinvented herself as a swim coach, returning

00:00:48.929 --> 00:00:52.109
to something she loved earlier in life. In 2021,

00:00:52.270 --> 00:00:54.590
she launched the Eternal Optimist, a motivational

00:00:54.590 --> 00:00:57.350
speaking and swim coaching business. So yes,

00:00:57.530 --> 00:00:59.590
Jeannie has accomplished some extraordinary things

00:00:59.590 --> 00:01:01.509
that most of us can't even wrap our head around.

00:01:01.689 --> 00:01:04.329
But the bigger reason I wanted to have her on

00:01:04.329 --> 00:01:06.689
is because her story speaks to something so many

00:01:06.689 --> 00:01:09.379
women wrestle with. with quietly. Did I miss

00:01:09.379 --> 00:01:12.019
my window? Is it too late to reinvent myself?

00:01:12.260 --> 00:01:15.060
Can I still do something bold, meaningful, and

00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:17.980
maybe even a little crazy? Jeannie's whole message

00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:21.239
centers around one powerful question. What if

00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:24.519
I can? And honestly, that is a much better question

00:01:24.519 --> 00:01:26.760
than the ones most of us tend to ask ourselves.

00:01:27.420 --> 00:01:29.900
This conversation is about courage, confidence,

00:01:30.219 --> 00:01:32.319
reinvention, and what it looks like to stop counting

00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:36.319
yourself out before you even begin. Welcome to

00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:38.939
Loud and Lifted, Jeannie. Thank you so much for

00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:42.579
being here. Thank you for having me, Betsy. I

00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:45.620
am glad that you're not working like a really

00:01:45.620 --> 00:01:48.099
hard week in the Cayman Islands or anything like

00:01:48.099 --> 00:01:51.072
that. You're home, you're local, and you're...

00:01:51.069 --> 00:01:55.370
podcast. Yes. It's a good place to be, even though

00:01:55.370 --> 00:01:57.890
the Cayman was wonderful. Yeah. Yes. We're going

00:01:57.890 --> 00:01:59.590
to talk about why you were in the Cayman the

00:01:59.590 --> 00:02:02.049
other week in just a minute. So before we get

00:02:02.049 --> 00:02:06.069
into your very interesting life today, just talk

00:02:06.069 --> 00:02:08.770
us through of just your background, who you are

00:02:08.770 --> 00:02:12.250
and how you got to where you are today. Well,

00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:16.569
at 60 years old, that's, I'll try to, you know,

00:02:17.250 --> 00:02:19.169
and I can't even believe I'm saying that number,

00:02:19.169 --> 00:02:24.330
but I am A coach from Mechanicsburg lived a long

00:02:24.330 --> 00:02:27.949
time in Lewisburg and worked at Bucknell and

00:02:27.949 --> 00:02:31.789
in a different career which was IT, IT support

00:02:31.789 --> 00:02:35.909
and landed here in Mechanicsburg 15 years ago

00:02:35.909 --> 00:02:41.229
where my coaching definitely has grown and one

00:02:41.229 --> 00:02:44.689
thing led to another when I was getting some

00:02:44.689 --> 00:02:47.810
certification to be a better coach. I discovered

00:02:47.810 --> 00:02:52.580
open water swimming and a one -mile swim around

00:02:52.580 --> 00:02:58.340
a lake in 2010 has led to channels and channels

00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:01.259
and channels. So you grew up doing the traditional

00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:04.400
swimming in a pool inside of high school, whatever,

00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:08.139
rec center type of swim. And then at what age

00:03:08.139 --> 00:03:11.180
did you decide that you should go to open waters?

00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:14.699
I was kind of a late -onset swimmer, which sounds

00:03:14.699 --> 00:03:17.840
kind of crazy at 8th grade, kind of late. I grew

00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:20.580
up with an above -ground pool in the backyard,

00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:24.060
and my sisters and I, you know, doing handstands

00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:27.740
and making whirlpools. But my parents always

00:03:27.740 --> 00:03:29.560
thought it was really important that we know

00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:33.479
how to swim. And I took swimming lessons at Knoebels.

00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:38.520
And when we moved right before 8th grade, we

00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:41.400
moved to a school that had an indoor pool. And

00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.900
they put us on the swim team. Actually, my mom

00:03:44.900 --> 00:03:48.699
and dad put me in adult swim lessons the summer

00:03:48.699 --> 00:03:53.460
after seventh grade. And I did not fit in, clearly.

00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:56.520
And the coach came over and went, get out of

00:03:56.520 --> 00:03:59.479
there and go on the swim team. You'll learn everything

00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:02.379
you need to learn on the swim team. And that

00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:07.699
was probably a big understatement. And so I became

00:04:07.699 --> 00:04:12.020
a swimmer in high school. and in Bloomsburg at

00:04:12.020 --> 00:04:15.780
Central Columbia and loved it. It was my my thing.

00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:20.899
And but I I took it down. I'm swimming at Penn

00:04:20.899 --> 00:04:23.600
State. I just didn't know anything about collegiate

00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:29.259
swimming. And I didn't even try and didn't walk

00:04:29.259 --> 00:04:32.100
on, didn't contact the coach, nothing. But I

00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:34.500
continue to swim and swim for fitness my whole

00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:40.000
life. And I raced a little bit in my in my mid

00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.720
40s, I think, in a pool. And then, I don't know,

00:04:44.819 --> 00:04:47.740
I got certified in efficient freestyle, teaching

00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:51.160
efficient freestyle. And everybody in the class

00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:53.899
seemed to be triathletes or open water swimmers.

00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:59.079
And here I was an IT person coming to get certified

00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:03.160
in efficient freestyle coaching. And then I thought

00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:06.560
I should try it out. And that was in 2010. So

00:05:06.560 --> 00:05:08.920
at that point, you decided, hey, I mean, swimming

00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:10.500
has always been a part of your life. It's been

00:05:10.500 --> 00:05:11.959
a passion, something you're comfortable with.

00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:14.660
But then it seems like you probably were really

00:05:14.660 --> 00:05:17.959
stepping outside your comfort zone of entering

00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:21.269
these open waters. which is a whole level of

00:05:21.269 --> 00:05:22.910
swimming, right? Like you talk about swimming,

00:05:23.050 --> 00:05:26.069
swimming the English channel or in water outside

00:05:26.069 --> 00:05:28.069
Manhattan, like that just gives me anxiety thinking

00:05:28.069 --> 00:05:30.629
about letting go of the distance. So what made

00:05:30.629 --> 00:05:33.209
you want to do that? And especially at that age,

00:05:33.290 --> 00:05:35.410
you know, you weren't you were 25, right? This

00:05:35.410 --> 00:05:39.750
wasn't like out of college. Yeah, I think I was

00:05:39.750 --> 00:05:44.850
45. And I think the first time I went into a

00:05:44.850 --> 00:05:48.709
lake in Hazelton, and did a one mile swim, I

00:05:48.709 --> 00:05:53.009
felt It was a combination of swimming and adventure.

00:05:54.250 --> 00:05:58.470
And it scared me, but it excited me more than

00:05:58.470 --> 00:06:01.810
it scared me. And I have a quote all over my

00:06:01.810 --> 00:06:04.110
house that says, do something, I think it's right

00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:06.649
up there, do something every day that scares

00:06:06.649 --> 00:06:09.810
you. And I think it's Eleanor Roosevelt, but

00:06:09.810 --> 00:06:13.149
I'm not sure. And I think it scared me, but.

00:06:13.310 --> 00:06:17.490
It was so exciting and I swam a mile so easily

00:06:17.490 --> 00:06:20.209
in freestyle and in high school I was not a good

00:06:20.209 --> 00:06:23.209
freestyler. I was a breaststroker, a butterflyer.

00:06:23.529 --> 00:06:25.790
Freestyle perplexed me. I just didn't know how

00:06:25.790 --> 00:06:30.089
to make it feel good or be fast. But now that

00:06:30.089 --> 00:06:34.050
I was coaching and I thought, you know, if I

00:06:34.050 --> 00:06:35.850
want to be a better coach, I better walk the

00:06:35.850 --> 00:06:39.829
walk. I can't just tell people how to swim more

00:06:39.829 --> 00:06:44.720
efficiently. I have to... do it so that it was

00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:48.879
like my lab like I learned how to coach by doing

00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:52.120
it and One mile led to two miles led to three

00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:56.160
miles led to six led to swimming down the Hudson

00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:01.139
in various stages of hard swims and and eventually

00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:05.319
Being invited on to some relays around Manhattan

00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:08.319
across the English Channel and Catalina Channel.

00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:12.089
I did them all by in six -person relays, where

00:07:12.089 --> 00:07:14.170
I didn't know what I was saying yes to, but I

00:07:14.170 --> 00:07:18.189
did. I said yes. And at the West Shore Y pool,

00:07:18.709 --> 00:07:22.290
a friend of mine who was 78 years old at the

00:07:22.290 --> 00:07:24.589
time said, do you want my spot on a Manhattan

00:07:24.589 --> 00:07:28.089
relay? I'm busy that day. And I didn't know what

00:07:28.089 --> 00:07:32.089
I was saying to Ted, but I just said yes. And

00:07:32.089 --> 00:07:35.730
before I knew it, I had an email that night welcoming

00:07:35.730 --> 00:07:39.120
me to the relay. I didn't know what I was doing

00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:42.279
swimming around Manhattan. So after you said

00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:45.540
yes, did you have second thoughts? After you

00:07:45.540 --> 00:07:47.459
saw that email, were you like, oh my gosh, what

00:07:47.459 --> 00:07:50.379
did I get myself into? How did you kind of keep

00:07:50.379 --> 00:07:54.259
going forward? I asked them. I said, don't you

00:07:54.259 --> 00:07:57.079
want to know anything about me? they're like

00:07:57.079 --> 00:07:59.439
now you're replacing ted you're fine you know

00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:02.339
so i thought okay i can do this yeah i had second

00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:05.399
thoughts um and then when i got there they said

00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:08.920
you're starting off you're leading us like so

00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:12.360
you have to jump in down by in the battery looking

00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:17.220
at the statue of liberty and start swimming in

00:08:17.220 --> 00:08:20.449
the east river But at the same time, this stuff

00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:24.009
scared me. But also I had confidence in my swimming,

00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:27.370
not in my open water swimming so much, but I

00:08:27.370 --> 00:08:31.149
had confidence in my own swimming ability enough

00:08:31.149 --> 00:08:34.570
that I could jump in. And when you're on a relay,

00:08:34.730 --> 00:08:36.750
you're doing what you're doing for five other

00:08:36.750 --> 00:08:40.350
people. You know, like I'm not alone. But so

00:08:40.350 --> 00:08:45.049
there's pressure there to not go check, please.

00:08:45.049 --> 00:08:48.720
I'm not going to jump in. which some people do

00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:51.320
and unfortunately they get to the English channel

00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:54.240
and they go check please I'm not getting in and

00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:58.860
that's not good but I yeah I I think I had the

00:08:58.860 --> 00:09:02.240
the encouragement of relay teams and and swimming

00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:06.240
for others and I wanted to do my best so I love

00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:09.049
that and if you think about that from a professional

00:09:09.049 --> 00:09:11.169
setting, right? Like we talk a lot about to build

00:09:11.169 --> 00:09:13.269
your confidence, you have to step outside your

00:09:13.269 --> 00:09:16.470
comfort zone. And people listening to this probably

00:09:16.470 --> 00:09:18.690
can't relate to swimming the English channel,

00:09:19.049 --> 00:09:22.429
but they can think about, oh, I've been hesitant

00:09:22.429 --> 00:09:24.649
to talk up in a meeting. I've been hesitant to

00:09:24.649 --> 00:09:26.669
ask for a promotion. Whatever it is, it's usually

00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:29.429
probably verbal, not physical for most of us.

00:09:30.099 --> 00:09:32.960
But has a different mental sort of approach.

00:09:32.980 --> 00:09:35.960
So how do you relate that to most of us listening

00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:39.019
to this aren't going to go swim 10 miles in terms

00:09:39.019 --> 00:09:41.720
of like living that in your everyday? Like how

00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:44.399
do we get that confidence and how do we have

00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:46.220
the opportunity to raise our hands, pay something

00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:48.639
at a meeting, but how do you sort of like look

00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:51.299
at that from a professional situation? Yeah,

00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:54.399
from a normal person situation. I mean, you said

00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:57.740
it, not me. I was going to introduce myself as

00:09:57.740 --> 00:10:01.980
a normal person. person, a normal woman, mother,

00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:06.159
you know, and, um, and then I realized, I, but

00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:08.379
I am normal. Like, I'm just, I'm not any different

00:10:08.379 --> 00:10:10.259
than anybody else. You do extraordinary things

00:10:10.259 --> 00:10:14.379
though. Well, thank you. You know, I really feel

00:10:14.379 --> 00:10:17.679
like we get one life and this is not, you know,

00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:19.820
you've, you've heard it before. It's not a dry

00:10:19.820 --> 00:10:23.240
run. It's not a practice, you know, and, uh,

00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:26.000
we, you know, live your life and live it, live

00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.230
it well and live it big. And You know that from

00:10:30.230 --> 00:10:33.750
Duck Donuts and your whole previous experience

00:10:33.750 --> 00:10:38.210
and taking a risk and being a CEO and all that

00:10:38.210 --> 00:10:40.710
goes along with that. I think when I talk to

00:10:40.710 --> 00:10:43.929
people about what I do and the mental side of

00:10:43.929 --> 00:10:47.370
what I do, it's really a mental thing. People

00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:50.710
think it's a physical thing that I do, but the

00:10:50.710 --> 00:10:52.769
physical thing happens because I swim all the

00:10:52.769 --> 00:10:57.080
time and I train and I... like yesterday was

00:10:57.080 --> 00:10:59.899
five thousand yards today will be five thousand

00:10:59.899 --> 00:11:03.759
tomorrow be something else. But i think you take

00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:07.139
little steps right and you know if it's speaking

00:11:07.139 --> 00:11:12.100
up in a meeting start speaking up with in a smaller

00:11:12.100 --> 00:11:16.720
in you know environment i didn't go. You know

00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:19.080
in twenty ten from a one mile swim in the lake.

00:11:19.419 --> 00:11:22.779
to 29 miles around Manhattan or 21 miles across

00:11:22.779 --> 00:11:26.700
the English Channel. That took from 2010 to 2021

00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:31.580
and 2022. So you know, if it's reaching out to

00:11:31.580 --> 00:11:33.960
somebody that you're afraid to talk to, picking

00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:36.860
up the phone when somebody says, you know, Betsy,

00:11:36.860 --> 00:11:40.100
you should talk to Jeannie. And, you know, because

00:11:40.100 --> 00:11:41.940
Kara said that to you, you know, and then you're

00:11:41.940 --> 00:11:44.759
like, Hey, Jeannie, let's talk. And and I say,

00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:49.019
Hey, Betsy, let's talk. And so you start small.

00:11:49.210 --> 00:11:54.830
and in safer environments, and you practice in

00:11:54.830 --> 00:11:58.370
small, safer environments, and build that confidence.

00:11:58.830 --> 00:12:00.909
So every day that I went to the pool and I did

00:12:00.909 --> 00:12:03.490
something that was a little difficult, or I went

00:12:03.490 --> 00:12:08.169
into the Hudson and swam a harder swim, I built

00:12:08.169 --> 00:12:12.950
that confidence. You know that. I think from

00:12:12.950 --> 00:12:15.750
your experience that you don't go from zero to

00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:19.500
60. I think the biggest thing that I that I use

00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:24.080
all the time is say yes. Just say yes. Like if

00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.019
somebody says at work, do you want this opportunity

00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:32.259
to lead this little, this team? But you're out

00:12:32.259 --> 00:12:34.419
of your comfort zone. But somebody is saying

00:12:34.419 --> 00:12:37.580
that they have confidence in you. So why would

00:12:37.580 --> 00:12:41.799
you say no to that? You know, say yes, you will

00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:45.429
figure it out. What's the worst that can happen

00:12:45.429 --> 00:12:48.129
in most cases? Like, I'm not talking about jumping

00:12:48.129 --> 00:12:51.090
out of an airplane, which I won't do, by the

00:12:51.090 --> 00:12:54.350
way. And, you know, I will jump off of boats

00:12:54.350 --> 00:12:58.049
in the middle of the Pacific, which my son says

00:12:58.049 --> 00:13:01.769
is what his nightmares are made of. But, you

00:13:01.769 --> 00:13:04.429
know, I wouldn't walk into a class at the Y a

00:13:04.429 --> 00:13:07.629
few years ago. I was afraid to walk into an exercise

00:13:07.629 --> 00:13:10.090
class at the Y because I thought somebody would

00:13:10.090 --> 00:13:14.980
judge me and say, You don't belong here. You

00:13:14.980 --> 00:13:17.320
don't know the moves. You don't know how to lift.

00:13:17.419 --> 00:13:19.639
You don't know how to do this or that. And I

00:13:19.639 --> 00:13:22.039
found out that I walked into the Y with friends.

00:13:22.419 --> 00:13:24.500
I reached out to friends and said, do you want

00:13:24.500 --> 00:13:27.379
to go with me? And we walked in and found a very

00:13:27.379 --> 00:13:30.820
welcoming environment. So it's never what you

00:13:30.820 --> 00:13:35.120
think it is. One of my favorite quotes recently

00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:38.990
is, if we can... If we can imagine the worst

00:13:38.990 --> 00:13:41.809
happening, why can't we imagine the best happening?

00:13:42.669 --> 00:13:45.210
That's so great. That's true. You know, if we

00:13:45.210 --> 00:13:48.230
take a risk, in all likelihood, it's going to

00:13:48.230 --> 00:13:51.129
work out. Right. In some regard. Yeah, absolutely.

00:13:51.210 --> 00:13:53.169
And you hit so many good points. And you're right.

00:13:53.389 --> 00:13:56.769
So many times we think we have to be 100 % buttoned

00:13:56.769 --> 00:13:59.649
up. before we raise our hand, take the promotion,

00:13:59.789 --> 00:14:02.090
apply for another job. And the reality is no

00:14:02.090 --> 00:14:04.649
one ever is 100 % ready, but it's during the

00:14:04.649 --> 00:14:07.850
training, to your point, that you can along the

00:14:07.850 --> 00:14:10.590
way, and then saying yes, taking that risk, because

00:14:10.590 --> 00:14:12.730
what's the worst that can happen? In your case,

00:14:12.950 --> 00:14:14.490
there could been some crazy things that happen

00:14:14.490 --> 00:14:18.309
to me. But in a professional setting, a lot of

00:14:18.309 --> 00:14:20.990
times, it's just what's the worst that can happen?

00:14:21.169 --> 00:14:22.710
Like you might need support, you might need to

00:14:22.710 --> 00:14:25.330
get other additional feedback on how to do something.

00:14:26.220 --> 00:14:28.019
But a lot of times it's just, it's moving forward

00:14:28.019 --> 00:14:30.279
and taking that risk. But what's the best that

00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:34.580
can happen? What if you take a risk and your

00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:39.259
boss says, wow, you're a natural leader? Or what

00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:42.320
if you decide to change careers? I had a 20 -year

00:14:42.320 --> 00:14:45.940
career, you changed careers. I had a 20 -year

00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:50.740
IT career. And one day I woke up and said, I'm

00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:53.299
not an IT person anymore, or I don't think I

00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:56.379
am. And I don't think I want to. I don't think

00:14:56.379 --> 00:14:58.820
this is feeding my soul. Not that every job feeds

00:14:58.820 --> 00:15:04.220
your soul. But I think I just had run the gamut

00:15:04.220 --> 00:15:06.759
at what I had done. I had all the positions I

00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:10.740
wanted. I got a new boss and the boss said, what

00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:13.019
do you want to do? And I said, I think I'm done.

00:15:13.419 --> 00:15:16.259
I think I just did everything I wanted to do

00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:19.240
there. And I did not know that I was going to

00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:22.259
go back to coaching, which I did in college.

00:15:22.940 --> 00:15:25.620
as my summer job, but I always wanted to be a

00:15:25.620 --> 00:15:30.240
coach. So I finally listened to my heart at age

00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.519
45 and said, you know, how am I going to, how

00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:36.679
am I going to listen to my heart? I always wanted

00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:39.480
to be a coach. And when I went off to Penn State,

00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:42.700
I just didn't know what to major in. How could

00:15:42.700 --> 00:15:44.960
I be a coach? I thought I needed to be a teacher

00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:49.360
to be a coach. I didn't ask anybody. I just tried

00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.259
to solve everything myself. Isn't there a lesson

00:15:52.259 --> 00:15:55.419
in that? Yes. Oh my gosh. Well, and it's funny.

00:15:55.580 --> 00:15:57.460
I have an 18 year old going to college, you know,

00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.580
in the fall and we're asking these babies essentially

00:16:01.580 --> 00:16:04.019
to make a decision about what they major in,

00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:05.299
what they want to be when they grow up. They

00:16:05.299 --> 00:16:06.840
have no idea, right? They only know what they've

00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:08.779
been exposed to. But even as you're going through

00:16:08.779 --> 00:16:10.720
college and you get your first job, I mean, I

00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:12.419
remember that panic of being like, okay, is this

00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:14.500
what I'm doing? for the rest of my life. Like

00:16:14.500 --> 00:16:17.200
you don't have to be stuck. And even I love that

00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:20.419
you were doing this career for 20 years and 20

00:16:20.419 --> 00:16:22.500
years into it. You're like, you know what, I

00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:24.220
think I need to go do something different. And

00:16:24.220 --> 00:16:27.759
that takes such courage, right? And, and probably

00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:31.279
support around you. But what gave you that courage

00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:33.899
to say, you know what, I need to, I need to totally

00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:35.919
switch gears here and go a different direction.

00:16:36.379 --> 00:16:40.379
My head to really good. work friends who had

00:16:40.379 --> 00:16:44.139
left before me in the organization and one and

00:16:44.139 --> 00:16:47.500
one left to go consult and One was working somewhere

00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:51.740
else and I distinctly remember Them taking me

00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:54.159
out for dinner when they came back to visit and

00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:59.100
they said Jeannie You can let go You it's okay.

00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:02.759
You can let go and I don't think if they would

00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:06.089
have told me that I could let go I would have.

00:17:06.210 --> 00:17:08.210
I also came home and told my husband, I have

00:17:08.210 --> 00:17:11.029
to tell you something and you can't say no to

00:17:11.029 --> 00:17:15.549
it. And he said, what is it? And I said, I have

00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:17.990
to quit my job. And he said, what are you going

00:17:17.990 --> 00:17:21.849
to do? And I said, I don't know, but I know that

00:17:21.849 --> 00:17:24.809
there has to be something else and something

00:17:24.809 --> 00:17:27.890
else that feeds my soul. And in some regard,

00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:31.789
you know, I can't be crying in the parking lot

00:17:31.789 --> 00:17:35.069
of the Chinese restaurant every day. because

00:17:35.069 --> 00:17:38.170
I didn't want to install email systems anymore.

00:17:39.509 --> 00:17:42.230
Giving somebody a new email system is never good

00:17:42.230 --> 00:17:45.710
news. It's like, oh, we're changing technology

00:17:45.710 --> 00:17:50.369
on you again. I'm sorry. I was always apologizing

00:17:50.369 --> 00:17:53.109
and I'm sorry we're making things so difficult

00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:56.250
for you. I'm sorry the internet is up or down

00:17:56.250 --> 00:17:59.470
or email is up or down. And I wanted to make

00:17:59.470 --> 00:18:03.130
a difference in somebody's life. So thank God.

00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:07.410
that Chris said, it's okay. You know, I don't

00:18:07.410 --> 00:18:11.230
think he had a choice, but it took a while to

00:18:11.230 --> 00:18:13.509
figure out what it was I was going to do and

00:18:13.509 --> 00:18:16.769
how I was going to do it. So do you think you

00:18:16.769 --> 00:18:19.309
would have made that decision or felt comfortable

00:18:19.309 --> 00:18:21.470
making that decision if you didn't have the support

00:18:21.470 --> 00:18:24.150
of your friends and family? I don't think so.

00:18:24.269 --> 00:18:27.369
I think I needed, you know, obviously, you know,

00:18:27.450 --> 00:18:29.470
Chris has been patient with me as I built my

00:18:29.470 --> 00:18:35.319
business and rebuilt an income. I think that

00:18:35.319 --> 00:18:38.000
a lot of people didn't really, you know, why

00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:40.400
would I leave a job like that? A stable job,

00:18:40.740 --> 00:18:43.779
right? You get a paycheck every other week. Yep.

00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:48.099
And I had leadership positions and whatnot, and

00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:53.400
I was probably somewhat good at it. Yeah, I think

00:18:53.400 --> 00:18:57.099
you know, I had a friend who I saw Surprisingly,

00:18:57.460 --> 00:19:01.099
it was my son's coach my son swim coach At a

00:19:01.099 --> 00:19:04.000
funeral and of all places and he said we need

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:06.480
to get you coaching again And I didn't know what

00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:09.940
I was going to do when I had left my job, but

00:19:09.940 --> 00:19:13.680
I said I don't know how to coach anymore. And

00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:17.660
he said yeah you do and you're gonna call me

00:19:17.660 --> 00:19:21.359
and I haven't coached since college and I met

00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:23.400
him at the pool. I thought we were both getting

00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:28.059
in. No, I got in and he corrected all my strokes.

00:19:28.059 --> 00:19:31.839
Oh, funny. And I was like, oh, at 45, you know.

00:19:32.180 --> 00:19:34.559
But I started coaching and I coached for a while.

00:19:34.740 --> 00:19:39.519
And I got to coach my son and his friends. And

00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.220
it was the time of my life to share that with

00:19:42.220 --> 00:19:47.059
my son, Matt, and his whole swim career. I got

00:19:47.059 --> 00:19:49.930
to share with him and. That was really special

00:19:49.930 --> 00:19:52.950
and his friends. So when you were coaching beyond

00:19:52.950 --> 00:19:56.190
the technical, right, fixing people's performance,

00:19:56.269 --> 00:19:59.150
what were you trying to instill into sounds like

00:19:59.150 --> 00:20:01.549
mostly kids? What was some of the platforms that

00:20:01.549 --> 00:20:03.890
you really leaned to as a coach? That's a really

00:20:03.890 --> 00:20:06.769
good question. And I think you really get me,

00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:11.029
even though we just met. I think I teach confidence

00:20:11.029 --> 00:20:15.869
through swimming. I teach self -esteem and I

00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:21.839
teach self -belief. and I like them to get rid

00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:26.759
of limiting beliefs. And the vessel or the mechanism

00:20:26.759 --> 00:20:31.079
is swimming. But what I really care about is

00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:34.740
that they believe in themselves and that if they,

00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:40.500
that hard work, focus, grit, I'm sure you've

00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:44.660
probably seen. Angela Duckworth and her lovely

00:20:44.660 --> 00:20:48.680
Ted talk and book called grit and, you know,

00:20:48.819 --> 00:20:52.920
focus toward a single goal over a long period

00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:58.799
of time. You know, will with a lot of grit and

00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:02.079
grittiness will actually is more successful than

00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:06.539
raw talent and and not having that same. work

00:21:06.539 --> 00:21:09.279
ethic. So yeah, when I coach these kids, I do

00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:12.140
a lot of, yeah, I coach, I change their strokes,

00:21:12.180 --> 00:21:14.400
and I change their starts and turns. And I help

00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:17.319
them with strategy. But I help them with mindset.

00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:20.059
And I help them with self belief and confidence.

00:21:20.940 --> 00:21:23.700
And everybody, not everybody, I was gonna say

00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:25.700
everybody stopped swimming at some point. But

00:21:25.700 --> 00:21:29.279
that's not true. Here I am. But you know, the

00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:31.119
a lot of competitive swimmers will stop swimming

00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:34.920
at some point. And but who are they and and what

00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:37.700
did swimming do for them as part of their story?

00:21:38.380 --> 00:21:42.059
And, you know, my son texted me two days ago

00:21:42.059 --> 00:21:46.259
and said, sharing swimming with you growing up

00:21:46.259 --> 00:21:48.779
and having you as my coach and doing all the

00:21:48.779 --> 00:21:50.559
meets with you and everything was the greatest

00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:55.599
joy of my life. And I. I totally agree. It was

00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.400
one of the greatest joys in my life to be able

00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:02.500
to share that with him and everything that he

00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:07.059
learned through that process. He can't tell you

00:22:07.059 --> 00:22:09.920
some of his times, but he can tell you who he

00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.859
swam with, what relays he was on, the difficulty

00:22:13.859 --> 00:22:16.940
that he overcame when he was injured or didn't

00:22:16.940 --> 00:22:19.940
get something that he wanted, didn't make it

00:22:19.940 --> 00:22:23.071
to a certain meet. Those are the things that...

00:22:23.069 --> 00:22:26.609
that built us as humans. So I don't really care

00:22:26.609 --> 00:22:28.190
about the swimming. I mean, I love the swimming

00:22:28.190 --> 00:22:31.329
and I have a passion for swimming, but I love

00:22:31.329 --> 00:22:34.190
my relationships with the kids. That's so great.

00:22:34.529 --> 00:22:36.349
I just noticed that and I can't remember it off

00:22:36.349 --> 00:22:39.089
the top of my head, but it was about the percentage

00:22:39.089 --> 00:22:41.529
of women who are in leadership positions who

00:22:41.529 --> 00:22:43.470
played sports. And it didn't have to be college.

00:22:43.589 --> 00:22:50.640
It could have been high school. sport. It's beyond

00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:53.359
swimming. It's about being able to deal with

00:22:53.359 --> 00:22:56.220
resilience and competition and building confidence

00:22:56.220 --> 00:22:58.819
to what you talked about earlier. And, and I

00:22:58.819 --> 00:23:01.339
think that's the part that runs parallel. And

00:23:01.339 --> 00:23:04.359
I love that my girls play sports or play volleyball

00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:06.759
because it helps to build that. And it gives

00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:09.539
you the teamwork. And when someone's to challenge

00:23:09.539 --> 00:23:12.299
on your team or on your relay, you know, it's

00:23:12.299 --> 00:23:14.339
there's all these parallels to this isn't just

00:23:14.339 --> 00:23:17.650
about sports. This is about like, your life and

00:23:17.650 --> 00:23:20.289
how you're able to be better when you go through

00:23:20.289 --> 00:23:23.250
these things. So kind of going back to your building

00:23:23.250 --> 00:23:26.490
the confidence and the limiting the beliefs.

00:23:26.730 --> 00:23:28.829
And I always show a picture when I talk about

00:23:28.829 --> 00:23:31.190
confidence of this woman who's like absolutely

00:23:31.190 --> 00:23:34.109
right, like six pack, beautiful shoulders. I'm

00:23:34.109 --> 00:23:36.410
like, I want to look like her. Well, that's great.

00:23:37.069 --> 00:23:39.230
Want to look like her i'm going to have to go

00:23:39.230 --> 00:23:42.609
to the gym go every day have a plan Be consistent

00:23:42.609 --> 00:23:45.329
and that's the part where it's like I think sometimes

00:23:45.329 --> 00:23:49.269
we disconnect of there's work that goes into

00:23:49.269 --> 00:23:51.890
building your confidence and your courage and

00:23:51.890 --> 00:23:54.410
And being able to be consistent about it because

00:23:54.410 --> 00:23:55.990
that's the hard part. We can think about it.

00:23:56.009 --> 00:23:59.769
Absolutely. Absolutely One of your messages that

00:23:59.769 --> 00:24:02.670
I see you talk a lot about is optimism and I

00:24:02.670 --> 00:24:05.140
love Optimism, I think I'm a fairly optimistic

00:24:05.140 --> 00:24:08.500
person. So tell me how that plays into all this

00:24:08.500 --> 00:24:11.160
and into the mindset as you're working with,

00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:14.680
whether it's kids in a pool or just from a professional

00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:17.859
career standpoint, how do we approach optimism?

00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.740
I think that it's a choice. You know, I think

00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:26.660
some people think that, and maybe some people

00:24:26.660 --> 00:24:32.119
are born more glass half full than others. But

00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:35.660
I also think it's a conscious choice, don't you?

00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:39.519
I mean, you have the choice like anybody else

00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:44.740
to say, you know, it's gonna be a bad day, or,

00:24:44.779 --> 00:24:48.259
you know, it might just be a great day. And now

00:24:48.259 --> 00:24:50.779
it's not every day. And it's not all the time,

00:24:50.779 --> 00:24:53.680
right? I think it's impossible to be optimistic

00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:56.880
all the time. And I was really worried about

00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:59.819
naming my business Eternal Optimist, because

00:24:59.819 --> 00:25:03.009
I thought, people are gonna say to me I can't

00:25:03.009 --> 00:25:07.650
have a bad day and I can't be sad and I can't

00:25:07.650 --> 00:25:10.549
Be normal, you know, just kind of like letting

00:25:10.549 --> 00:25:13.529
life get a hold of me and sure enough people

00:25:13.529 --> 00:25:15.509
do say that they're like But Jeannie you're the

00:25:15.509 --> 00:25:18.190
eternal optimist, you know, you can't have a

00:25:18.190 --> 00:25:23.650
bad day, but I can and I do and But if given

00:25:23.650 --> 00:25:26.579
the choice and when given the choice uh glass

00:25:26.579 --> 00:25:29.299
half full and i and i know that i've been like

00:25:29.299 --> 00:25:33.519
that my my very good college friend sean uh and

00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:38.240
i always exchanged glass half full um pictures

00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:42.019
and cards and because he was too he is glass

00:25:42.019 --> 00:25:45.019
half full as well so and i know i think when

00:25:45.019 --> 00:25:48.440
um i was gonna swim the channel and i have a

00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:51.339
crew that comes with me i do not do any of this

00:25:51.500 --> 00:25:54.819
these channels alone. They are not solo sports.

00:25:55.180 --> 00:25:59.160
They are, or solo activities. My dear friends,

00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:03.640
best friends come with me and on these things

00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:05.880
and they take care of me. They're my crew. They

00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:10.039
feed me, they encourage me. Susan and Deb and

00:26:10.039 --> 00:26:12.500
on the channel I had another friend named Cathy.

00:26:13.779 --> 00:26:17.539
But Susan and Deb are like on every boat, every,

00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:21.819
you know, and with me when I train. But I know

00:26:21.819 --> 00:26:23.900
that when we were going to going to the channel,

00:26:24.059 --> 00:26:26.700
I wanted to have a team name, and I wanted to

00:26:26.700 --> 00:26:30.180
have the word optimist in it. And our optimism.

00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:33.079
And I was playing with things. And it was during

00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:36.000
COVID and or right after COVID. And Susan said,

00:26:36.420 --> 00:26:38.640
we're just going to have to be eternally optimistic

00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:41.859
that we're going to get there. Because England

00:26:41.859 --> 00:26:46.119
was shut down. We're shut down. It was a mess.

00:26:46.879 --> 00:26:49.039
and quarantine and all kinds of stuff. And I

00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:51.480
said, Susan, that's I think that's our name,

00:26:52.019 --> 00:26:55.220
eternal optimists. And so we became the eternal

00:26:55.220 --> 00:26:58.000
optimists thinking that we were going to get

00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:02.579
to to England. And I and we were I was going

00:27:02.579 --> 00:27:06.140
to get the opportunity to swim. And I had to

00:27:06.140 --> 00:27:09.339
wait two weeks to get in. The weather was not

00:27:09.339 --> 00:27:12.400
cooperating. I went in two hours before my swim

00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:17.390
window closed. and into the channel. And I was

00:27:17.390 --> 00:27:20.450
optimistic. I just adopted that whole mantra

00:27:20.450 --> 00:27:23.269
that if I was going to get the chance to swim,

00:27:24.109 --> 00:27:26.769
I was going to make it to France. No ifs, ands,

00:27:26.769 --> 00:27:29.289
or buts. And they were going to get my butt to

00:27:29.289 --> 00:27:34.599
France by being on the boat. I think it came

00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:38.259
from just me being who I am and acknowledging

00:27:38.259 --> 00:27:40.980
that I'm a glass half full, optimistic kind of

00:27:40.980 --> 00:27:43.539
person most of the time, meant a lot of the time,

00:27:43.539 --> 00:27:47.980
but then embodying it and calling us that. And

00:27:47.980 --> 00:27:50.859
I totally find that if you call yourself something,

00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:56.440
you believe it. And if you call something something,

00:27:56.920 --> 00:28:00.519
you also believe it. So I'm training again for

00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:03.039
another channel. for the English Channel again

00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:08.019
this summer at 60, raising money for a foundation

00:28:08.019 --> 00:28:10.640
in Pittsburgh called Clear Thoughts Foundation,

00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:14.799
which funds researchers for dementia and all

00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:18.740
kinds of dementia. And because it has hit our

00:28:18.740 --> 00:28:24.579
family very hard. And I think that I had declared

00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:28.720
that my swimming was going to be joy. My training

00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:32.039
was going to be joy and my time at the Y was

00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:36.180
going to be respite and joy. And darn it. It

00:28:36.180 --> 00:28:40.940
is like I don't look at it like I have to. Right.

00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:43.339
I look at it because I want to. And I think,

00:28:43.859 --> 00:28:46.059
you know, when you name yourself something or

00:28:46.059 --> 00:28:49.180
when you call yourself something, are you talented?

00:28:49.460 --> 00:28:53.759
Are you tough? Are you strong? Are you optimistic?

00:28:54.420 --> 00:28:57.230
Are you confident? And when you use that language,

00:28:57.529 --> 00:29:02.130
I think you believe it and you act it and you

00:29:02.130 --> 00:29:05.730
act it. Yep. Which can be positive or negative,

00:29:05.730 --> 00:29:08.049
right? Sometimes we have that negative voice

00:29:08.049 --> 00:29:10.349
in our head telling us a story that we're not

00:29:10.349 --> 00:29:13.210
ready. You can't do it, whatever it is. And it's

00:29:13.210 --> 00:29:15.109
flipping that and telling yourself a different

00:29:15.109 --> 00:29:17.730
story that you'll start to believe. And again,

00:29:17.930 --> 00:29:19.390
you have to put the work in. You can't just think

00:29:19.390 --> 00:29:22.049
that and then not go work out. Right. Like you

00:29:22.049 --> 00:29:24.930
have to put the work in, but you're showing up

00:29:24.930 --> 00:29:27.369
with that mindset that it's joyful, you can do

00:29:27.369 --> 00:29:29.710
this, you're going to achieve it. It's telling

00:29:29.710 --> 00:29:31.730
yourself a different story, which I think is

00:29:31.730 --> 00:29:35.049
so important. And again, I think optimism is

00:29:35.049 --> 00:29:37.589
such a good word that people sometimes think

00:29:37.589 --> 00:29:40.009
it's like, oh, you're unrealistic or you're living

00:29:40.009 --> 00:29:42.430
in this dream. Like you're not going to be understanding

00:29:42.430 --> 00:29:44.269
how this is. And that's not what it is. Like

00:29:44.269 --> 00:29:46.500
you still are going to have bad days. You still

00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:48.720
have to be resilient, but it's your mindset going

00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:50.420
into like, hey, I'm going to get through this.

00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:52.640
I'm going to be able to accomplish this and just

00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:55.200
be positive about it versus, you know, going

00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:57.539
to the negative side of things. So I think that's

00:29:57.539 --> 00:29:59.359
really important. And people think, oh, I'm just,

00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:01.259
I'm just kind of negative. Well, that's going

00:30:01.259 --> 00:30:05.119
to majorly impact how you approach your personal

00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:07.079
life, professional life, whatever it is, that

00:30:07.079 --> 00:30:10.660
it has a negative impact on how you show up.

00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:13.000
So I love the eternal optimist. You will believe

00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.579
it one way or another. You know, I think, I think

00:30:16.579 --> 00:30:19.859
the day that I said to my, the whole what if

00:30:19.859 --> 00:30:25.359
I can mantra also showed up, you know, like when

00:30:25.359 --> 00:30:28.380
I, one day I was sitting in the, and that's kind

00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:30.980
of a version of optimism, right? What if I can't,

00:30:31.059 --> 00:30:33.400
instead of saying, what if I can't and what if

00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:37.119
I shouldn't and what if I, it's, what if it's,

00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.579
I'm being selfish. What if this is stupid? What

00:30:40.579 --> 00:30:43.599
if this is too much? You know, I, one night I

00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:46.839
said to my son, Guess what I just did? I just

00:30:46.839 --> 00:30:49.240
booked an English channel pilot. And that was

00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:52.819
in 2018. Before I even swam around Manhattan,

00:30:53.319 --> 00:30:56.200
before I did anything big, you have to book a

00:30:56.200 --> 00:30:59.319
channel pilot that far out. But I didn't know

00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:01.559
what I was doing except that I was booking a

00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:06.259
pilot. And I sent an email to a pilot in England,

00:31:06.940 --> 00:31:09.940
threw it out into the universe, right? And maybe

00:31:09.940 --> 00:31:12.339
the universe will conspire to help me. That's

00:31:12.339 --> 00:31:14.720
another one of my mantras. Love that. And Matt

00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:17.640
said, what if you make it halfway, mom? And I

00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:20.059
said, well, if I make it halfway across the English

00:31:20.059 --> 00:31:22.900
channel, I don't think that's a bad thing. But

00:31:22.900 --> 00:31:24.940
that's not going to be my goal. My goal is going

00:31:24.940 --> 00:31:26.980
to be I'm getting to France and I'm going to

00:31:26.980 --> 00:31:29.380
put the work in to do it. I didn't know how to

00:31:29.380 --> 00:31:31.799
yet, but I was going to figure it out. And I

00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:35.019
said to him, but what if I can, Matt? What if

00:31:35.019 --> 00:31:38.200
I can do it? Not what if I can't? You know, what

00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:41.000
if I can do it at 55? And then what if I can

00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.619
tell people about it and say, you're not dead

00:31:44.619 --> 00:31:47.799
at 55. Maybe you're in, you know, I would, I

00:31:47.799 --> 00:31:50.539
just spoke at a conference a few weeks ago called

00:31:50.539 --> 00:31:53.819
prime time for women. And it was on international

00:31:53.819 --> 00:31:59.039
women's day and or week. And, you know, they

00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:02.980
call women at our age in our prime. Is that a

00:32:02.980 --> 00:32:06.339
great way to talk about ourselves? Right. You

00:32:06.339 --> 00:32:08.869
know, so I really do believe that you know, what

00:32:08.869 --> 00:32:11.730
I did at 55, I couldn't have done it 45 or 35

00:32:11.730 --> 00:32:16.950
or 25, because I didn't have the mindset and

00:32:16.950 --> 00:32:22.130
the mental tenacity of life and of all the things

00:32:22.130 --> 00:32:24.329
I learned in life, not just through swimming,

00:32:24.529 --> 00:32:27.630
but through, you know, my jobs and the years

00:32:27.630 --> 00:32:32.069
that I had in the 55 years that I had it got

00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:36.759
me to France. Oh, I love that. So if someone's

00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:39.240
listening to this, maybe they're 35, right? And

00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:41.960
they want to flip that mindset and they want

00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:44.200
to have that, what if I can, instead of the fear?

00:32:44.680 --> 00:32:47.420
How do they begin? How do you practically begin

00:32:47.420 --> 00:32:50.759
to just have that mindset of, what if I can't?

00:32:50.759 --> 00:32:55.200
Stop saying, what if I can't? Stop saying no.

00:32:56.059 --> 00:33:00.559
Stop saying, that's not me. And catch yourself.

00:33:03.779 --> 00:33:07.160
don't go there, you know, and especially as women,

00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:12.880
you know. There's so many women I know who are

00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:17.180
amazing women and and they put themselves down

00:33:17.180 --> 00:33:21.140
or say they can't or they shouldn't or they're

00:33:21.140 --> 00:33:26.019
not allowed to or it's selfish. I have to be

00:33:26.019 --> 00:33:28.099
a mom. I have to be a wife. I have to be this.

00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:30.740
I have to be a daughter. I have to be, you know,

00:33:30.740 --> 00:33:34.500
and you are all those things. Also, there's chapters

00:33:34.500 --> 00:33:36.759
in life, as we all know. The whole notion that

00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:39.920
you can have it all at once is kind of an old

00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:43.759
one. We all tried that, right? And realized that

00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:46.660
like eating a plate of food, you can't eat everything

00:33:46.660 --> 00:33:51.420
you like in one sitting. But stop the language.

00:33:52.099 --> 00:33:57.299
Listen to yourself. But I can't do that. Oh,

00:33:57.500 --> 00:34:01.259
my husband would never let me do that. What about

00:34:01.259 --> 00:34:04.440
my kids? What about your kids? Maybe you want

00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:09.280
to show them that there are no limits to what

00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:13.539
they can do. Or, my mom tried and she didn't

00:34:13.539 --> 00:34:19.000
make it, but my mom tried. My mom likes to tell

00:34:19.000 --> 00:34:22.019
me that I live two or three lives in one. I guess

00:34:22.019 --> 00:34:25.079
I'd like to live two or three lives in one than

00:34:25.079 --> 00:34:29.519
a half a life in one. or a partial life, it's,

00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:31.760
you know, we all know that when things happen

00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:34.679
in life and life gets hard and there's illness

00:34:34.679 --> 00:34:38.420
or someone you know is ill or you get sick or

00:34:38.420 --> 00:34:41.659
something terrible happens, you know, we get

00:34:41.659 --> 00:34:45.019
one life. What are you waiting for? That's what

00:34:45.019 --> 00:34:47.300
I want to tell people. If there's something you

00:34:47.300 --> 00:34:50.659
want to do, change your career, change your life,

00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:52.539
change your relationship, change this, change

00:34:52.539 --> 00:34:55.500
that. You know, what are you waiting for? And

00:34:55.500 --> 00:34:59.860
maybe it's not time yet. But at some point, it

00:34:59.860 --> 00:35:03.039
should become time if it's important enough.

00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:05.820
Absolutely. And saying we don't have time is,

00:35:05.820 --> 00:35:09.900
I think, one of the biggest excuses. And sometimes

00:35:09.900 --> 00:35:12.860
there's validity to that, but it's prioritizing

00:35:12.860 --> 00:35:15.860
or making a plan. Hey, maybe I can't do this

00:35:15.860 --> 00:35:18.920
this year, but I can plan for next year. And

00:35:18.920 --> 00:35:21.659
it's just having a plan and being intentional.

00:35:22.710 --> 00:35:25.789
Time is limited, right? And, and as I get older

00:35:25.789 --> 00:35:28.010
and you see people get sick that never thought

00:35:28.010 --> 00:35:30.030
they'd be sick under the age of 50 or whatever

00:35:30.030 --> 00:35:32.409
it is, like, I mean, just things happen. So trying

00:35:32.409 --> 00:35:35.429
to be as, as to your point, like living your

00:35:35.429 --> 00:35:38.170
best life and what if I can and taking advantage

00:35:38.170 --> 00:35:40.170
of that, I think is, is really important. And

00:35:40.170 --> 00:35:43.489
I think as we get older, we start to realize

00:35:43.489 --> 00:35:45.690
that we're not here forever, right? Like everyone's

00:35:45.690 --> 00:35:48.510
not here forever. So we think we have unlimited.

00:35:48.869 --> 00:35:52.539
We think we have unlimited days. And, you know,

00:35:52.699 --> 00:35:54.599
you have an 18 year old now and you're wondering

00:35:54.599 --> 00:35:58.199
how the heck, you know, she became 18. And, you

00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:03.559
know, the the days are long, the years are short.

00:36:04.860 --> 00:36:08.099
And what are you waiting for if there is something

00:36:08.099 --> 00:36:11.739
that you want? You know, a lot of people are

00:36:11.739 --> 00:36:14.539
just content. Yeah. And they don't want to be

00:36:14.539 --> 00:36:16.320
out of their comfort zone. They don't want to

00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:18.880
be. You know, my mom always is like, why would

00:36:18.880 --> 00:36:22.429
you want to be cold? You know, why would you

00:36:22.429 --> 00:36:28.829
want to like, you know, hurt or, you know, challenge

00:36:28.829 --> 00:36:33.369
your body? And other people do that too. They're

00:36:33.369 --> 00:36:35.889
like, why would you want to do that in 60 degree

00:36:35.889 --> 00:36:41.869
water? I don't know why. It's just an accomplishment.

00:36:42.250 --> 00:36:45.829
I mean, I never swam. I was a runner. Yep. It

00:36:45.829 --> 00:36:47.809
was a challenge of, you know, I participated

00:36:47.809 --> 00:36:50.250
in some Ragnar race. It was like a 200 mile race.

00:36:50.380 --> 00:36:53.539
relay is overnight, like that last race where

00:36:53.539 --> 00:36:56.059
you hadn't slept the night before for 30 minutes.

00:36:56.219 --> 00:36:59.619
Your whole body hurts, but it was more than just

00:36:59.619 --> 00:37:01.320
the physical part. It was the mental part. I'd

00:37:01.320 --> 00:37:03.710
be like, I can't let my team down. I have to

00:37:03.710 --> 00:37:06.210
only run three miles this morning. Like get your

00:37:06.210 --> 00:37:08.989
shit together. Let's go. Like this is the conversation

00:37:08.989 --> 00:37:12.070
in my head to myself. Like what, what if I can,

00:37:12.210 --> 00:37:13.769
what's, you know, what's, what's the worst that

00:37:13.769 --> 00:37:15.690
can happen? Even if I end up walking, like if

00:37:15.690 --> 00:37:19.329
you walk it, you're showing up, right? You know,

00:37:19.329 --> 00:37:21.389
and I think that's the bottom line. Like show

00:37:21.389 --> 00:37:25.070
up and show up for yourself. Yes. You know, who

00:37:25.070 --> 00:37:28.150
else is going to show up for you? You know, like

00:37:28.150 --> 00:37:31.210
this is your life. You know, you're the author

00:37:31.210 --> 00:37:34.650
of your life. Whatever it is. Whatever it is,

00:37:34.809 --> 00:37:36.929
write your story, but write something. Write

00:37:36.929 --> 00:37:40.690
something. Yeah. And then no regrets. You know,

00:37:40.750 --> 00:37:43.809
like, I don't want to hear, I'm 70 and I should

00:37:43.809 --> 00:37:49.280
have. You know, no regrets, man. Just... What's

00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:51.400
the worst that can happen? Yeah, that's so good.

00:37:51.420 --> 00:37:55.940
This has been so great I love this and best of

00:37:55.940 --> 00:37:58.539
luck in your upcoming. What do you have coming

00:37:58.539 --> 00:38:00.920
up this summer? What's the race another English

00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:03.260
channel another English channel at six years

00:38:03.260 --> 00:38:06.079
old back when I was 55 I thought wouldn't it

00:38:06.079 --> 00:38:10.199
be cool if I could do it at 60 And here you are

00:38:10.199 --> 00:38:12.920
an update Once you complete it, because obviously

00:38:12.920 --> 00:38:15.280
you will and you'll kill it. So we'll want to

00:38:15.280 --> 00:38:17.239
hear that news so we can celebrate you this summer.

00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:20.300
Thank you. And thank you so much for having me

00:38:20.300 --> 00:38:23.619
today. Absolutely. Thank you. I really love this

00:38:23.619 --> 00:38:26.079
conversation with Jeannie. Yes, her accomplishments

00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:28.599
are incredible. I mean, completing the Triple

00:38:28.599 --> 00:38:31.519
Crown of open water swimming at 56 is objectively

00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:34.989
wild in the best possible way. But what stayed

00:38:34.989 --> 00:38:37.130
with me most was not just what she did. It's

00:38:37.130 --> 00:38:40.130
what her story represents. Because this was a

00:38:40.130 --> 00:38:42.190
woman who had already built a successful career.

00:38:42.309 --> 00:38:45.590
She'd already done a lot. And still, there was

00:38:45.590 --> 00:38:48.090
another chapter waiting for her. A bigger one,

00:38:48.230 --> 00:38:51.110
a bolder one, one that require courage, discomfort,

00:38:51.389 --> 00:38:54.650
discipline, and a whole lot of belief. I think

00:38:54.650 --> 00:38:56.730
that's what makes this conversation so powerful.

00:38:57.230 --> 00:38:59.389
So many women are high functioning, capable,

00:38:59.849 --> 00:39:02.469
responsible, and accomplished, but still quietly

00:39:02.469 --> 00:39:05.130
wondering if they're too late, too old, too far

00:39:05.130 --> 00:39:07.969
down one path to choose another, too established

00:39:07.969 --> 00:39:10.889
to start over or maybe too practical to chase

00:39:10.889 --> 00:39:14.090
something that feels bold or deeply personal.

00:39:14.630 --> 00:39:17.289
And Jeannie's story pushes back on that. It reminds

00:39:17.289 --> 00:39:20.289
us that reinvention is still available. That

00:39:20.289 --> 00:39:23.409
meaningful ambition does not expire. That confidence

00:39:23.409 --> 00:39:25.929
is not something you either have or you do not.

00:39:26.030 --> 00:39:28.630
It's something you build by moving, trying, stretching,

00:39:28.829 --> 00:39:31.289
and sometimes looking a little crazy along the

00:39:31.289 --> 00:39:34.010
way. And maybe, most importantly, it reminds

00:39:34.010 --> 00:39:37.090
us to ask a better question. Not, what if I fail?

00:39:37.349 --> 00:39:39.769
Not, what if I'm too late? Not, what will people

00:39:39.769 --> 00:39:44.019
think? But what if I can? So if this episode

00:39:44.019 --> 00:39:46.039
spoke to you, send to a friend, send to a woman

00:39:46.039 --> 00:39:48.519
who is in season of wondering what is next or

00:39:48.519 --> 00:39:50.960
feeling the pull towards something bigger, even

00:39:50.960 --> 00:39:54.039
if she can't fully name it yet. And if you're

00:39:54.039 --> 00:39:56.199
enjoying Loud and Lifted, make sure you follow,

00:39:56.480 --> 00:39:58.400
rate, and share the show. It helps us keep bringing

00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:00.719
more of these honest conversations to women who

00:40:00.719 --> 00:40:02.900
are still growing, still evolving, and still

00:40:02.900 --> 00:40:06.159
becoming. Until next time, stay loud and stay

00:40:06.159 --> 00:40:06.480
lifted.