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Welcome to the Verywell Mind podcast.
Verywell / Julie Bang
Im also a psychotherapist and a bestselling author of 5 books on mental strength.
And the fun part is, we record the show from a sailboat in the FL Keys.
Now lets dive into todays episode.
Today Im talking to Kelly Slater, the greatest professional surfer of all time.
Hes been the world surf league champion 11 times and he holds 56 Championship Tour victories.
Hes the oldest surfer in the World Surf League at the age of 51.
And hes still winning championships.
He won his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at the age of 49.
As youll hear in the episode, hes headed to the Olympics too.
Kelly started surfing when he was 5.
By age 10, he was winning titles.
So I wanted to know how he stayed passionate about surfing for more than 45 years without burning out.
Sometimes, it just isnt fun anymore.
check that to stick around until the end of the episode for The Therapists Take.
So heres Kelly Slater on how to stay passionate without burning out.
Amy Morin: Kelly Slater, welcome to The Very Well Mind Podcast.
Kelly Slater: Thank you.
So we’re excited to talk to you today.
Kelly Slater: Interesting.
You’re on a boat now?
Amy Morin: I am.
We podcast from a boat.
Kelly Slater: Yes.
Amy Morin: Good for you.
Kelly Slater: Yeah, they’re doing the same thing when he retired last year.
Amy Morin: Exactly.
How about for you?
Do you think about retirement or are you going to surf forever?
But yeah, I think about retirement a lot actually at this point.
I have had some injuries.
My life’s gotten a lot more busy with work and other things.
My daughter just got married.
Life just evolves and surfing isn’t the number one thing all the time.
So I mean it is as my pleasure.
Amy Morin: How have you not burned out from surfing after doing it for so long?
Kelly Slater: I probably have.
I know I have competitively.
But just at the end of the day, I love surfing more than anything else.
So it’s not that hard to go and get paid for it.
There’s tons of studies that show surfing is good for PTSD for depression.
There’s surf camps and surf therapy going on in the world.
Amy Morin: Yeah, I was going to ask about that.
How does fame factor into all of this?
Because clearly you’re all over the tabloids, even all these years later.
Everybody still talks about Kelly Slater.
How’s that affected your life?
Kelly Slater: Yeah, some of those things are or have been annoying in my life.
Some things I don’t know.
It’s very strange to see yourself in a tabloid magazine no matter what.
Amy Morin: I can imagine.
How have you stayed mentally healthy throughout all of it?
Kelly Slater: Have you evaluated me?
Amy Morin: We’re going on the assumption that you have some degree of mental health.
So you have to find some kind of outlet that works for you.
Some of those are healthy and some are unhealthy.
You actually mentioned surfing with regards to PTSD.
I met a guy.
Amy Morin: That’s amazing.
And surfing’s the trifecta.
And I said something about I’ve loved it and I’ve hated it.
It’s been everything all wrapped up into one.
And so it’s been all my dreams coming true.
But I don’t believe that.
I think even when you love doing something, there’s days it still feels like work.
The things people have to do for work.
He has actually hurt his shoulder right now so he can’t work for two months.
And the anxiety and the stress that comes with that is really difficult.
In a lot of ways that’s a lot more difficult than anything I have to deal with.
Amy Morin: Can I ask you about that too?
Kelly Slater: It’s been awesome.
Kelly Slater: It’s probably exceeded it exponentially to be honest.
Yeah, because when you work towards something for decades, a lot of things just keep happening.
And I’m super pleased with how my life’s been.
Kelly Slater: Oh for sure.
Maybe I’ll learn something I could pass on to someone who could do something good with it.
Amy Morin: Do you have any strategies that you use to stay healthy?
Even if you’re using social media.
Kelly Slater: have a go at forget about it.
But yeah, social media can be toxic.
Almost like scary stuff.
You’re not in front of the person.
Now there’s a paper trail and it turns into this whole thing.
There’s a lot of bullying that goes on.
And social media can make it harder.
But like I said, it can bring you great access to a lot of really wonderful things also.
Amy Morin: I believe that as well.
Kelly Slater: I attempt to do something active each day.
I surf a lot.
I golf, I do jiu-jitsu from time to time.
I play guitar a lot.
I’ve been playing guitar for 35 years or something.
So I just strum the guitar every day.
And so we got a siren going by.
And I focus on my diet.
So I attempt to do that almost every single day.
It’s a great way to start the day.
I had it at 49 or 48 degrees.
I think it’s actually good because your body’s fighting.It’s a controlled stressor on your body.
So I give a shot to do things that make me slightly uncomfortable.
So it’s really easy to get complacent and get lazy.
So I just constantly am trying to stimulate myself mentally and physically and include things I like doing.
Amy Morin: Clearly it works for you because here you still are competing.
Last question for you, what can we expect from the next season of Make or Break?
I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
So what can we expect from season two of this show?
Kelly Slater: It’s really a behind the scenes.
I couldn’t tell you the other, I haven’t watched all the shows.
No, the first episode of Make or Break season two.
I hadn’t won an event in five years and they really did the behind the scenes with me.
And then some storyline starts happening.
And then everything fell on the line.
But I was going through a lot of stuff in my own mind that gets in the way.
When you don’t win for a long time.
But still it starts to creep in your mind, I don’t know if I can do this.
You don’t question it.
But Felipe Toledo had an amazing year last year.
And each individual event, somebody’s going through something good and bad.
And I think through each of those, if they’re told right, you learn about yourself.
Amy Morin: Absolutely.
Kelly Slater: Yeah.
Amy Morin: Kelly Slater, thank you so much for being on The Very Well Mind Podcast.
Kelly Slater: Thank you and great to talk to you.
Amy Morin: You as well.
[OUTRO]
Welcome to the therapists take.
Here are three of my favorite strategies Kelly discussed.
Find something that helps you relax that doesnt involve your passion.
Expose yourself to controlled stressors.
But Kelly says he does cold water plunges as a way to stress his body in a controlled environment.
It will tell you that you cant stand it one more second.
When your body is exposed to stress, itll release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.
Accept that struggles and doubt are part of the process.
And if he experienced any self-doubt, he could have easily decided his competitive surfing days were over.
He might tell himself that now that hes older, hes not going to be as good.
But thats not his style at all.
Instead, he says struggles and self-doubt are part of the process.
Accepting that probably has a lot to do with his success.
Studies on elite athletes show that the best ones respond to bad days or even slumps with acceptance.
For example, major league baseball players all get into a batting slump sometimes.
So I love that Kelly said he accepts there are struggleson the water and in life.
And that doubt can be part of the process.
Ive talked about accepting a little self-doubt on the show before too.
People who accept a little doubt tend to perform better.
And Kelly says he sees a therapist to help him deal with lifes struggles too.
Im glad hes not afraid to ask for help and that he acknowledges that he sees a therapist.
To learn more about Kellys life as a surfer, check out Make or Break on Apple TV+.
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Thank you for hanging out with me today and listening to the VW Mind podcast.
