What Snowboarding Has to do With Parenthood, Loss, and Cancer With Kimmy Fasani
Mar 26, 2025
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In this engaging conversation, professional snowboarder Kimmy Fasani shares her powerful journey through motherhood, loss, and surviving cancer. She draws fascinating parallels between her snowboarding adventures and life's challenges, highlighting resilience and emotional honesty. Kimmy emphasizes the importance of fostering independence in children while processing grief. Her advocacy for inclusive maternity policies showcases how personal challenges can shape systemic change in sports. With humor and heart, she illustrates how passion can serve as a source of strength during difficult times.
Experiences in snowboarding teach valuable life lessons about adaptability and resilience, especially in challenging parenting situations.
Facing cancer reveals how a strong connection to nature and mindfulness can empower individuals to navigate overwhelming obstacles effectively.
Deep dives
The Nature of Fear and Presence
Fear often arises from past experiences or future assumptions, but it does not exist in the present moment. By embracing deep breaths and transforming chaotic energy into useful motivation, individuals can manage their fear effectively, particularly in high-stakes situations like snowboarding. This ability to live in the moment not only enhances performance on the slopes but can also be applied to various life challenges. In this way, the speaker emphasizes the importance of mindfulness and presence in overcoming fears.
The Influence of the Mountains on Identity
Growing up in the mountains shapes both athletic prowess and parental philosophies. The challenges faced while navigating the rugged terrain provide valuable lessons that translate into parenting, such as resilience and adaptability. For instance, when plans go awry, parents can draw from their experiences in the mountains to adjust and keep moving forward. This dual relationship with nature fosters independence and self-trust not only in the athlete but also in their children.
Advocacy for Women in Sports
Reworking contracts to accommodate pregnancy and postpartum needs represents a significant breakthrough for female athletes. The speaker's experience with advocacy reflects the need for a shift in societal structures that often overlook motherhood's impact on career. Drawing parallels between overcoming challenges in snowboarding and advocating for rights within the sports industry, the speaker emphasizes the importance of representation and support for women athletes. This advocacy not only benefits individual athletes but also paves the way for the future of women in sports.
Resilience Through Adversity
The challenges of dealing with a cancer diagnosis highlight the resilience that can be drawn from a life spent in nature. Maintaining a strong mindset and a connection to the outdoors during treatment provides a powerful coping mechanism. Experiences on the mountain serve as metaphors for overcoming obstacles and rediscovering joy, despite setbacks. Ultimately, these moments reinforce the belief that confronting challenges head-on leads to personal growth and empowerment, allowing individuals to redefine their identities amidst adversity.
Mostly, professional athletes are…kind of boring. Not because they’re fundamentally uninteresting. Rather, they’re too polished and are trained to spout canned and cliched nothing burger answers. But not professional snowboarder Kimmy Fasani. Kimmy has a remarkable way of distilling her snowboarding adventures into lessons she uses to navigate challenges in life we all face, like becoming a parent and dealing with loss, And she even manages to draw from her experiences in the mountains to grapple with things we hopefully never face, like Stage 3 cancer. Have you ever yearned to hear a pro athlete say something that’ll be useful in your own life? Just press play.
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