 My biggest injury would be to my right knee which happened about four years ago I started getting pain in it and I pushed through when I probably should have stopped and it led to four years of chronic pain So every morning every night waking up in pain and that really did a lot to my mind I went through some tough times, but the biggest thing that I learned from it Was that I just have to accept it when I stopped actually suffering from the pain and just actually accepted that This was going to potentially be in my life That was when I had the breakthrough and was able to to manage the pain rather than resist it One idea that I have always had is that life isn't happening to you. You are creating it So what I mean by that is I guess You are what you think about often the more negative thoughts that you have The more negative your life is going to turn out And so I always try and think as positive as I can even in the really tough Situations that's been one of my strengths. I guess in the team especially and my mom I guess growing up kind of installed that in me because she taught me about the law of attraction Which is basically this idea that your thoughts become your actions and your actions become things So what I would do is always just tell her put it out put it out there to anyone who would listen What I actually wanted in my life and often people would call me the luckiest person because I'd always be winning things or Getting things or making teams, but I really wouldn't put it down to luck I would actually put it down to putting it out there and you know, what's the worst that that can go wrong Playing hockey at the top level you do have to deal with the pressure and we do get a lot of comments saying You know You're gonna choke this time and that really plays on your head a little bit But I guess the biggest thing that I learned about dealing with pressure is that instead of trying to do something different Try to try too hard You just have to let it go and let it happen the biggest tip that I could give is is to deal with pressure as mindfulness So the whole idea I know it's been thrown out there But it is being used by the top athletes in the world Sciences backed it up as well, and it's the whole idea of training your mind to be in the present moment So that's not being distracted by your thoughts or feelings or emotions, which obviously under pressure It kind of gets sped up a lot But yeah, it's not focusing on the past because you can't change it's not focusing on the future because you're not there yet So often you're looking at the score Or the all the time on the clock or you're thinking about a past mistake you've made But for me being able to practice mindfulness means that I can just be in the game and just focus on my role Not get distracted by anyone else and that really helps me get calm and get focused because I think when you resist or You put too much pressure on yourself. That's when things go wrong I often think a lot about what you can control and what you can't control Often we spend a lot of time especially as a sports person living in that box of Uncontrollables, you know the ref what the opposition are doing the weather How hot it is all of these things that you just have absolutely no control over and it does no good So what I think is that we need to try and spend most of the time in the control box Which you know you can control yourself your thoughts your what you say what you do and if you actually make that switch You're actually be aware of these two boxes even to begin with that's a really good step in being able to manage Obviously the things that are within your control. It's not only in a game when I'm talking about how what you can control But it's everywhere. It's how you deal with failure. I mean over at the Olympics We lost our semi-final against Great Britain and we had one day to get over it to play the bronze medal match Which is the single most important game that we played and so I had a choice I could stay in the past thinking about all the mistakes I'd made or I could quickly move on learn those lessons, but move on and focus on the next game So I think when we're talking about what you can control. We often just keep replaying situations on our head Which do us no good whatsoever. I mean it is important to learn those lessons from your mistakes But the more we dwell on them the more harm it's going to cause Why is such a big word? It's thrown around a lot But I think it's probably the most important question to keep asking yourself You know, what's your why? I think often when we get in these really tough situations You have to really hold on to that And if it's not a bigger reason if it's nothing Special or outside of yourself if it's a selfish reason I think that the the more likely you are just to be on the wrong path so I think the purpose of Having a strong sense of why is that when you do get into the situations where you're not sure if you can go On or not believe me. I've been in many of those you have that as kind of a guidance Don't mean to be cliche, but like a torch in the dark, you know, you can actually steer yourself in the direction You want but for a purpose. I like to say, you know, it's on purpose versus off purpose Sometimes I know that a lot of the time we walk around like on autopilot We do things but we're kind of not sure why we do them and I think being taking switching off autopilot and taking control and Knowing why you're doing things is a really big reason that I think everyone should should reflect on themselves I could continue you're just being an athlete and that's that's great It's a big a big job But what I've found is I've launched this new initiative Which is actually helping high school athletes try to balance their lives socially mentally and physically and I went through all of that not so long ago and by helping them It's given me a greater sense of purpose There was a lot of times when I was launching my business that I had these doubts because obviously putting my name out there and Starting a business, you know, who am I to be teaching these kids? That's what was going on in my head It was a lot of getting outside my comfort zone and I had to keep reminding myself and bringing myself back to You know that why why am I doing this and it's because I want to help and and pass on these skills to potentially have a life-changing effect on these these girls and having the right attitude Definitely helps you get outside your comfort zone and that's where the magic happens