Gabriella Papadakis: “There is a way to compete and be successful in healthy and sustainable ways. I just didn’t know about it when I was competing.”
Gabriella Papadakis about her new definition of success and happiness, friendship in sport and competitions.
original source: Instagram
Gabriella Papadakis answered the question of her followers on Instagram stories.
“Q: Tell us more about your new definition of success / being happy away from competitions.
Gabriella Papadakis: I love this topic and I could talk about it for hours. But as a summary:
I used to put performance and competition about everything else, which sometimes led me to completely ignore the other aspects of my life. I don’t regret doing that at all, I didn’t know better, it led me to where I’m and I’m very happy to be here. But it’s also not sustainable.
Now I look at myself and I’m so proud of how different I am and feel. I worked SO HARD for it over the last couple years. It took a lot of determanation and discipline, just like competition, but this time it was in the shadows without an audience cheering for me. Today I’m so much more confident and relaxed! My relationships are much better. I work out for fun!! I’m not a people-pleaser anymore!!! I set boundaries!!!
Of course, I’m not perfect and will never be. But I am mentally and physically healthier than I ever have and I can honestly celebrate that as much as I did my medals.
Just to be clear: there is a way to compete and be successful in healthy and sustainable ways. I just didn’t know about it when I was competing. But it is possible :)”
“Q: Could you talk about female friendship in figure skating? Is it possible? What’s your take?
Gabriella Papadakis: Sure! I have been lucky to train in environments where friendship were encouraged and so it’s never been an issue for me. I’ve always seen competition and comparison as something that happens in a particular and very specific context and didn’t have to exist outside of it.
I’ve always been good at compartmentalizing and so I never struggled being friends with my competitors. I could want to beat someone and still wanna grab a pizza with them after competition (even if I lost).
I’ve heard places where coaches would encourage backstabbing and such. Seems crazy to me. Couse even with all the medals and titles I have, I wouldn’t have enjoyed my career nearly as much if it wasn’t for the friendship.
Also! Figure skating can still be sexist and trust me, you NEED the sorority.
Grateful for all my skating sisters.”
“Q: Do you miss competitions?
Gabriella Papadakis: Competition will always be a big part of me, I loved it more that anything else and I always will. But I’ve also been learning to define success in other ways, especially less obvious ones that aren’t tied to any external results. It’s been very nourishing!”
Related topics: Gabriella Papadakis Guillaume Cizeron
What a wonderful human being Gabriella is! She continues to impress me even after her mesmerising performances on the ice:)