“I made the decision to prioritize my mental health and at the moment this is still a work in progress.” Kaitlin Hawayek about their decision not to compete at World Championships.
Kaitlin Hawayek about their decision not to compete at Worlds.
source: Instagram
Kaitlin Hawayek: Hi everyone, I’ve been taking some intentional space from social media over the past two months, but I wanted to share this moment in my journey with you all as you’ve been so supportive of Jean-Luc and I over the course of our career thus far. As many of you have seen and followed, Jean-Luc and I have made some tough decisions the past few months to sit out the remainder of our competitive season for personal reasons. As an athlete, we are taught to push past physical and mental challenges, because that’s what “tough competitors” do.
Many people don’t know that during the Olympic season, I not only experienced a significant concussion, but I also fully tore my ACL in the same training incident. The athlete mentality came into full force as I my dream of going to the Olympic’s was so close to achieving and at that moment, pushing myself to return in time for the season was not a question in my mind.
This past year, I have continued to face significant post-concussive challenges that put me in constant pain and limitation to how I could live my life outside training, and as the months past and I pushed through, anxiety and depression really began to have an impact on my life that felt too large to just push through and continue to ignore in order to live the “tough competitor” mentality.
It’s never easy to make a decision to press pause, especially when from the outside, the season had been going so well, but I made the decision to prioritize my mental health and at the moment this is still a work in progress. The past few months have been full of tough moments but I am making steps day by day to be a whole-hearted and healthy version of Kaitlin that I am eager to discover. I am so grateful for the support my family, Jean-Luc and my team here in Montreal have provided me as I step into a new focus of prioritizing my well-being as a person first, and letting the process of being a competitive athlete come second. Our competitive aspirations are still there, and Jean-Luc and I are putting our focus onto next season, allowing myself to take the time now to get my physical and mental health to where it needs to be to continue to perform with the same authenticity and love that we value so much in what we put out on the ice. Much love and thank you everyone for the support,
Kaitlin.
Related topics: Kaitlin Hawayek Jean-Luc Baker, world championship
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