Anna Levesque
My guest today, Seychelle, is a stand-up paddle multiple world champion, pro athlete, and coach. She’s the creator of the Seychelle SUP Coaching app and the founder of the SUP Stroke School. One of the things she loves most about SUP is being a forever work in progress. There’s always something to be working on and improvements to be made to become a better paddler and better version of herself through the sport. When she paddles, she feels powerful and connected. And when she

And when she coaches, she feels that same passion shared with the paddler she works with. She helps paddlers improve their standup paddle stroke, gain efficiency and strength and speed without hitting a plateau or getting injured. She’s also a mom, a trailblazer, a rebel, a health nut and a powerful manifestress. She’s a Guinness world record holder, a certified nutrition coach, personal trainer, yoga instructor and licensed US Coast Guard master.

Welcome to the show, Seychelle. Thanks for being here.

Seychelle
Thanks for having me, Anna. It’s always so fun hearing your bio be read.

Anna Levesque
Right? Right? It’s fun. It’s awesome. I hope it does it feel empowering to you to hear that the bio being read?

Seychelle
It does for sure. it’s a great reminder every time.

Anna Levesque
Right? Yeah, I appreciate that. And actually, that’s so cool you said that because it makes me just want to pause for a moment. because that can be a discomfort zone for folks. Like I’ve had, so, you know, I’ve done 59 episodes or more now. And so, you know, some folks feel very uncomfortable when they hear their bio. And I think

And because sometimes it can be a discomfort zone to like own our like awesomeness. And I think that’s so important for women. So I don’t know if you have anything else to say about that, about like hearing your bio and how that makes you feel.

Seychelle
Yeah, I absolutely agree that that can definitely be a discomfort zone for a lot of people. Women and men, but I work mostly with women. I gather you work a lot with women as well too. yeah, owning our worth, our self value is a challenge, which is, know, directly linked to when something’s challenging, it feels uncomfortable. Personally, I think I’ve…

I’ve a lot of work on that, been in self development for a long time. I don’t, it doesn’t make me feel uncomfortable. I mean, I also wrote that bio, so like if it made me feel uncomfortable, I wouldn’t have written it like that. So, you know, like I, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable, but I definitely agree with what you’re saying.

Anna Levesque
Sure.

Anna Levesque
Yeah. So can I want to like just build on that. So what type of strategy or work has been the most helpful for you in moving through that discomfort of valuing your worth, really owning your worth?

Seychelle
So I think a lot of it’s come through building a business, right? So I’ve been a professional athlete for years and now I run my own coaching business, coaching other paddlers. And that’s the biggest, like I still compete, train and compete professionally, competitively at the highest level. And I’m also coaching other paddlers that are…

at every level of paddling from recreational up to professional. so in building a business is where I think I had to do a lot of work on the owning who I am, what I’ve done, because it’s a big part of being able to market my service and who I am and what I do. So.

Did that answer your question specifically? I didn’t, I know I didn’t go ahead with what I’ve done, but that’s how it happened.

Anna Levesque
Yeah.

Yeah, no, I, and I can relate with that as well. Having competed, I, you know, I was competing internationally in whitewater kayaking back, you know, more like 25 years ago and since then built my business after that. And it has been a process for me and it has helped me gain confidence and valuing my worth. And I think also when I’m coaching, it’s really important to me to walk my talk.

And so that’s always a good challenge for me. If I’m coaching someone, and I have, coached, you know, I do coaching on the water and off the water. I’ve coached some of my clients in like negotiating 12 % raises, new jobs with like higher salaries. And so if I’m coaching others to do that, then I better walk my own talk as well. And so hearing myself coaching others helps me to own that as well. Even though, I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been, it’s been a process and I’ve worked with a business coach and I think valuing in paddle sports, know, charging what you’re worth and having, you know, valuing your services for me was a big discomfort zone and continues to to move through.

Seychelle
Yeah, it gets easier and easier though. I think that’s what I’m realizing. say very similar. Having a business coach was super helpful. Having a coach in everything that I’ve done, Like sports coach, business coach. Like I’m a big believer in having a coach. I forget what else I was going to say on that, but yeah, absolutely agree.

Anna Levesque
Yeah. Well, I love that tangent that we went on. Typically, I start the podcast with like a question that I’m about to ask you, but I really appreciate your willingness to like go, you know, off on that tangent because I think it’s really important and really important for all the women listening, especially and men and especially women who might be struggling with valuing their worth of like, you can do it if we can do it, you can do it. And it does take some time, but you got this.

Seychelle
It’s a skill, just like every skill that needs to be practiced and the skill of, yeah, of owning your worth and your value is something I think that’s, that’s exactly it. I’ve been practicing it for five years now, building and marketing a business. And so it’s a skill that I’ve gotten better at and will always forever be a work in progress on, as I said in my bio, I just, I just love that.

And yeah, if we can do it, you can do it. And it’s just like all hard things. They’re not easy at first, but when you practice.

Being outside your comfort zone, right? That’s when you’re gonna get better. So yeah, it’s a great tangent to have gone off on. Thanks.

Anna Levesque
Yeah. So what does discomfort zone mean to you or what comes up for you when I say discomfort zone?

Seychelle
Yeah, so I mean, I think it depends a lot on the situation. I it could be having an uncomfortable conversation. can be in sports, going out in, you know, conditions that you’re not comfortable with. Well, for me as a surfer that I’m, you know, not comfortable in, especially in learning. So it could be resting when I’m injured.

And could be like, like, so the effect, it’s like a similar effect. And it’s like, just doesn’t feel good. Like it just be it just in the moment, it actually doesn’t feel good. And there’s all this like, yes, there’s all this. Once it’s over in the end, the the the result is always worthwhile. But like the like what the discomfort zone to me, it’s like that feeling of like dread, that feeling of heavy, that feeling of anxiety, of worry, of fear, big emotions, like it’s not fun. So like I’m in a discomfort zone right now. Like one that I’m in right now actively is about like learning how to be a better leader for women in my business. And, you know, it’s a big learning experience, like, like it always is a big learning experience, but it’s just like, that growth, like those lessons, it’s not like a fun way to learn, but it’s necessary. So yeah.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, I hear you. Do you mean like a leader like managing people or a leader in like on, yeah.

Seychelle
Yeah, managing people. just led a retreat of 18 women and it was the hardest thing I’ve done to date in my business, right? And there’s been a lot of learning and a lot of things that didn’t go as well as hoped or expected. Of course, I have high expectations of myself, but yeah, so that’s…

That’s a little bit more specifically about what I mean.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, leading retreats, being a leader in that way is a challenge and adaptability is so important when things, like you said, maybe don’t go as you hope they will. And what comes to mind for me is it’s that discomfort zone of, like in my mind, I’m aware of everything, but my participants are not necessarily aware of everything because they don’t necessarily know and how I choose to show up and how I present it. And I talk about this when I’m training instructors as well. Like you are setting the tone. So if you let your, like you have to remember the view that you have versus the view that your participants have, you know, and that can be really helpful for me of, okay, well, this is going this way, but we’re gonna.

We’re going to do it. We’re going to take this on and make it awesome to the best of our ability.

Seychelle
Yeah. Yeah, I had a hard time with like, just being really stressed the whole time because there was so many moving pieces. We were also in another country, which is the first time I’ve done a retreat in another country. Yeah, so many moving pieces to organize to hold the retreat together. And then there was so many women to organize the whole together. And I my body was just on, you know, just

Just barely holding it together and it’s like it’s to be able to lead from that space right to be able to come through Honest and authentic and to model honesty and authenticity When I’m when I’m honestly not in a place to model honesty and authenticity, right? it was like it was so hard and and it’s just I know that that came through in the way that I was leading and I’m learning how I can do it differently the next time, right? So, yeah.

Anna Levesque
Sure. What’s the biggest thing you learned about yourself through that experience?

Seychelle
Well, I just need to learn that I can’t please everyone, but it really went back to the initial signups. I had a cap at 12, but so many women wanted to come and were asking like, what can I do to make this happen? And so I got a bigger house. I found more boards. Like I made it happen, but actually.

I should have capped it at the cap that I had originally set. So that for me is like actually learning to say no, which is another big one for women. I did not please everyone and say no. Yeah.

Anna Levesque
Mmm.

Right. Yes.

Right. Yeah. thanks for sharing. I think that’s so powerful. Yes. Like learning to say no. And also I’ve been in that exact same situation and it is hard to say no when you’re running a business and people want to come and you’re like, sweet, know, let’s do this. And then realizing like there’s…

the quality, what I hear you saying is the quality and your own mental space is worth the taking fewer people and running it to where you’re having fun and not as stressed. And yeah, that might mean, yeah, saying no to folks and maybe a little bit less revenue. Not that you mentioned revenue, that’s just what came up for me as well, thinking about it is the best policy. Yeah, learning to say no. It’s a good one.

So when you talked about this discomfort zone and you just talked about one aspect of it for you in your life right now, and you talked about big feelings. So I’m curious because stand-up paddle boarding and the competitions you do are very physically demanding. for me, whitewater kayaking can be physically demanding, but it’s more mentally demanding in my opinion.

And definitely when I look at SUP racing, now I’m not talking about kayak racing necessarily. I competed in freestyle. And if we’re talking about a lot of our listeners are recreational kayakers. So I feel like stand-up paddle boarding, because I do both, requires a greater level of fitness. I just do. Unless you’re like really competing at the high levels in wet water kayaking and you’re training for it. Don’t want to, I’m trying to tread lightly here. Okay. So.

And so when you’re training and you’re like physically demanding, like you’re super fit and you’re like doing these long races. And so what is the difference between like the discomfort zone that you just described, like leading and the like physical discomfort of like training really hard and physically exhausting yourself? And what do you like, what are your strategies there to keep yourself inspired and motivated?

So you’re talking about the discomfort zone in training when I, you know, when it’s…

Anna Levesque
or in a race.

Seychelle
pushing past my comfort zone, like burning in my muscles, like gasping in my lungs, like my heart’s gonna explode. Yeah, yeah. So what are some of the, like what do I lean into in those moments? And I would say it’s honestly, I’d say it’s different if I’m talking about I’m in a race or I’m in an ultra endurance situation versus I’m in a training situation. Of course, those things are happening in both of those scenarios, but I think what I lean into in my training is like following the plan and not getting in my head about it and not, you know, and that was one of, you know, one of your questions was about like, what rituals do you have to set yourself up for success when you’re facing something really challenging?

And that’s, it’s very similar. like in that moment, I’m also leaning into like, I have a set pre-race warmup that I do every time. And it’s the same every time. And I don’t have to think about it. I just go through the motions and I, I’m a big fan of like, I have lists and I have a pre-race like list and it’s like time stamped. And I’m not like, always the most like and that this time I do this and this time I do that like in my daily life I have a lot of openness and flexibility but when I’m facing a big challenge I really lean into structure I think and so with my training I just I don’t think about it I just like this is the plan for today and this is what I’m going to do and like I know it’s going to suck and I know that that’s where

That’s when, like if we’re talking about training, like the pain, right? Cause it’s a physical pain, but I know that that has, like all discomfort, that has a growth effect. And I know that based off of my experience. And so I don’t question it. I embrace it. Does that make sense?

Anna Levesque
Absolutely. Yeah. I love that you said that you lean into structure because I’m a big fan of structure, of routines, and I think they’re really helpful. It’s like that, you know, the structure within which you can thrive. And, you know, when you’re thinking about reaching a goal and being successful in reaching a goal, you’ve got to show up, regardless of what’s happening in your outside world like regardless of what’s going on and you’re a mom, you have a family, it sounds like you have lot of responsibilities. how do you, so if you’re faced with something’s going down outside circumstance that could potentially derail your training, how do you keep showing up?

Seychelle
Well, I’m really blessed with a lot of support so I have a lot of, I am a mom, I’m a business owner, I’m an athlete and, I’m, you know, a coach, a wife, a daughter, you know, all the hats that we wear, right? So, but I have a lot of support. So my, husband’s very supportive. I live very close to my parents.

And I also am constantly checking in with my priorities and making sure that those are clear and when I have to make tough decisions, you know, the example you gave is like, stuff’s going down and I’m not able to do what I’m supposed to do. I just I do what is the priority for me in that moment. So if I have a big race coming up the priority for me is going to be my training If I have a big launch coming up the priority for me is going to be making sure i’ve got My business stuff in order and I might not get to the training if My son is sick and the priority for me is going to be that you know, but luckily with

With my son, like I said, I’m able to have lot of flexibility in my schedule, being my own boss, working from home and having the support of my husband and my parents. That’s not usually, it’s usually it’s a decision between like training and working. And I don’t have to make the decision between being a mom because I’m able to work my life around being there for my son when I need to and having him cared for when others need to be there for him. So yeah.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, yeah, two things that I think are really important that you mentioned is one that you keep your priorities top of mind. And I think that that’s really important. Like who do you want to become, you know, and, and regardless of what’s happening outside circumstances and not letting outside circumstances derail that, you know, priority and to support systems, community networks are so key and what I also hear you saying is that you are good at allowing folks to contribute to you, like allowing that help in, which can for some high performers feel challenging sometimes, right? So like ask for help or be willing to allow others in to help you. And I think those are all really important aspects of staying on track for a goal.

Seychelle
Yeah, thanks for hearing that and pulling that piece out because that’s absolutely true. I am a good asker for help and a receiver of help. And I’m an extremely high achiever, high performer, but I know that that’s because I have the support in place to be that person. And I’ve always been blessed with really supportive family. Yeah.

But even if you don’t have this support, you know, family, it’s like, can you find that support in other places and in a coach, in a community, you know, it’s like if you, doesn’t have to always be family. Like there’s so many ways to receive support. And I’m the first to ask for what I need. And I don’t know if that’s something that I’ve learned to do.

I think it was modeled to me by my mother because she’s that way as well. It’s one of the many things that drives me crazy about my mother that I recognize in myself and go, actually that’s kind of…

Anna Levesque
That’s awesome.

Seychelle
That’s part of why I am who I am and I am so successful, right? And like, anyways, it’s just, we can go down a whole nother rabbit hole on that. But I think it was a behavior that was modeled to me. So I learned from young age to-

Anna Levesque
That’s really powerful. Because I think that a lot of folks, including myself, I struggle with that. I struggle with asking for help and allowing people to contribute to me is something that I’ve been working continuously on in personal growth for myself. And that can be a big, it feels to me like a big discomfort zone. And learning to…

I think I’m pretty good like asking for what I need with certain people, but then there’s the wider, right? Also wider community that can feel, especially I think maybe as a leader, I took on more of a like, I should have everything figured out, which is ridiculous, right? Like, because no one can have everything figured out. And so…

Yeah, kind of dropping that whatever old belief system of thinking that, yeah, if I’m a leader, I need to have all the answers. So I think that’s been a growth area for sure for me. It’s a good one. It’s a good discomfort zone. And I also love how you mentioned coaching and coaches because I too believe that having a coach and investing in yourself to have a coach is…

transformational to have someone dedicated like in your corner and not just there to like tell you what you want to hear, but actually challenge you to, you know, take different actions, keep your priorities in line, you know, ask for what you want, all of those things. You know, when you hire a coach, that is a dedicated person doing that, which is really powerful.

Sure. Yeah.

Anna Levesque
So what do you think is the biggest misconception that folks have about stand-up paddle boarding?

Seychelle
Well, that really depends whether you’re looking at it as a recreational activity or as a sport. Maybe one of the biggest misconceptions that people have about stand-up paddleboarding is that it’s just a recreational activity when actually it’s a highly competitive, highly challenging and physically demanding and highly skilled sport that was once very popular in the US and isn’t currently as popular in the US but in other areas of the world. It’s huge in Europe, in Asia. That’s another misconception people have about standard paddling is like, it’s not worldwide, but it’s like, it’s a competitive sport worldwide. And it’s so fun and it’s so challenging and it’s like something that you could work on for the rest of your life and never…

You’d be a forever work in progress. Never become a master of or become a master of, but like still have work to do. And, and it can be recreational, very fun, relaxing. Like it’s just, I think people don’t realize how dynamic stand-up paddling is. If you want to go do yoga, if you want to go fishing, if you want to go surfing, if you just want to float around with your dog or you want to are a competitive athlete that can no longer compete in the sport that you’ve done your whole life because of injuries. Like SUP is kind of a catch-all sport for those type of people as well. We get a lot of runners and cyclists and people with knee and ankle and even back and shoulders that come into SUP and like find a way to, you know, rediscover themselves as an athlete and also strengthen their body and their cardiovascular system.

Anna Levesque
Interesting.

Seychelle
and support their spine and their core and all these things for health and longevity in a very non-impactful way. the community, the sub-community is amazing. I don’t know much about the kayaking community. I know a few of y’all and it’s probably also a really fun and accepting community to be a part of because it’s just like, it’s water sports, right? It’s like water people are just the best people. Yeah.

Anna Levesque
Agree, yes, 100%. Yeah, that’s so interesting. I had not thought of, well, first of all, I agree with what you said in terms of, one of the things I think people have a big misconception of SUP is like, it’s no big deal. You don’t need skill. Like I’m talking about people who just general public looks at standup paddle boarding, like, cause what they see is.

people floating around in bikinis and they’re like, it’s no big deal. And then anytime I teach an instructor course or teach a lesson and it’s like, and I know you love the sub stroke, which you have much more experience than I do, but even breaking it down and the core and the aspects of it and people are just blown away by like, my gosh, like there’s a lot to this.

Not in a bad way, but in a blown away, like, whoa, this is cool. Like it’s way more fun when I know how to paddle and I can engage my whole core and I, wow, there’s like many different strokes. That’s cool. I can maneuver and now I feel more confident and strong. And you know, it’s just, I love, love seeing that progression. Some folks are blown away in like, wow, I wasn’t prepared for this. When they get there, they’re, pretty stoked.

And I love that. So, because it is, you can, it is so fun. I love it because it’s, you know, uses whole body engagement and it’s so flexible. Like you said, you can do so many different things with it. And yeah, go ahead. No, go ahead.

Seychelle
I just thank you so much for saying that because in your response, what came to me is actually the biggest misconception about stand-up paddling, which is that it’s an upper body activity because it’s not, it’s full body complex movement and it is driven by your hips and your legs and your arms are just holding your paddle and people who don’t know of, it,

Now I’m getting excited because this is what I coach is like sub stroke, sub technique. That’s like the bread and butter of what I do as a coach. And in sub stroke school that I’ve developed a whole entire program around this is like that people just think that you’re paddling with your arms and your upper body and your back. it’s like you’re paddling with your whole entire body and the legs are your primary propulsion system. And that’s true on a SUP as it is on land. And I don’t know how that translates into kayaking. I’d be fascinated to hear, but yeah. And then what you said about getting a coach. nothing’s, nothing is simple unless you picked it up as a child. Like nothing’s easy the first time you do it. And…

You know, people a lot of times like try something and they’re like, that’s not for me or that’s hard or I’m not good at that. That doesn’t come naturally. It’s like when you learn anything as an adult, it’s not going to come naturally and you need to practice. You need to put in the time and you need to get help and guidance and coaching with that. And so thanks for mentioning that as well.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, because figuring it out on your own just has people, I mean, I see people all time on the local waterway here in Asheville paddling and they rent stand up paddle boards and it’s all arm and they don’t know the difference. So then it’s easy to be like, eh, meh, that was okay, rather than getting some coaching now.

I will say I’m not here to be judgy. So if they’re having a great day and having fun doing their thing floating, I’m like, that’s awesome. So I’m not here to like, I’m not that person who’s out being like critiquing people as I watch them. I just, it’s something I noticed cause I’m an instructor and that’s like a hat I wear, but I also, if people are having fun being safe, then I’m all about it. And then yes, hopefully they, you know, love it enough to like start developing more knowledge and experience with it.

Seychelle
Yeah, I do yell, turn your paddle around quite often.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, I know. And you know that, yes, that is super common as well. my gosh. Yeah.

Seychelle
Yeah, people get on really crappy gear though and then they think that it’s like this is this sucks and it’s like no that’s just the equipment that you’re on sucks.

Anna Levesque
Yeah. And that’s a whole other, I mean, we could do a whole episode on that and what’s happening in the industry right now, but you know, there’s just, it’s flooded. The market is flooded with cheap and you you get what you pay for. That’s a whole other, you know, I’m a big proponent also of good gear, good paddle, you know, like board leash, PFD, you know, but we won’t go down that road. There was something else you said that I thought that I wanted to touch on, cause it was, you’re mentioning, yes, it’s the same with kayaking as well. Like people often will think of it just as an arm and it is a full body. It’s a little different cause it’s a little bit more of a rotation only without like a hinge.

And, but you do like people in kayaking will come to me and they won’t have foot. They’ll be like, yeah, I don’t have anything in my feet. This isn’t super common, but it has happened over the many years I’ve been teaching. I’m like, you need something to press against because you need to engage your whole body and your legs. Like that’s all it’s a energy transfer through the whole body. So yeah, it’s similar, but different in kayaking for sure.

Because you want to move the boat, like you want to move the board, not the water. If you’re paddling with just your arms, then you’re spending so much energy moving water instead of moving the board or the boat. So, yeah.

Cool. Thanks for, yeah, love this conversation. I’m just reviewing my questions to see where I wanna go here.

Yeah, we’ve touched on a lot of stuff. go ahead. No, go ahead.

Seychelle
If you want to jump, go ahead. I was going to say if you wanted to jump a little bit back into like some fear, back into like the fear topic, I have some interesting things I wanted to share that came up for me when I was reviewing your questions for the podcast. So.

Anna Levesque
Yeah.

Yeah, and how do you face fear on the water?

Seychelle
Yeah. Yeah. And or like, you know, the hardest part about facing fear is like, yeah, and then into how to how I face it. But you know, like fear can be fears really crippling. And I think it’s so sneaky. Oftentimes, people don’t even realize that like fear is what’s causing them to feel stuck or have that crippling effect. And because what the outward representation of that is, like an excuse, is coming up with excuses to not do the thing. And often those excuses are really good and it’s unconscious and we don’t realize that actually it’s self-sabotage because of fear. And so we’re really good at convincing ourselves, like influencing and being influenced, like to do or not do the thing.

For example, for me, one of the biggest fears is a fear of failure and how that has a rippling effect in everything that I do, like an unconscious self-sabotaging patterns that I’ve had, you know, like an excuse. Like it’s so much easier to come up with an excuse of why the thing didn’t work, why I didn’t get the results I was hoping for, why the launch wasn’t as profitable as I wanted it to be. like to find…

even excuse or blame, right? Instead of taking the responsibility for ourself and looking deeper. And that’s a really like big pet peeve that I have about people and about life in general. Is this like societal influence and conditioning to not take responsibility, to not want to take responsibility, to not be responsible. We’re actually like taught that we should give our responsibility and our power to others for our health, our success, for our life situations. And it’s so much easier to do that, to find reason and excuse outside yourself than it is to look at fear, to look at the truth and…

and actually take that responsibility, go in deeper and then to come from a place of truth, of integrity, of humility, of surrender, right? To what actually is rather than what you wanted to or hoped it would be. So that was a piece that came through that I wanted to share.

Anna Levesque
Yeah, thank you for sharing. That’s really, really powerful. And how do you keep yourself self accountable to looking within and taking accountability for what’s going on rather than making excuses and blaming?

Seychelle
Yeah, I’m one of my, I’m a big believer, practicer, and use this in my coaching as well, especially when I work one-on-one with athletes in self-reflection, self-exploration, self-knowledge. I use techniques like journaling a lot because that’s a really great way to self-reflection in an…

often honest or a more clear way than just thinking about things in your head and having everything swirling around like grabbing it and putting it down on paper. Things come out differently with that like brain to pen connection. And so journaling is a big one and always practicing, I’m being a part of communities and people that are working on themselves on self development, maybe different coaching programs that I’ve or communities, women’s groups that I’m a part of, or that I’m guiding myself. So just always having that be constantly reflected to me, and then reflecting on it myself.

Anna Levesque
Yes.

Well said. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, so powerful. I sometimes like, it’s like staying in that conversation of personal growth and self-reflection or with people who, where everyone knows that it’s not something to take personally. Like if you made a mistake or things didn’t work out how you wanted them to, it’s not like you’re not a bad person. Cause sometimes that fear is a fear of like,
being a bad person or not being good enough and that it has nothing to do with that. It’s just something you tried or went for and it didn’t work out. So, you know, creating space between or extrapolating your self-worth from your results in life or as an athlete, I think is really important. And yeah.

Seychelle
Yeah.

I think as an athlete, like if we’re talking about results, right? So it’s like, there’s a lot of quotes that I don’t like, but one of them is like, you know, have, you either have results or you have reasons. But just kind of going a little deeper into this topic of like taking responsibility. It’s not to say like, okay, so in that race that you trained and you hoped to get a certain result for and you fell short of that.

It’s not to say like, take the responsibility in terms of like beating yourself up about it, but take the responsibility in terms of making that a learning experience to go, yes, these things happen that were out of my control, but I’m not gonna just use those as excuses and blame that person or this thing that happened. I’m gonna actually say, okay, those things happen, those were out of my control and these things happens that were in my control. And I’m not gonna beat myself up about it, but that’s what I’m gonna work on now in my training before the next event.

Anna Levesque
Yeah. Well said. And you know, with water sports, it’s easy because there’s like the wind to blame, the swell, the waves. mean, and having competed in a water sport, like whitewater kayaking, like, it’s the wrong level. It’s, you know, like the whole wasn’t or the wave wasn’t this or that or whatever. There’s always something. We compete in and we play an adventure in nature.

And so we have to expect that the conditions are not always going to be perfect. If ever they, what is perfection? And so that’s just part of the mindset and preparing yourself. And then like you said, learning from it. Yeah. Love that you brought all this in. And I also love, cause I just finished a program, leading a program that’s called mental agility mastery. And it’s an eight week virtual course. And we’ve been working on a lot of this stuff and you know, folks have, you know, commented how, you know, it just finished and now they’re like, I missed that because there was a, like you said, even going back to the beginning of our conversation, having that framework or that structure to help you, you know, be in that mindset. That’s great. Thank you. Do you have any questions for me?

Seychelle
I do probably have some questions for you. Do you mind if I share one more, like nugget that I, that I really feel like wants to come through. So, so another fear that I have, had my whole life and it’s just one that I can’t seem to get rid of. And so I know it’s here to teach me something, but it’s that fear of what other people think. And I know it’s a really relatable fear.

Anna Levesque
Yes, no, would love that. Yes, yes, absolutely. Would love that, please.

Seychelle
And there’s definitely times in my life where I that does hold me back and does have its negative effect on me. And I’ve also found ways to use it to my advantage. And so so I’ve used, you know, there’s ways that I’ve found to take a fear that’s obviously here in my life for a reason and use it to help drive success rather than just hold me back. Right. So so

when I’m facing a really difficult challenge and it’s often like an ultra endurance race that I’ve entered, but it could be actually other challenges in my life and my business and my personal life as well. I’ve used this. like, and that doubt starts to creep in like, I don’t feel like I’ve trained well enough or whatever it is. Like that self doubt has found its way in.

And even as like an extremely well accomplished ultra athlete, like for context for people who don’t know me, like I’ve never competed in a race that I haven’t completed. like I’ve never started a race that I didn’t finish. And I’ve never even come second in a standup paddle race over 30 kilometers long. And often I’ve won overall men and women. It’s like, what a…

one of the best at doing is like ultra endurance events. And I still have this fear. I still have this fear like every time I’m gonna embark on a major race, right? And even though there’s no reason to be afraid that like there she is every time. So what I’ve realized that I do in these moments is I make a public post and I have like 30,000 followers on Instagram and I just, make sure that everyone in the world, everyone in my world knows what I’m about to do. And I state that and I tell everyone this is what I’ve set out to do because then I can lean into my ego and my pride and my fear of what other people are going to think to not let myself quit, to not let myself give up. That fear of what would they think?

actually helps me in those moments when I use it to fuel myself rather than to be crippled, right? So I use it to dig deeper and to not be a quitter. I didn’t even realize I was doing that. And I’m like, wow, that’s really, really powerful. And I think that’s something that other people probably are doing unconsciously or could do more consciously as well in different aspects of their life. It’s like, okay.

I have this fear, I’m going to use it as fuel.

Anna Levesque
Yes, I love that. That super powerful, the ego, because a lot of folks will be like, ego or yeah, a lot of folks will be like, it’s bad. Right, right.

Seychelle
Yeah, the ego is not good and the pride is not good and you shouldn’t care what other people think and yeah, yeah, I totally agree and Here’s a here’s a here’s a way I can use it positively

Anna Levesque
Absolutely. Now I’ve talked about that on this podcast before about how I use my ego to maintain like my high level. Like I used to paddle a lot of class five, whitewater. And now I’m, you know, I’m very happy class four, class four plus. And I use my ego definitely to keep myself at that level. Like I want to be a person who paddles hard stuff, you know? You know, and I’m in my fifties. So.

Like I am proud of that. Like, you know, and I want to sustain that and maintain that for a long time. And I think that’s very well said. So thank you for sharing that. Really appreciate it. Yes. Awesome.

Seychelle
And to answer, like if I had any questions for you, I’ve learned a lot about you just in this short conversation that we’ve had, but I was really curious, like what got you into having this specific topic of the discomfort zone be your passion?

Anna Levesque
So I’m really committed to empowering people through the wisdom of nature and the river to navigate the currents of life. Not only navigate, but play, create currents of life. I think that moving through the discomfort zone is a big, it’s a huge part of whitewater kayaking. It’s a huge part, I think, of stand-up paddle boarding as well. And…

I’m also really committed to changing, elevating conversations. And at least in the whitewater world, which is what I’m most steeped in, traditionally, there has been a resistance. This is like, I’ve been paddling for 30 years. So, you know, this is like from the nineties. There has been a resistance to really talk about fear and discomfort and more like, you know, buck up, know, suck it up, buttercup, like go for it. You know, like when I first started paddling, it was like, don’t show fear, don’t show emotion. And of course that has changed. I’m proud. feel like I’ve in the whitewater industry, I’ve been one of the voices that has helped that change. And still it continues 30 years later because I have had really high level whitewater kayakers on like on

this podcast and they really appreciate the authenticity and people who are listening are really like, I love the conversations. so there’s still a need for that. And that’s what I feel like facing fear, normalizing that we’re all afraid, just like you said, throughout this conversation, like we all experience fear, we all experience self doubt. No one is immune to that. We just have different responses and strategies.

And I think that normalizes it and it helps people to be able to see that for themselves and maybe accomplish something they didn’t think was possible.

Seychelle
Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having this platform and these conversations.

Anna Levesque
Well, thanks for being part of them and thanks for that question. Okay, ready for rapid fire? Okay, these are meant to be one word, one sentence type of answers. What’s a morning ritual that sets you up for success?

Seychelle
An embodiment practice.

Anna Levesque
What’s a non-negotiable self-care practice?

Seychelle
Waking up early so I can have me time.

Anna Levesque
Nice. What’s a favorite or inspiring motivational book or talk or song?

Seychelle
I like Rise Up by Andra Day.

Anna Levesque
Okay, right on. What do people get wrong about you?

Seychelle
People think I am my social media persona. And I think people think I’m easygoing, but I’m actually quite intense.

Anna Levesque
That’s awesome. Okay. Throughout the course of your life, have you considered yourself the underdog or the favorite to win?

Seychelle
jeez. It’s gone from one to the other, for sure.

Anna Levesque
No, that’s relatable. Okay, hard moves in easy water or flooding.

Seychelle
And so I think that’s a kayaking reference. So I’m gonna relate that to like grinding it out in flat water or like being in really rough dynamic water. And I’m gonna say I’m a grinder in flat water.

Anna Levesque
Okay, I love that. Thank you for reframing that. Yes, so good. Okay, what’s one word that describes your comfort zone?

Seychelle
Teaching.

Anna Levesque
Freedom through discipline or I do what I want.

Seychelle
Freedom through discipline.

Anna Levesque
In one word, what do you hope your legacy will be?

Seychelle
Inspiring.

Anna Levesque
Awesome. Well, this conversation has been very inspiring. I really appreciate you being here. Seychelle, thanks for taking the time. And I hope to paddle with you sometime. That would be really fun. I am, yeah.

Seychelle
That would be so fun, you’re in Asheville.

I would love that. Thank you so much. Yeah, this has been really fun. And for this platform, for the questions that you ask, for all that you do, it’s been a wonderful experience.