Lindsey Vonn On Comebacks, Resilience and Drowning Out the Noise: ‘I’m Often Misunderstood’

Vonn: I think resilience can take a lot of shapes and forms. For me, over the course of my life, I’ve dealt with a lot of different adversities, both personally and professionally. I think I’ve been able to persevere despite all those things, mainly because I’m so passionate about what I do.

I have always loved ski racing, and it’s driven me to work incredibly hard, and to chase my dreams, and to continue to try to improve and ski faster. But you know, perseverance is the essence of me, like grit and being able to fight through things and never giving up. That’s just who I am. It’s really ingrained in me, and I have my family to thank for the example that they set for me

What do you think people misunderstand about grit or perseverance, especially given your crash and what you’ve been through this last year?

Vonn: Grit doesn’t mean that you just blindly work towards something, no matter the circumstance. You still need to be smart and conscious about what you’re doing. I don’t blindly ski down the mountain at 85 miles an hour. I’m prepared. I’ve done the work even at the Olympics with no ACL. I was doing 12 hours of rehab a day leading up to the Olympics to make sure my body was ready to compete. I don’t whimsically make decisions. Grit and perseverance have to be coupled with hard work and smart choices, and I think all of those things have to go together to make wise choices.

It’s clear you’ve been able to cultivate this sense, trusting your own intuition. How did you get there?

Vonn: Taking care of my body is my job. That’s what I’ve been doing my entire life. I turned professional at 16 years old. And as an athlete, I was faced with so many different physical ailments, from muscle soreness, back strains, muscle tears, broken ankles, to my bigger crashes and all of those things. You have to be in tune with your body to continue performing at a high level. It takes a lot of diligence and hard work, and also having smart people around you to be able to come back from those things. My body is my job.

Why did you decide now was the time to use your platform to partner with Invivyd’s “Antibodies for Any Body” movement?

I’ve been excited to work with Invivyd and educate people about what antibodies do for your immune system and how they help fend off germs and toxins. Even as an athlete, getting the right information is hard. It’s not always straightforward; it’s not always clear. Antibodiesforanybody.com is where you can go to get easy information about antibodies, your immune system, and health, and it’s very digestible. It’s not overwhelming, and I think having more knowledge about your body and how it works empowers you to lead a healthier life.

Why specifically was this campaign pertinent to you?

I’m taking care of myself and my body. It’s what I’ve always done. I think having my mom, having ALS, having family members that have struggled with health, and obviously with my injuries, I think sometimes we take our health for granted.

I don’t ever get behind something that I don’t believe in. We face enough adversities in life without having to deal with extra things. That’s why I’m passionate about it.

Even with this injury, being independent is something that I really need, and I’ve been very dependent during the last two months … just being able to walk on my own and make my own breakfast and go to the bathroom on my own.

Those are things that we think are given, but they’re not. And so I just don’t want people to take that for granted, and I want to share as much information as possible.

Everyone has their own obstacles in life, and I don’t know if anyone leads a non-stressful lifestyle.

What are you most excited about for the next chapter in your life that you feel like you’re, perhaps, not asked about as much?

I always like to push the limits of whatever I’m doing. I honestly don’t know where my life is going to take me in three years. Life could look a lot different. And I don’t really have any goals set out for myself, necessarily, because I want to keep all options open. I don’t know where things will go, and I think that’s the fun of it.

That’s the great part of life, that things will happen to you that you don’t expect, and most of the time it’s for the better. Sometimes it seems like it’s for the worse, like, for example, currently. But who knows? Maybe this is going to lead me down a path that’s more fulfilling in the end.

Finding joy and purpose is something that is driving me.

What does cultivating joy look like for you?

I do things that I’m passionate about, that are exciting to me. My foundation, obviously, is something that has driven me for the last 10 years. Adventure. Travel. Sports. Meeting people. There are so many experiences that I’m looking forward to. When I retired the first time, I was retired for six years, and life was amazing, and it went in so many different directions that I never thought I would ever go in.

So if the last six years have indicated anything,  I just have to buckle up and get ready for the

ride ahead.

So what’s on the travel bucket list? Is there an adventure that is top of mind?

Oh, yeah, going to the Maldives. Oh, I’m booked. I really hope I’ll be able to get in the water by that point. I better be able to, because I have made plans.

The mindset that you carry is powerful. A lot of people might struggle to maintain that kind of outlook, to manage uncertainty with this level of hope and optimism. Were you always like this?

I mean, it’s not always easy.  I’m generally a positive person, but I have really bad days, just like everybody else, and I’ve had a lot of bad days in the last two months. I’ve had a lot of tears that were shed, and a lot of support from my family that’s really helped me in those times. But generally speaking, I get my outlook from my mother. She was such a positive person, no matter what happened in her life. She had a stroke when she had me, and she really lost her balance and coordination, but she would try to ride the bike, and she would fall and fall and fall, and she would always keep getting back up and always with a smile on her face.

I have the distinct benefit of being able to come back from the injuries that I face, because I work hard, because I have a good support system of doctors and therapists. My mom didn’t have that opportunity.

So I always feel like it’s a matter of perspective. No matter how bad life is, it could always be worse.

For people who might look to you for advice, who might be stuck in this rumination spiral after setbacks, what advice do you have for them?

No matter how negative things are or how down you get about something, or how uncertain you are about something, there’s always something that you can draw upon, however small, that is positive. If you’re unsure about work, think about the things that you do know how to do, that you are good at, that you can contribute to another job or to a different direction in life. When we face adversity, we learn, and we get stronger. And as much as it is painful and hard, we always manage to find a way through it somehow.

Maybe whatever is hurting you now may be a benefit later, but try to always keep that mindset. It’s really easy to spiral downwards and think that everything’s negative and that things are crumbling, but it could all be for a reason and can lead you into an amazing place if you just keep your head up and your eyes open.

There’s a lot of noise out there, especially with you being in the spotlight. There have been people’s opinions on what you should or shouldn’t have done. How did you drown out some of that noise to really come back to your intuition?

That’s really hard for me. Generally speaking, I’m often misunderstood.

I’m always driven by what brings me joy, what I love doing. I love ski racing. I had the incredibly unexpected opportunity to make a comeback and to be number one in the world again; that was incredible, and I’m so thankful for that. But I think people don’t really understand. They don’t understand what drives me, or they can’t comprehend that I actually love what I do.

They always have thoughts and very distinct opinions about me, and it’s hard not to want to explain myself to everyone on the internet. But I’m never going to make anyone happy, and I definitely have learned that.

The only thing I can do is focus on myself and make decisions that are right for me. My intention is to lead a happy and fulfilling life, and whatever I choose to do is something I enjoy. That’s all there is to it. I’m not someone who has hidden motives or scheming plans. I’m really straightforward.  I’m really open about who I am and what I stand for and what’s meaningful to me. If people just listened to what I have to say, I think they would understand me a little bit better.