Identity: Siobhan-Marie O'Connor

The importance of separating our self-worth and sense of who we are from what we do.

As one of Britain's best swimmers, Siobhan-Marie's sense of self-worth was often bound up with her performance in the pool. When she recorded the third fastest time in history at Rio 2016, she was on cloud nine, but when her times slipped she felt like she was a failure. This isn't an issue only related to sport; lots of us confuse who we are for what we do.

Siobhan-Marie was forced to retire from swimming aged just twenty-five after struggling with ulcerative colitis - a painful and debilitating bowel disease. She was diagnosed aged sixteen, shortly after competing at London 2012. Since coming to terms with her enforced retirement and need to focus on her health and wellbeing, Siobhan-Marie has taken the time to reflect on the lessons she learnt over the course of her ten-year elite career.

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My debut book - Champion Thinking: How To Find Success Without Losing Yourself - is available to buy from January 18. Drawing on some of my favourite interviews from this podcast over the last five years, I want to challenge our ideas about 'success', and where peace, joy and fulfilment are truly to be found. Flow is a fundamental theme.

Order here: https://www.simonmundie.com/book

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