Welcome to the Brave Women at Work podcast. This is your host, Jen Pestikas. I’m so glad you’re here. Hey everyone, how are you doing out there? So to get started today, I wanted to share a personal story about my daughter, olivia’s story relates to our theme of setbacks in using them as stepping stones, and I will try to get through this because my mama heart just broke a little bit over and over this week. So you may or may not know this, but Olivia was born with a hair condition that limits her hair growth. She does have hair, but it is just really, like Annie, she looks just like Annie and she is adorable inside and out, and I believe that she is gorgeous and I’ve told her every day since we have discovered this and even before then, I’ve told her since she’s gorgeous exactly as God has made her.

But as she’s getting older, she’s about seven now. She recently asked me for a hairpiece or a wig, so that she can have longer hair, like all of the other girls. And Olivia’s request it just really scared me and I wondered if it was too soon or if I, maybe my own fears for her, she moved through the world, were coloring her request. I just was, I was scared and I was wondering if we needed to wait, but she has been persistent. So she’s been asking for a hairpiece or a wig for months and months, and finally I broke and I was like okay. And then I took her to a lovely person that I know, and we had talked recently about getting a partial wig just so that she had that length and she could play with it and quote unquote be like normal, quote unquote, right girls.

But I love the way she is, so I just wanted to clarify that it was not mama that was pushing. It was definitely Olivia that was pushing. And so when she got it this last week, she decided she wanted to wear the hairpiece to school for the first day. And when she did at first at home, we were good.

And then we got to school and it became really challenging and scary. It was so scary that Olivia decided to take the wig off. No one had made fun of her. She had just got scared. And so this represents her setback in my setback that day as a mom. But the beautiful thing is, this isn’t the end of that story.

Olivia faced her fear and that setback and did something with that information in her body and in her heart. She took a few hours, to gather her strength she told me, and then she said her heart told her to put the wig back on, and so she put the wig back on by herself and she was in front of her friends, her teacher, her peers.

And when again, I asked her what made her put that wig on, she said, my heart, my gut told me to do I told my husband that she is gonna teach us what brave is. So she is absolutely gonna teach us what brave is. So I’m sharing that personal story because I was living real time in the face of my own daughter having a setback. And then I come back and using that a stepping stone for growth.

So I share that story because this is exactly what we’re talking about today. We can use our setbacks as those springboards for growth and my guest, Athena Brownson, knows all about this in her own life. So during my discussion on the podcast with Athena, we chatted about how she kept going after extensive and when I say extensive, I’m not kidding around extensive skiing injuries. Her diagnosis with a Lyme disease and how that just came out of nowhere. The modalities she used to support her healing, what resilience means to Athena and how she used her setback as that springboard for growth and her advice for any women who are experiencing your own personal challenges and setbacks, whether that be relational or health or career, whatever it may be.

So here is more about Athena. Athena Brownson is a living testament to the power of resilience and reinvention. A former professional skier who endured nine knee in surgeries and two neck operations. Athena’s greatest challenge came when she was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease, a debilitating condition that left her bedridden for months.

Yet, instead of letting these setbacks define her, Athena used them to fuel her purpose, transforming pain into strength and obstacles into opportunities. Now as a thriving entrepreneur and advocate for resilience, Athena empowers audiences to navigate life’s challenges with grit, authenticity, and purpose.

She teaches how to embrace change, build balance and align your career and life with your values. Drawing from her journey Athena inspires others to redefine success, build their why, and cultivate the mindset needed to overcome adversity and achieve meaningful growth.

So if the Brave Woman at Work Podcast has helped you personally or professionally, share it with a family member, a friend or a colleague, and of course if you can leave a rating and review, I would so appreciate it, you just pop on over to Apple Podcasts, hit the plus button to subscribe to get this in your weekly feed, and then you can leave a rating or review. I thank you so much and then don’t forget your freebies on bravewomenatwork.com. There are 10 ways to win your next negotiation, 24 career and leadership tips, and five ways to managing your imposter syndrome.

Last but not least, I am already receiving interest in the sixth book for Brave Women at Work, the latest women’s anthology. This one is gonna be on abundance, like who doesn’t want abundance versus scarcity? So the title of the sixth book will be Brave Women at Work Lessons in Abundance. This project is gonna begin later this year at time of recording. It’s gonna be beginning in August of 26 and even if you listen to this, like in 27 or 28 chances are I’ll probably still be doing books. So let me know if you ever have interest in sharing your story or in your heart you want to become an author. Contact me at hello@bravewomenatwork.com, I would be humbled and honored to walk along your authorship dream and to make that become a reality.

Alright, let’s welcome Athena to the show.

Well, hello Athena. Welcome to Brave Woman at Work. How are you today?

I couldn’t be better. I am just so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. I absolutely love listening to your podcast and hearing all of the stories of the brave women that are out there. It just gets me so fired up.

Oh, me too. That’s why I do this. There we go. I know. Exactly. So why don’t you kind of just jump right in, tell us a little bit more about you and your background and whatever you wanna start with and as long as it doesn’t go a whole hour, I’m good. Yeah, you tell us where you wanna start.

I’ll give you the short version. So let’s start with Little Athena. I grew up, I’m currently in Denver, Colorado. I’m a real estate broker, but my journey to get here has been very up and down and all over the place as life is. But I grew up in a little mountain community called Breckenridge. If ski and snowboarding, you’ve probably heard of it, but I learned how to ski when I learned how to walk for the most part.

Wow. It was a childhood to say the least. I had a father that was a professional skier and I was following him around the world, watching him set records, and it was, I was constantly surrounded by an atmosphere of greatness and when I really got into skiing. I actually ended up going pro at age 15. Wow. I think back, and I really am just so blown away with the level of coaching and mentorship that I was surrounded by throughout my ski career and as a skier. Many know it is not an easy sport on the body. So over that 10 year period, I was probably, that I was a professional. I was probably skiing, upwards of 300 days a year around the world. And I also, when I wasn’t skiing, I was rehabbing an injury. I blew nine acls, broke three ankles, broke my neck twice. I mean, you name it, I probably broke it and rehabbed it, but wow. I was once again surrounded by these incredible coaches and mentors that were coaching me through how to take care of my body and how to get myself back on track and what I realized in hindsight is with these injuries, I always had the opportunity where if you do X, Y, and Z, you’re going to get better. And I was really diligent about doing my reps to get better and making sure that I was gonna be performing at peak performance. Now, fast forward to the point where my knee doctor looked at me and he said, Athena, you’re, 24 years old, if you keep at this, you’re gonna need knee replacements before you’re 30.

So you hear that and it kind of signaled, okay, maybe I should try something else with life. And I didn’t know what that was. It was a complete identity crisis, and I think a lot of us go through these, loss of identity almost when we are so wrapped up in what we are doing as opposed to who we are as our identity. That was my first real epiphany of who is Athena outside of being a professional athlete, outside of being a high performer, who is Athena? What do I love at the core what is it that I wanna be doing? So after a couple of missteps, different careers that I was trying which I think is such a pivotal part to finding your why we grow up with this idea that you have it all figured out and there’s a plan that if you do, if you go through the steps, you’re gonna end up with the exact plan that you set out to do. But man, life could not be, that could not be the case any less, I don’t think.

Well, your plan was to be still skiing. That’s what your original plan was. Absolutely and I had a very one track mind. I didn’t see myself outside of skiing because that was something that I was so engaged in and so passionate about. So you take that away and it strips away, okay, who is Athena outside of that? And I realized after talking to a dear friend that, okay, I grew up in a family of residential real estate developers, so my dad was constantly building properties in Breckenridge. I personally had the most negative connotation with real estate you could imagine. If there were more real estate shops in Breckenridge than t-shirt shops. Oh, wow. Which is saying something, ’cause it’s a tourist town, so I thought the realtors were a dime a dozen. But I had a girlfriend look at me and say, Athena, you love people, you love homes and design. You wanna be an entrepreneur. Which, really athletics taught me the principles of entrepreneurship and of basic of business, the basics and I knew that was actually something that could be a really great fit for me. And of course at that point, my plan was, okay, I’m gonna be the best realtor in Denver and everything’s gonna go.

Of course you were, of course. But like we said, life never goes quite to plan. So we’ll get into that. But that’s a little bit of background. Athletics taught me everything that I know about life.

Okay. And I’m not trying to be Debbie Downer here, but I mean, nine knee surgeries, two neck, and you like broke your neck. That scares me. Like that really scares me ’cause when I hear like a broken neck, I’m like, death. Like that just, it’s scary. Scary. Yeah. It’s like what? Yeah. Don’t you like, did you not take that as like signs, like where you were like, yeah, this needs to be over, or were you like, no, like I am doing whatever it takes to stay on that slope.

In the event that I competed in, which was slope style, so I was one of those crazy people that was throwing themselves off jumps, doing tricks, and then landing a hundred feet later. So in that environment, being injured was just part of the sport. It was something that was gonna happen and it was more a matter of how quickly could I get myself back on snow and how can I come back better. So maybe that’s a little bit of a psychosis I don’t know. But no, I never even thought, maybe I should be doing something else until I had someone from the outside, AKA, my doctor say, Athena, you should probably think about what’s next and I didn’t know.

That was what threw you into a tailspin. Question for you, like we’re gonna talk about other things here in a minute, but I was a runner, like recreational, not professional, like you’re in a whole different league. But I remember, I had a double arch collapse, like my feet, my arches just couldn’t take it. And like my back started like having issues and all types of anatomical like we didn’t, we don’t understand like there are like little quirks about our bodies, right? And the doctor was like, yeah, running is not gonna be your thing, right? Your feet are not for it. Like all the pounding is not for your body. I went through such a grieving process because yeah. I was like. This is like, it wasn’t my career, but it was like part of who I was. Does that resonate with you? It has to deeply, right?

Oh, it deeply resonates with me. It can, it felt like I had lost the biggest part of myself because I had dedicated so much time and energy and heart and love into this craft, and to have that taken away pretty abruptly was absolutely devastating. And I was, I was very lost at the time. I was about 25 years old and I was very lost. I had no idea what life was gonna look like outside of this, but it was it’s heartbreaking when you are, when something that you’re, that in love with is taken away. But what I realize and we’ll get more into the future as we go, but what I realize is that it’s these moments of grieving and challenge and adversity, yes that form us into the people that we are if we allow it to. And that’s truly what it did for me.

I agree with that. Totally. Okay, everybody, we’ve just like, we’re counting all of the craziness, right? So nine knee surgeries, two neck operations. They’re saying you’re gonna have full like knee replacements before the age of 30, and then you get diagnosed with Lyme disease. So was that like all in one big, cluster of time or was it more spread out like you were healing, you were trying to find the new Athena, and then later it kind of flattened you? Like when did the Lyme disease come in?

Yeah, so again, life never goes to plan. I had gotten into real estate. I had an incredible mentor for the first year of my career, and at about year three, I had finally gotten my stride. I was I like to think I was just getting to the top of my game in real estate and it felt so good to have found another purpose, to find something that was my why. And all of a sudden, very, very suddenly I started to get these very strange symptoms. And keep in mind, I was in elite athlete condition still at this point I was, running 26 miles a week. I was power lifting, eating, my body was a temple. Everything that I could do to take care of myself I was doing. So when I started to get all of these very strange GI infections, I got e coli and h pylori and sibo and then all of a sudden I started getting this horrific fatigue and brain fog and I realized, okay, something is going on with my body. I’m very in touch with my body and something is not right. And I was so incredibly fortunate because I went to my neurosurgeon actually, who had done the last neck surgery on me for a checkup. And I mentioned to him that I was experiencing, these pretty severe health issues. There’s people that, my one of my business coaches always says, you never know the day that you’re gonna wake up and meet a person or be in a situation that changes your life forever, for good or for bad. And I look back at this day now for good because unfortunately with Lyme disease it is very difficult to diagnose. It shows up very differently in every patient, depending on what your genetic weaknesses are. So diagnosing Lyme can take decades sometimes. Wow. My doctor looked at me and he said, I think that we should test you for Lyme disease. I thought he was completely nuts. I’ve never seen a tick. I have no memory of being bit by a tick. Did I spend a lot of time in heavily tick-borne areas through skiing and life? Of course you did. Absolutely. Yeah. But it is something that had never even crossed my radar, so I kind of laughed at him. I did the testing, of course, and a couple of weeks later. All the results came back and it wasn’t just Lyme disease, it was Lyme with multiple co-infections that the same tick was carrying. So with within about a three month period, I went from being a pretty healthy individual, that had just found my stride in real estate to being almost completely incapacitated by pain.

For me, Lyme disease turned into autoimmune issues. That was kind of my genetic weakness that it attacked and I developed a nerve disease where my own body would attack the protective covering around my nerves and basically put holes in that covering. Oh my word. That had to be so painful.

Highly wouldn’t recommend to a friend, don’t try this at home. But, that was my second identity crisis of, okay, I just found my stride in real estate. I found what I love to do. I’m serving people. I have a vision of what the future looks like, and that got completely derailed once again.

And the last nine years of my life have been battling Lyme disease. But now that hindsight’s 2020, I look back at the last nine years and the stories that I could tell you, it’s like a science fiction novel, and maybe I’ll write a science fiction novel one day about everything that Lyme disease brought.

But what I realized so much is that I would not be the woman that I am today. I would not have grown, I would not have been put in situations where I had to look internally and I had to do inner trauma work. And I had, my body had been through a lot of trauma through injury, through childhood through very intense coaching. And now basically the pressure that I would put on myself as an athlete. Yes. All of these things I had internalized, and what I’ve really learned is that when we’re faced with these challenges in life and this adversity, which all of us go through on some level, whether it’s relational or whether it’s financial, whether it’s your health. We all, life never goes to plan. So when we face these challenges, of course it’s so important to take a step back and give yourself the space to grieve and to mourn and to really reflect on what you’re going through. But I really am a firm believer that you can’t get stuck in that place. And I did get stuck in that place for years, I was very angry and very resentful. I was in constant pain. We couldn’t get anything to relieve my symptoms. At one point my speech was so stuttered that I could barely get a sentence out. Was that because of pain or why was that? So it’s actually from neuroinflammation. Wow. So yeah, my brain was swollen and it basically, it affects everything, brain fog, stuttering, really difficult time, putting thoughts together. So imagine those things in the world of real estate. Yeah. Not good. Not good. Not ideal.

So one of the things I wanted to ask you is. I mean, I have not suffered like what you’re hearing, what like, and I’m so happy and thankful that you’re here today. Like that you’re on a podcast, look at you being brave. That you’re like, I’m just gonna record it on, you probably then couldn’t even think about being on a podcast. It was just it was impossible. Yeah. So how has your definition of success evolved over time dealing with a chronic illness or illnesses.

Such a beautiful question. Thank you. My, growing up my idea of success was how hard are you working in order to get a specific output? It was all action oriented. It had nothing to do with actually becoming the best version of myself that I could be.

And when I think of success now, it is so much more encompassing of all pillars of life. Yes, of course being successful in business is an amazing accomplishment, but if you don’t have a balance. If you don’t have your health, if you don’t have your friendships, your support system, maybe your faith, whatever it may be. If you don’t have these things in life, there’s never gonna be true fulfillment. And what I realize as I was consistently seeking fulfillment through how I was performing, and that’s how I was when I began real estate as well. I was constantly tracking, how many calls I was making and how many closings it was resulting in, and what my volume was and how I could be better and better. But it was at the detriment of actually having a social life, having a self-care practice, yes, I was still working out like a crazy woman, but I wasn’t actually taking care of my mind, body and soul. So when I think of success today, it’s completely different. It is, am I fulfilled internally because I am nurturing not only myself, but my relationships and that means my relationships with my clients as well, and that has really created the why and I’m such a believer that when we’re going through challenging times, at least for me, if you don’t have something that you love, that you can keep, you know your grip on, that you can keep your eyes looking ahead. It is really difficult to not get lost within that adversity. And for me, I had started creating these. I had to become very vulnerable with my clients and I had to create a team around me that was a support system because I wasn’t physically able to work at a level that I was used to. So I started to create these really authentic deep relationships with the people that, you know, I was serving through real estate and through my team and I realized that without these people, without that support system and that authenticity and that purpose and why, I don’t know that I would’ve been able to get to this point where I’m finally starting to make progress with my healing. I don’t know that I would’ve ever done the internal work to become the best version of myself. So I think success is really, what are you doing to become the best version of you authentically, not just what output you’re producing.

Okay. Because I’m curious, what were some of the modalities or things that have helped you over the last nine years, just in case someone is suffering out there? Because you said at one point you know your speech was delayed or stuttering, or maybe you couldn’t move because of extreme pain, or you had to be bedridden. So what are some of the modalities that have helped you over these last few years?

I could write a book on this as well. Some of one of the biggest things that has transformed my life to say the least, and it’s brutal it’s not something that I would recommend unless you had to, but I get four plasma transfusions a month. That basically allows my body to stop attacking itself and they replace it with a plasma that doesn’t have antibodies in it that attack me. So that’s my number one. But on a more tangible day-to-day basis it looked like, okay, what foods am I ingesting? Am I putting sugar and refined processed foods in my body? Because that’s gonna make me flare up. Using a hyperbaric chamber, it’s becoming more popular. I ended up actually renting a hyperbaric chamber and putting it in my basement so that I can. What is that? I’m sorry. I don’t know what it is. So it’s fascinating. It’s basically a little chamber that you get in. Yeah. And it pumps in a hundred percent pressurized oxygen. Oh. So it’s forcing your cells to regenerate at a faster pace because they’re being more oxygenated. So you just sit in it for a good hour and a half, five days a week. And it is honestly it was life changing for me. I was doing red light therapy, acupuncture, I made sure that no matter what, no matter how bad I felt, I was still moving my body. I think movement is so critical to unleashing everything that we store in our bodies and the trauma that chronic illness in itself is. So finding, I found a trainer who understood what was going on with my health and my body, and we got to the point where she can look at my face and to tell how much energy or how well I’m doing that day and adjust the workouts to fit that. What else have I tried? I mean, you name it, I’ve done it. I did a lot of physical therapy of my eyes. So basically that was helping with the neuroinflammation, but my eyes at one point wouldn’t track together. So one, I would try and look left and only one eye would go left. Now talk about scary, yeah. That you’re like, wait. One other question is like, how did you like the relationship with your body? I’m sure, well, I can relate in that, when my arches collapsed on the running, it was like my body had failed me, right? Like, I did not have a good, it was like I was like on a breakup with my own body, even though I was in my body. And it was like a lack of trust in my own ability to heal. So how has that come along as you’ve been healing?

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That’s amazing thing to say ’cause it, it could not be more true. I went through years of absolutely my body being what I thought was the enemy, it was no longer a safe space that I lived in, it was the source of pain. And at one point, within 10 days, I gained 80 pounds because my detox system shut down. So that’s like, I’m five feet tall on a good day. So that’s like a whole nother Athena within 10 days. Oh my, okay. Yeah. And then another, freakish occurrence was I got what’s called such a severe electromagnetic frequency sensitivity that anytime I touched a phone or a computer for about two years, I would get electrical burns all the way up my arms and on my chest. So I got so sensitive to the radiation given off by electricity that I ended up having to live in an RV that wasn’t connected to any electricity, it didn’t have wifi. And when I needed to go write a contract for a client, I would have to put on lead gloves in a lead blanket and go find somewhere with internet. And I would literally be sitting in a cafe drenched in lead blankets, trying to write contracts. I look back at these days, and I laugh now because it’s so absurd, but it I hated my body to be completely honest with you, and that is not an experience that I had previously felt even through injury. My body was always something that if I did the work, I would get myself better and with Lyme disease there was no, if you do this, and this, you’re going to get better because it is so different for everyone. So my body became something that I was trapped inside and it wasn’t until, honestly, I started doing some really intense therapy. I do EMDR still to this day. Oh yeah. Yes. It wasn’t until I started really doing that internal work that my relationship with my body became a safe place again. And if you don’t have a safe place within yourself, how can you find a safe place outside of yourself? I don’t believe you can.

Oh my God, so good. So just for some translation, so EMDR we don’t have enough time to go through all this today, but it is a type of deep trauma therapy. So if you’ve had any big T trauma or even little T trauma, like maybe we’ll talk about this in a future show, like I thought things like, if I wasn’t sexually abused or had some sort of like deep, I was like, oh, I would put my even little T trauma to the side, oh, that’s not trauma, but no. My dad died when I was 18. He was sick for six years. Like, no, that’s trauma. That’s trauma. Yeah, that’s trauma. But no one, like, I wasn’t raised like that, I’d put like me in a separate category. EMDR is a deep, deep trauma, healing work. So definitely check that out if you fit into the big T or little T and who doesn’t, right? Like who doesn’t have something they have to clear, right? We all have something to clear. So I just wanted to mention that. So thank you. Thank you for sharing a little bit about you, your journey, right and that the fact that it was not only kind of probably traditional, western medicine approach, but also all different types of modalities. Also that you started to trust your body again, because if you are not in trust of your body, you are always in a sympathetic body response, which is fight, flight, freeze or fawn, right? So you’re in an animalistic place where your body is actually getting signals that it cannot heal. And so it’s not until, so your body is so wise, like you think that your mind, you’re like, yeah, I can just trick myself out of this. No, not so fast. So you have to, here’s the equation. You have to trust your body to get into that relationship so that your body will flip on to a pet place of safety called parasympathetic so that you can heal. So you can’t, I’ve already tried this. I’m just giving you guys the shortcut, the cliff notes, and so is Athena. Like you gotta get into parasympathetic to heal. So Athena, do you have anything else to add to that?

I’m a firm believer that with whatever you are facing, whatever you’re trying to recover from, heal, until you’re able to get your nervous system calmed down to a place where it isn’t reacting on an animalistic level, mine tended to be fight. I was very reactive, every little thing set me off and it was a very uncomfortable place to live. And until I learned the techniques to really activate that parasympathetic nervous system and bring my nervous system down to a level of calm, what we don’t realize is that’s not a dysregulated nervous system. It is actually your nervous system protecting you. If it feels like there is something that is attacking, it’s going to send you into fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Right. So until you get yourself into a place where you’re actual, you have modalities for, okay, if I’m feeling over stimulated, I can go to meditation or I can do breath work, or I can put an ice pack on my chest, that’s something my therapist has me do. But I don’t believe you can heal from anything until you really address the nervous system and that’s something that unfortunately I haven’t found very much of in Western medicine. It’s something that I had to learn my myself, and it’s been probably the most life changing difference and what is allowing me to heal now.

Okay, so this is a spoiler alert. So I started learning about the nervous system about two to three years ago, and I actually think that it should be required learning in school or something like completely so that we understand how to regulate our ourselves. Kids are, so high anxiety now because of like the pressures of social media and again, a whole other podcast. But you will, my Brave Woman at Work people, you will be hearing more about the nervous system, not only because I’m geeking out on it, but I think it’s also really important as a public service announcement for all women to hear about.

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I could not agree more and thank you for spreading the word. Because I knew nothing about the nervous system. I mean, it was completely over my head and it wasn’t until I started seeing practitioners that were trained in how the nervous system works and how to engage that parasympathetic nervous system that I was even had an awareness. And it’s changed my life completely, and I think it can change anyone’s lives, honestly.

I agree. Totally agree. So now, okay, you have been probably coexisting. So it’s a different relationship with the body, like with the ACL, hopefully, it’s kind of like it can heal and then the body, like sometimes with a chronic illness, like whether it’s arthritis or it’s Lyme or whatever it is, thyroid, like you have to form a new relationship with your body. So how in this new relationship with your body over this last nine plus years. Have you used it for like stepping stones for your growth as a new Athena now?

Yeah. So as an athlete, I was trained that I never said no. I was always, I was a people pleaser, but I would not be, I would not let anyone outwork me. And I also believed that I could get everything done myself. It was a one man sport that I was a part of, I wasn’t, I never learned the art of delegation. And when I look at my life today and I look at good days and bad days, my relationship with my self-talk the way that I view bad days, it has completely transformed into such a more compassionate, understanding and loving relationship with myself. I realize that when my body’s telling me that I need to slow down or I need to rest that day, it would’ve been a signal for me in the past to just persevere and push through and, there of course are moments where I don’t feel good and I still need to get something done. Yes. But what I’ve learned is is to listen to my body, respect my body, and be compassionate and loving with it and allow myself the opportunity to heal and relax. I’ve also learned that, we go so much farther in life, when we’re working in relationship with people, so I built an incredible team around me that not only supports me, on a real estate level, they are the ones that will show up when I’m getting plasma transfusions or if I’m having a bad flare. But they have taught me how to delegate. They have taught me that I do not have to get everything done myself because I’m not the best at everything. I have strengths and I have weaknesses. Where my weaknesses could be their strengths. So understanding that not delegating something is not a weakness, but it’s actually empowering someone else with the opportunity for them to shine.

And again, those are things that I always believed I could get everything done myself. I didn’t need a team. I could push through anything, and that’s just the way to continue to get sicker. So it’s, I agree. Completely changed me.

Yeah. No, I, it sounds like it has. I was definitely one of those folks too. And it also sounds like for you, and tell me if this is correct, if there’s any woman that is struggling and it doesn’t need to be a chronic illness, maybe you’re just having a rough patch, you’re having a professional rough patch, you’re having a personal rough patch, whatever it is, it sounds like, hey, you’ve talked, there’s been an undercurrent find your people, find your community. Don’t go it alone delegate, people love and want to support you. So would those be some of the things that you would say, start here and then of course, like build that relationship with your body, and get into that parasympathetic place.

Absolutely. I always, I like to think of it as building your toolkit for when life doesn’t go right and our toolkits need to have our individual practices, so you know, of course, what are you doing individually that’s lifting you up whenever you’re in the darkness?

Are you meditating? Maybe? Are you doing your affirmations? Are you listening to your favorite music loud and dancing it out? Are you going to the gym? But then thinking about who your support system is and realizing, I was always too afraid to ask for help or to admit that I needed help. And the thing that I didn’t realize is how much people want to show up for you when you tell them what you need. Because oftentimes we expect people to show up for us, but we don’t tell them how, we don’t give them the information or the tool of, Hey, this is the kind of support I could really use right now. If you could show up for me in this way, it would be life changing for me. So really asking for what it is that you need, because there are the right people, you know when you’re going through difficulties, you will shed people from your life that shouldn’t be there.

It’s true. The right people want to show up for you they just need direction. I love how you said that though you will shed people ’cause we think that like we’re at fault, but now there are gonna be people that’ll just exit your life because they’re not supposed to be there and it’s okay.

It’s okay. Yeah. So I have, I don’t typically ask this, but I had a feeling you might, ’cause you’re an athlete and because you’ve really kind of had some significant issues and recoveries and the journey’s been long, but do you have a personal quote or a mantra you live by and if so, what is it?

That is a great question. I honestly would say just keep swimming as silly as that is. So cute. That’s Dory, right? Just keep swimming. Yes, it is, and I say it to myself, almost every day. And it’s so silly, but it’s something that I just hold onto. And funny enough, I was getting a plasma transfusion a couple of days ago and I came back out to my car afterward. My mom drove me and someone had left roses with a note that said, just keep swimming on every single car in the ER parking lot. Oh, that like I would’ve cried right in the middle of the car. Oh, I bawled. I was like, this is the most meaningful thing I’ve ever seen. Oh, that’s lovely. That’s lovely.

Okay, so I have one, I actually was just traveling for work and I purchased this beautiful quote card ’cause I’m a sucker for quotes, so I’m gonna read it. Okay. Okay. It’s by Joseph Campbell and here it is. We must be willing to give up the life we’ve planned so we can live the life that’s waiting for us.

I've realized is bravery is not the absence of fear, bravery is putting yourself maybe in an uncomfortable situation or dealing with an uncomfortable situation. Share on X

That is so beautiful and it could not sum up our conversation more. Yeah. I mean, and that’s where you’ve been. That’s perfect. Yeah. So I just wanted to read that. Thank you. I think that you have shared a lot, but let’s just sum up our conversation in this question. So what do you believe our one to two ways that women can be braver at work today?

Absolutely. So my definition and idea of bravery has evolved so much. I used to think bravery was just trying something really difficult. But what I’ve realized is bravery is not the absence of fear, bravery is putting yourself maybe in an uncomfortable situation or dealing with an uncomfortable situation. And it doesn’t mean that the fear of that is not present, but it means that you’re going to forge your way forward in whatever way that looks. I would really encourage women when something feels uncomfortable, when something feels challenging and scary and fearful, that’s the time to recognize that the universe is giving you an opportunity for growth.

So the more that we can lean into those moments and the more that we can really embrace difficulty and fear and challenge in our lives. That is bravery, my friends, bravery is showing up even when it doesn’t feel comfortable. So would that answer the question pretty well?

It does, yeah. I mean, yeah, it absolutely does. Like that, bravery is not about, it’s not saying, I’m gonna take action without fear. It’s about taking action with fear. It’s about making friends with your body, even when it’s scary, it’s about asking for help and being really clear in what you , even though you don’t do that, it’s about being willing to shed people in your life that aren’t serving you anymore, it’s willing to just keep swimming.

Yeah, and it’s creating that toolkit that’s going to allow you to, so finding, I would really urge everyone to spend some time really thinking about what the things are in your life that lift you up. What are the things that bring your frequency to a higher level? If I don’t, if I can’t get outta bed in the morning, it means I need to blast my favorite music or podcast to get myself jazzed. That’s in my toolkit. Going to the gym. That’s my toolkit, meditating. So put together those things that lift you up and remember to create routine and practice these things because it’s self-care in the most beautiful way.

So put together those things that lift you up and remember to create routine and practice these things because it's self-care in the most beautiful way. Share on X

Oh, lovely. So how can women connect with you in your work online? Yeah, so I would love to connect with anyone. I will say my website, because it’s got my phone number, email, Instagram, everything on it, and it’s www dot Athena Brownson. So first and last name, realtor.com. Please feel free to reach out. I love connecting with anyone, whether you’re going through something, whether you have real estate questions, whether you need a shoulder to cry on. I’m here.

Well, Athena, thank you so much. Thanks for bravely sharing your story and turning it into something really, I don’t know, instructive and powerful to share with the world. It really means a lot. So thank you so much again for being here.

Thank you for the opportunity and it was an absolute pleasure.

Well, that’s a wrap on my discussion with Athena today. I hope you found our conversation both valuable and inspiring.

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Until next time, show up, grow from your setback, and be brave.