Cassidy Lichtman, U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team

Cassidy Lichtman (0:00)

I don't know that there was a moment, but I remember the realization coming that as we went into these doctors' offices and we checked off treatment after treatment, I understood that we were getting to the end of the list, and that they, I don't know if someone said it, but there was a very clear understanding that, for me at least, that they didn't think I was going to be able to walk probably ever.

Michael Gervais (0:37)

All right, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery Podcast. I'm Michael Gervais. And the whole idea behind setting up this podcast is to sit down with people who are on the path of mastery to better understand what they're searching for, like to really dig and get underneath the surface, what they're craving for, what they're hungry for, what they're driven by, what they're driven toward. We wanna understand their psychological framework, which is how they make sense of the world and themselves and events in it. And we also wanna dig to understand the mental skills that they've used to build and refine their craft. And that's a lot. That is a lot to try to understand.

But what else are we doing? That's what we're trying to do is understand and learn from the best. What are some of the best practices that people use that are extraordinary thinkers and doers? How have they done what they've done? Okay, brilliant.

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And just for perspective, to make a national team roster is extraordinary. And so she's one of those folks that have been on the national team for a healthy amount of time.

But what makes it more engaging is that at the age of nine, Cassidy developed a chronic pain disorder in one of her legs. And she was told that she might never walk again. Just imagine that for a minute. Imagine waking up one day with pain, pain you didn't understand, pain that apparently all the medical professionals had no cure for no matter how many doctors they visited and really looked for answers, there was more question marks than any type of guidance really.