Taryn Smith - The Crash Nobody Warns You About After a Huge Win

**Taryn Smith** (0:00)
For me, it's that uncomfortable feeling, that fear. That's where all of the growth happens.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:05)
The natural human inclination is not to put yourself in perilous situations. But you, you did. You do.
You are the first woman to compete in the world's toughest row as a solo athlete. You rode 3,000 nautical miles across the Atlantic Ocean entirely alone.

**Taryn Smith** (0:25)
The row itself, it felt more like walking than it would running, but I was rowing for 12 hours a day. That day, I cried a lot, and that was one of the days when I had the toughest conditions, when my boat almost capsized a few times. All of my thoughts became my own.
It was amazing to be free from marketing, to not look at any advertisements. I just felt so me. I felt like a kid, and I realized that the voice in my head was just my own.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:55)
Does that mean that it was really hard to just empty your mind?

**Taryn Smith** (0:58)
The days that I felt most present, and in a way, I won't say empty, but just really, really in tune with what was happening around me, were the scariest moments. And so in some ways, those were freeing.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:10)
How long do you think you'll let things settle? I'm sure people are like asking you that.

**Taryn Smith** (1:13)
When I first got back, my brain and my body had adjusted to being on the boat, and I was used to a certain amount of adrenaline in a day and the endorphins. And so when that was gone.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (1:34)
Taryn Smith, welcome to the show. You are a 26 You've done more things than I think myself, my producer, our COO, and everybody else on our team has done because at 26, I was thinking about Hello Kitty had just come out with a new chain and I was really into it at the time. I mean, I was finishing med school, but still, you rode 3,000 nautical miles across the Atlantic Ocean entirely alone.
I am not even going to the convenience store alone. And you were the first American woman to compete in the world's toughest row as a solo athlete. There's a couple of other just extraordinary items here. And most people have stood on the summit of Mount Everest more than anyone has ever rode across the ocean. Well, at 26, you are an extraordinary young lady. I cannot wait to see what life has in store for you and actually even what you have in store for life.
You're from Nebraska.

**Taryn Smith** (2:44)
Yes.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (2:45)
Last time I looked at my geography, there's no ocean close to Nebraska. Am I missing something?

**Taryn Smith** (2:51)
You're not. It is the most landlocked state in our country.
But my inspiration for rowing across the ocean didn't come from growing up with a sport. It came from an article in Vogue, actually. I read about a team of women that rode from San Francisco to Hawaii and their story captured me because it was about old school grit and resilience and going out and really pushing yourself. And so when I read this article, I knew that I had to go and do an ocean myself.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (3:20)
Was it, you know, there's a million hard things that one could do. And I would say that in Nebraska, I've been there in the winter. It's cold, it's gritty.
What was it about this that there was just some kind of knowing that that was what you had to do?

**Taryn Smith** (3:37)
I grew up in Nebraska, and then I spent about five years living and working out in Idaho.
And so I did start living this very adventurous life, crawling around in the back country of the sawtooths. And I started upping the stakes of my adventures. I love throwing myself into the deep end. I love being uncomfortable. I like trying new things and being a beginner. And so I started backpacking and river rafting and doing all of these things that were terrifying to me after having grown up in Nebraska.
But I got to a point where I run out of outdoor adventures that really intimidated me. And that was until I read this article. And I love that you're outside all the time. I like the resilience aspect. I like that you are in solitude out in nature and get to really be at one with the elements. And I love big journeys and big voyages. And that's what this felt like.

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (4:34)
It is really unusual if you think about the landscape of your peers. I was once 26, believe it or not, just last year. And at 26, I would argue, and again, I've been a doctor for quite a long time, the natural human inclination is not to put yourself in perilous situations.