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In E5 of the Alchemy Podcast, we had an awesome chat with Enchante Gallardo. We talked about selfishness and freediving, how you balance it out, relationships, being an athlete, a record holder, and a mother. A lot of people can take away some big messages from that episode, because being a mother as well as a full-time freediver is not easy, and yet Enchante is doing it successfully, with the right intent. What advice would she give to someone who wants to be a professional athlete but also dreams of having a family?
The key in all of this is trying to find the right balance. And I don't think it's just with mothers, but I think anybody, no matter what they're doing, is trying to find the right balance of basically creating this homeostatic life. And I think it's a constant constant journey and because our lives are constantly changing, we're evolving, and we have to constantly reevaluate that and find out what works for us. It's fun and it's interesting talking to different people and learning from other people and their experiences as well because we're all on our own journey.
If you have kids or if you don't have kids and freediving is something that you are really after, well, if there's something that you wanna do, you can do it. And if it's something that you really wanna do, regardless of what obstacles you face, you'll find a way. And I think community and friendship are really important. You also need to have a really good support system, financially & socially, because if you don't have a support system, then it's not gonna work.
But also trusting and believing in yourself, I think are really important. And I think anything can be done with kids. It's gonna be different for everybody. Bacause everybody's situations, life situations are very different. But like I said, if it's something that you really want to do, you'll find a way. And it's kind of cool and interesting because maybe sometimes people might feel alone, especially mothers. And especially single mothers which is the most difficult place to be sometimes. But it's kind of amazing when you start to meet people and develop that community, how many people are super supportive and will come, will be there to like help you and especially in the freediving community and because you have other mothers who compete, they also understand what you're going through, other mothers or fathers, I mean, who are doing crazy things. I mean, look at Alexey. He has kids as well. I think that there's always a way, so I think if somebody wants to do something, they should follow that. And just take the right steps that you need to, in order to make that happen and figure it out.
I think sometimes it's hard for people to talk about really personal things. Again, it goes back to the whole idea of vulnerability, you know, not everybody wants to put themselves in a vulnerable position. Maybe it's being afraid of what other people are gonna say or think, or maybe they might feel judged for exposing that, you know? But I think it's good to be able to talk about it and be real about who we are and the things that we do and that we're all on our own journey, you know? And I think talking about it, that's also another way that allows us to be able to support one another.