Finding a Way: A Journey of Love, Resilience, and Healing with Siri Lindley Pt. 2
Join Tricia and Doro on a transformative journey with Siri Lindley, the renowned two-time world champion triathlete and author of the compelling memoir "Finding a Way." Siri shares her deeply personal story of overcoming adversity, finding love, and discovering the true meaning of resilience.
Throughout the conversation, Siri reflects on the influential role of her mother and the profound impact of her relationship with her wife. She also shares the importance of mentorship in shaping her journey. Prepare to be inspired as Siri shares her wisdom, resilience, and unwavering belief in the power of finding a way to navigate life's challenges and create a meaningful legacy. This is part two of a two-part episode.
learn More
Website: http://www.sirilindley.com
Siri’s Horse Rescue Website: http://www.believeranchandrescue.org
Facebook: https://geni.us/RYFacebook
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sirilindley/
FOLLOW HEALTH GIG ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST PLATFORM
Quotes:
Give yourself all those things that you feel you didn't get. Give yourself that affirmation. Give yourself that love. What you've needed all along has been inside of you. - Siri Lindley
I'm offering my story so that you can do a deep dive to find how you can look at faith, identity, or love and bring yourself to the next level. - Siri Lindley
It’s all about energy that moves you towards what you want instead of further away. Understand that your experience is up to you. - Siri Lindley
Show Notes:
SIRI LINDLEY: Forgiveness has changed my life in every way. And you know my father who you both know. Um. He was my everything. As as a kid growing up, he was my idol. He was my hero. He came to every single game. He was just like my greatest source of love and the most amazing guy, like, you know, I loved him so much. But when I found out I was gay as a 23 year old and my dad found out, he was horrified. And, um, he basically at that point begged me to tell him that it wasn't true, this, this thing that he heard that I was gay and and I couldn't do that. I said, dad, I'm gay, but I'm. I'm the same me. Please, please just love me anyway. And I remember on that phone call, he hung up the phone, and it was two years before I heard from him again. And you can imagine, you know, here is, uh, the love of your life. I mean, not in a weird way. The love of your life. Who? Is rejecting me because of who I am. Like because of who I am, I've lost a lifetime of love. Now that is something that I must have had an idea that how I handle this is truly going to determine the whole rest of my life. Because if I decide. First of all, if I lied and said, no, no, I'm not gay. That's abandoning myself.
SIRI LINDLEY: And if I live the story that he's telling me, which is because of who you are, you will never be loved. You will never be successful. You will never be happy. Like I wasn't willing to live that story. So I had to tell myself another story, one that I didn't believe, but I told myself and I would condition it until I did believe it. And that story was that because of who I am, I will have the greatest love. The love that I dream of. I will achieve everything I dream of achieving because I'm being me. And there's a power in being all of me and bringing all of me into this life. I didn't believe it in that moment because I've lost my everything, but I had to find a way to become the person that did believe in that. What would she do? You know, future me, the one that knows that being all of who she is, is going to have everything she dreams of. What would she do? Well, she would take on this impossible goal of wanting to become, you know, the best in the world in triathlon. Even though she sucks, she doesn't know how to swim. She would find a love for herself by diving into something that felt so scary, she would find a respect for herself by showing up time after time, no matter how many times she failed, she's going to get back up again and that is going to earn her own respect.
SIRI LINDLEY: She's going to value herself because she's going to see, you know, that she's making progress and she's, you know, backing herself and she's doing these things. So I had to become that person that did believe that because of who she is, she will live her best life. Anyhow, you know, what that led to is eight years later. I mean, I had this why behind taking on this impossible dream? Because the why was that? I was desperate to prove to myself that even as a gay woman, I could achieve something that I thought was special, that I could make a difference in this world, that I could inspire other people, and most importantly, that I could be loved and that I could love myself. So eight years later, I actually achieved this impossible dream. Now imagine if. On the day when he called me, he said, oh, Siri, like somebody told me, you're gay. My goodness, you're going to make the most fabulous gay woman. Like, what would that have done for my life? Like, what would I have gone on to do? And it was when my wife and I started rescuing horses. And these horses have been treated horribly, like they've been beaten, starved, abandoned, all these horrible things. But within one week of us loving on them, feeding them consistently, being kind and soft with them, within one week they forgive humans and they open themselves up to love and joy and a beautiful future.
SIRI LINDLEY: And I thought, God, we as humans don't do that, do we? We can hold on to the pain and the hurt for a lifetime. And what that does is it. It gives us an excuse. And I realized all the excuses I had had, you know, with relationships. Yeah. No one's ever going to love me, you know? And it's my dad's fault, you know? I'm never going to have the confidence. It's my dad's fault. When we blame, we become powerless to change. When we blame, we have an excuse. And here's the thing. Like. If we're going to blame the people that have hurt us for all the bad, all the pain. We also have to blame them for all the good. And this made me think like there was this, this first I'm seeing the horses and how, like they let go of all this pain and they're so happy and joyful and finding, accepting our love. And I thought, wow, you know, I think forgiveness is for me. If I forgive my dad, this is for me. It's not even for him, although it will free him too. So I called my dad, and and this is also Tony Robbins played a role in this and his teachings. So I want to honor that as well. But I called my dad and I said, dad, you absolutely broke my heart. But. I forgive you. And I actually want to thank you. I want to thank you for being exactly the father I needed you to be. To become the woman that I'm really proud to be today. And he was crying and he said how sorry he was. He'd been following my entire career. He listed off, like, all the races.
FOLLOW HEALTH GIG:
Learn more about BB&R and Achieving Optimal Health Conference by visiting BBRconsulting.us