How Pro Kitesurfer Jason Slezak Stopped Chasing Highs to Avoid His Past Trauma and Changed His Approach to Sports and Mental Health
A passion can add so much happiness to your life, but it can also be a way to run from trauma.
We get to hear what that looks like from a pro athlete who’s experienced the highs in lows on the water, in relationships, and in his own mind.
Jason Slezak is a professional kitesurfer and Patagonia Kitesurf Ambassador who has a 25 year (and counting) career and passion in kitesurfing.
He finds his sport to be an outlet for personal discovery, a unique way to explore the world, and a tool to work through trauma and hardships throughout his life.
Outside of board sports, Jason loves developing and testing products for Patagonia while guiding groups and coaching individual kitesurfers in remote and unique locations around the globe including Fiji, Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, both coasts of the United States, and Mexico.
We talk about...
The evolution of kiting from hobby to passion to pro
How board sports were an immediate passion from day one
Jason’s desire to travel the world being an initial draw, then kitesurfing giving him a taste of that out of college
Knowing when you might have potential to follow a passion for a living
Using teaching as a way to improve his own kiting skills
Feeling a pull into the board sports community as he traveled, which propelled him forward
Always saying yes to opportunities as they come, instead of trying to make a life plan
Love for solo sports: the more you put in, the more you get out
Dopamine cycles and passion hangovers
Dopamine cycles: spending all day finding fulfillment on kiting trips, then having to come home to “normal” life and feel the adventure blues, then filling the void with more stimulation right away
Kiting hangovers: flooding your brain with stimulation and sensation on the water, just to have it disappear when you get home
Thinking you love to party or some other form of dulling emotion, when in reality it’s simply filling a void
Making excuses since you’re “still functioning”
How Jason eventually came to love going home, and the importance of finding the positives of home life
How passions can become unhealthy in ways: using sports to run from trauma rather than processing it, and not allowing breaks in order to process hard feelings
Coping through hard feelings and trauma
- Trauma that Jason experienced and would relive around anniversaries
Jason’s turning point: the 2020 pandemic forcing him to not go anywhere, and the trauma caught up to him
The one day that all the crap came back to haunt Jason, and he decided to reach out for help
Learning to be okay with sitting with hard feelings instead of covering them with more dopamine
Healthier coping mechanisms: EMDR therapy to reprocess memories
The frustration and guilt during healing of wishing you’d started the healing process sooner
Breakthrough moments for releasing trauma through very simple tools
Relationships as a pro athlete
Dating as a pro athlete and the recurring cycle of breakups, then consciously breaking the toxic cycle
Supporting a healthy marriage when both partners travel separately for work
Honoring independent lives but focusing on each other when together
Balancing excitement and recharging periods as a couple
Resources for athletes in body, mind and beyond
-Ever-evolving roles an athlete can take in their career, even with aging and pain
Bettering your skill set through mind-body tools and mindset methods
“Beyond the Board”: Jason is teaming up with a trainer and a chiropractor to create a program for athletes to stay healthier, happier, and safer for longer periods of life by being intentional in mental training as well as physical care. (Stay tuned if you’re interested in joining!)
The hidden mental side of action sports: hiding struggles, fear of losing sponsorship, and over-curated media that shows only the positive aspects
Athletes are now coming forward to share the harder parts of life, and how brands can better support athletes’ mental health
Thank you to Stu Gibson (@stugibson on IG) for providing photos and videos around this episode!
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Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins
Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.