Ep. 6 - Courage with Justin Salas

Justin Salas was 14 years old when his vision started failing him. Before long, he'd given up his dream of becoming a fighter pilot (or a pro BMX racer)—until an old friend helped him realize that blind or not, he could do hard things.

Now almost thirty, Justin is a 6X National Paraclimbing champion, the 2018 World Paraclimbing champion and the subject of an upcoming Netflix documentary called The Blind Ascensionist. Hear him talk to Stef and Marta about how fear, the outdoors, and a deeply ingrained work ethic have helped him find his way in life—even without the benefit of sight.

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Episode Highlights

3:08 - Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma

5:29 - Seeking independence and how an infection led to complications

7:55 - Justin's vision takes a turn for the worse

12:53 - The diagnosis and how Justin deals with his new visual impairment

18:10 - Trying to cope with the new diagnosis and a turn for the better

23:28 - How to face fear head-on and being 1% better each day

27:28 - Becoming aware of your own thoughts

32:58 - Justin's advice to cultivate a strong work ethic and willpower

37:04 - What's next for Justin

QUOTABLEs:

"It's just holding yourself to a standard that is like, 'How can I be 1% better tomorrow?' It's kind of that growth mindset. Where it's not about beating yourself up for what you didn't do, it's about looking at how you keep growing from there."

"Oftentimes it's doing the hard thing even though it's hard and still going through with it."

"These things have a compounding effect. If you've been practicing this for a long time and you're finally met with a moment where this is the hardest moment you've ever had to deal with in life, you've kind of prepared yourself for that. Because you're constantly doing something you don't wanna do every single day."

Meet your hosts:

Marta Kagan

Stef Ziegler

Justin's Instagram: @vengasalas

Justins' Netflix Documentary: The Blind Ascensionist

Justin's Email: hello@justinsalas.com