241 SelfWork: The Hidden Opponent in College Athletics: A Frank Conversation with Victoria Garrick

The Hidden Opponent is the name of D1 College Athlete Victoria Garrick's TedTalk. And it's powerful. Who is she? She's a former Division I Volleyball Player, TED Talk Speaker and has now become a social media Influencer, and mental health advocate. Those are the facts about Victoria Garrick. She’s young, she’s incredibly energetic and passionate. She’s highly competitive. And she’s struggled with depression as well as a binge eating disorder, the latter of which she’s only now started opening up about.

After graduating from the University of Southern California in 2019, Victoria has traveled the country speaking on college campuses, hosts her hit podcast Real Pod, and creates daily content for her army of over 1.5M+ people who follow her message of authenticity and self-care on social media.

I know that those of you who are in college or recently out will be fascinated with her and parents whose kids are into sports also need to listen – as she opens up about how the competitiveness of sports and winning can, often unintentionally , work to create feelings of wanting it all to end . She’s also created a non-profit called “The Hidden Opponent” and is marshalling and creating support organizations for college athletes who need a place for their mental health struggles to be understood and accepted. The pressure can be immense as she explains in our interview. How coaches and teammates perceive mental health struggles can be a problem, how parents can be trying to understand but how there can be so much room for miscommunication.

So in this SelfWork episode, sponsored again by Athletic Greens, she opens her heart and her experience to all who will listen. I'll hope you join us.

Important Links:

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Victoria's website and Real Pod podcast

Victoria's Ted Talk The Hidden Opponent

The Hidden Opponent Non-Profit Group

You can hear more about depression and many other topics by listening to Dr. Margaret’s podcast, SelfWork with Dr. Margaret Rutherford. Subscribe to this website and receive her weekly blog posts and podcasts!

If you’d like to join my FaceBook closed group, then click here and answer the membership questions! Welcome!

My book entitled Perfectly Hidden Depression is available! And you can order here! Its message is specifically for those with a struggle with strong perfectionism which acts to mask underlying emotional pain. But the many self-help techniques described can be used by everyone who chooses to begin to address emotions long hidden away that are clouding and sabotaging your current life.

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