After listening attentively to the first episode with Cornelius Edison, my 10-year-old daughter said to me, “Mama, you forgot to say your name!” Even though it was her first time ever listening to a podcast, she was completely right. I had forgotten to present myself. I humbly nodded and she immediately asked me, “But, why?” I didn’t stall to respond, “because I had butterflies.” She responded wholeheartedly with another “Mama!” but really saying to me, Really? Don’t be so silly. Despite my daughter’s sweet and sassy mockery of my nervousness during that first interview, I embraced it fully because I have learned that confronting fears is essential to a healthy mindset.
The last time I was that nervous was diving from a starting block during a master’s swimming competition abroad. As a child and a young teen, I competed on a swim team and although I’ve always loved to swim, I detested to compete back then. As a very shy young girl, the mere thought of diving from a starting block while dreading that many might be looking at me was terrifying to me. However, when my 8-year-old son started swimming and competing shortly after the pandemic ended, I decided it was time that I face my childhood fears.
As an adult, I now thrived on those mariposas, or butterflies, and actually enjoyed this time around the adrenaline I felt when competing. Overcoming our fears, in any area, is not only is empowering but teaches us the power of intention. As Albert Einstein said, “A ship is always safe at the shore—but that is not what it is built for.”
Petite Pinson’s embodied, connected, and adventurous life reflects how the small choices we make every day can shape our lives in unprecedented ways. As she says, “Whatever we practice, we put in place.” When we intentionally draw upon our calling and our courage, we understand that in reality, there is little that can stop us from realizing our full potential.
Raised at the edge of a river in California by her father, a former Hollywood stuntman for the original Lone Ranger and an adventurous mother who immigrated from Austria at age 19, Petit spent three decades finding her edge in a number of sports before her intrepid ascent of Mount Everest. After a long and challenging series of physical feats, Petit was the only remaining female among a small group of extreme athletes drastically reduced in size as the climb approached.
Excerpts from the Q&A with Petit Pinson (quotes have been abridged for print version).
Adriana Mariño: What do you think is the biggest lesson from your father’s example for you?
Petit Pinson: One of them is like, as I would say, as a mom is, like, not living in fear of something going wrong, like, oh, get down, or you might get sick. It’s like, now what?
What’s the best that can happen? Not what’s the worst that can happen, right? How’s the best I can help and let’s engage.
And also, I think, probably from both my parents, but it’s a little bit at a time. Choose something and do it a little bit every day. If that’s the habit you want to build or the something you want to create or focus on or feel, strengthen your body in a certain way, do the five push-ups or whatever it is. It doesn’t feel as overwhelming. It’s like, oh, that’s accessible. But he chose it because it was his passion. He knew nothing about music. He’s like, I’m going to teach my kids music out of a book. And, you know, we learned a lot. So, I think that that is a good lesson. Just keep choosing, keep learning, keep showing up.
Kipp Wesslen, too, is no stranger to overcoming difficulties. He did not choose the easy path nor settle for a sedentary lifestyle despite his imperative need for a wheelchair for the last 14 years due to living with a rare, unspecified, progressive neurological disease, with the addition of two separate incomplete spinal cord injuries. Kipp is an active athlete and a former wheelchair racing champion. After discovering adaptive sports in his mid-30s, he has competed nationally in wheelchair racing, paratriathlon, and handcycling. In recent years, he has also learned to alpine and Nordic ski, too. And as if that wasn’t enough, Kipp found increased challenge and purpose as an adaptive instructor with Oregon Adaptive Sports.
AM: What have been the big takeaways as an instructor with OAS?
Kipp Wesslen: For people, myself included, I believe that like going from — I mean, because society tells us — hey, you’re in a wheelchair, right? You walk with a cane, walker. You’re visually impaired. You are almost subhuman. Like you can’t feel anything. And from that, finding something that you can do. It’s powerful. It’s life changing. It brings me a lot to be able to be that person for someone else that I didn’t have.
I don’t expect those jitters to disappear anytime soon when sitting behind the microphone at the start of my interviews. But I will remember Petit’s words, “What’s the best that can happen?” And if stories like hers and Kipp’s serve to inspire others as they have emboldened me, I will welcome those butterflies anytime.
See Kipp in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ts0_swS6H0
Adriana Mariño is the producer and host of Bend into Balance. She is a documentary filmmaker, a board-certified functional medicine health & wellness coach, and part-time teacher at Cascades Academy. In April, she will graduate from the 200-hour yoga teacher training at Namaspa and loves to swim, ski, hike, bike, and travel. Adriana can be reached at adrimarino@hotmail.com.
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