Surviving A Shark-Attack & Finding Faith w/Bethany Hamilton | #surfing #shark #sports #faith — Transcript

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1. 0:00jack
2. 0:01i guess you're booking this you had
3. 0:02questions for me
4. 0:04yeah kind of jack o'hara
5. 0:06boy you asked me some interesting
6. 0:07questions my man jack hey it's josh
7. 0:09ryder hey there jack o'hara it's johnny
8. 0:12damon jack o'hara absolutely what's
9. 0:17[Music]
10. 0:20well jack you know there's some good
11. 0:21questions jack hey jack how are you
12. 0:23doing hello
13. 0:24how's it going man jackie what's going
14. 0:26on man what's going on jack uh listen
15. 0:29man you know you you you asked me a
16. 0:31couple questions jack right that's right
17. 0:33man hey jack
18. 0:35jack
19. 0:36anybody call you john there's another
20. 0:38edition of the osho podcast live from
21. 0:41las vegas
22. 0:44walk with me buddy
23. 0:51i i'm a big fan i've seen a lot of your
24. 0:53stuff i know kevin has seen a ton of
25. 0:55your stuff is why he wanted to connect
26. 0:57the interview as well um but like just
27. 0:59to start off obviously for people that
28. 1:01you know are living under a rock and
29. 1:03don't know who bethany hamilton is right
30. 1:05like
31. 1:06how would you describe kind of your
32. 1:07upbringing and who you've become as a
33. 1:09person through your journey growing up
34. 1:11not only in what you do but just like
35. 1:14in the
36. 1:15in the eyes of the public in a sense
37. 1:17because not everybody experiences that
38. 1:18even if they are as talented of an
39. 1:20athlete as you are
40. 1:23yeah so i guess i'll just start with i
41. 1:25was born and raised and still living in
42. 1:28hawaii and i am a surfer by trade ever
43. 1:32since i was a young girl my whole family
44. 1:34served so that passion started really
45. 1:37young
46. 1:38and then i would say i have a very
47. 1:42persistent um
48. 1:44kind of being or nature like very
49. 1:47persistent and willing to like push
50. 1:49through pain points and
51. 1:52i'm willing to work um
52. 1:55through things that most people would
53. 1:58think are impossible and so
54. 2:01i think having that nature and you know
55. 2:04there's a lot of things i i live a life
56. 2:07of faith and i have an awesome family
57. 2:10and so
58. 2:12as i was growing up um i started getting
59. 2:14really competitive and i knew that i was
60. 2:16going to be one of the best
61. 2:18old
62. 2:19and then when i lost my arm at 13
63. 2:22it was like okay god that wasn't the
64. 2:24plan we had in mind
65. 2:26but
66. 2:27i think just having my nature and my
67. 2:30faith and hope and
68. 2:32just a willingness to try like that
69. 2:34propelled me forward even when
70. 2:37you know the closest people to me didn't
71. 2:39think it was possible like my mom for
72. 2:41example which i think that's just how
73. 2:42moms are right absolutely yeah i don't
74. 2:45think you can do that
75. 2:46so then i started surfing with one arm
76. 2:49and
77. 2:50um
78. 2:51and then i still ended up reaching a lot
79. 2:53of my goals and dreams to become one of
80. 2:56the best female surfers in the world and
81. 2:58it was really hard
82. 3:00um but really fun and
83. 3:03yeah now i'm a mother of three and um
84. 3:08married to an awesome man and
85. 3:11i would say i still have the same
86. 3:13approach like i've had three children
87. 3:15and i'm still ripping pretty hard so
88. 3:17that's really fun and
89. 3:19i'm just
90. 3:21kind of like i would say phasing out of
91. 3:24like a professional career but still
92. 3:26competing a little bit for fun and i did
93. 3:29some of the craziest events this last
94. 3:31january um
95. 3:33in my entire career so that was really
96. 3:35fun
97. 3:36and yeah i'm just kind of like i just
98. 3:38love surfing so i just want to keep
99. 3:40pushing it in my sport regardless of
100. 3:42whether i'm professional or not just
101. 3:45i want to surf with my children so
102. 3:47now be honest what's more difficult
103. 3:49being a surfer and competing at that
104. 3:51level or being a mother to three
105. 3:53children
106. 3:54um michael's trying to jump in on them
107. 4:01wait what was the question what what's
108. 4:03more difficult in a sense in a
109. 4:05humoristic standpoint what's more
110. 4:07difficult being a competitive surfer at
111. 4:09that level or being a mother of three
112. 4:11children
113. 4:12um gosh i mean both are mind games
114. 4:16yeah so i would say definitely being a
115. 4:19mother is the most challenging because
116. 4:21you're on all the time whereas
117. 4:24surfing you're not on all the time but
118. 4:26you just have to be ready for when your
119. 4:28moment comes
120. 4:30um so in the sense like motherhood is
121. 4:33amazing and so fun but so hard
122. 4:37and um but yeah competitive surfing
123. 4:40trying to be a mother and compete is
124. 4:41like next level like game changer
125. 4:44like i remember like in 2020 i was
126. 4:48competing in australia and i had my two
127. 4:51at the time and they were just like
128. 4:54trying to prep for the event was like
129. 4:55the most stressful thing and i know i
130. 4:57would have like found my flow and like
131. 4:59eventually like figured out what worked
132. 5:01but
133. 5:02at that time before everything shut down
134. 5:04it was just like chaos trying to like
135. 5:07mentally feel at peace and like be ready
136. 5:10to go and i have really really awesome
137. 5:12children that are pretty like
138. 5:13well-behaved but
139. 5:15still i think all children just keep you
140. 5:17on on your toes i'm 100 and you talked
141. 5:21about you know early on how your faith
142. 5:23has impacted you through a lot of you
143. 5:25know hardships in your life as well so
144. 5:27like you know take me back not to like
145. 5:29relive it in a sense but when you are 13
146. 5:31years old something like that happens to
147. 5:33you and again you were able to persevere
148. 5:35and say like i'm going to accomplish all
149. 5:38of my dreams and for the most part you
150. 5:40did you know at the highest level that
151. 5:42you could do it at what age was it
152. 5:45before that was faith always implemented
153. 5:47in your life by by your family growing
154. 5:48up or were there certain experiences
155. 5:50where it clicked for you
156. 5:52yeah so
157. 5:55i definitely had my own faith as a young
158. 5:58girl and
159. 6:00you know going from like 11 12 13
160. 6:03um
161. 6:05i really
162. 6:06wanted like
163. 6:08i saw after like i knew i wanted more
164. 6:11for my life i mean i grew up in the
165. 6:12surfing industry like
166. 6:15i saw a lot of the dark side of it and
167. 6:18so i knew i wanted more for my life and
168. 6:20i saw some of my favorite surfers just
169. 6:23like throw their careers away through
170. 6:26the choices that they were making um
171. 6:28there was one woman in particular she
172. 6:30was one of the best female surfers i've
173. 6:32ever seen at that time
174. 6:35and she went from like i think she's
175. 6:38gonna be world champed or like deemed as
176. 6:40the best female surfer in the world to
177. 6:43like
178. 6:44not even surfing and like not even
179. 6:46mentally straight and so
180. 6:49i think she was using drugs and so that
181. 6:51was really like crazy to just watch
182. 6:54firsthand like because i surfed with her
183. 6:56a lot and then i saw her just throw her
184. 6:58life away so
185. 7:00i was like i think i was around 11 12
186. 7:02years old 13. i saw that happen i was
187. 7:05like i don't want that
188. 7:07right i need to be like good in my sport
189. 7:10so and i want to be thriving in life and
190. 7:12i don't want to be basically like
191. 7:14mentally
192. 7:15slow and like lose my health and lose my
193. 7:18skill set
194. 7:20and so
195. 7:21there was like these different
196. 7:22influences but i think my faith in god
197. 7:25also showed me like okay there's good
198. 7:27and evil in the world and so learning to
199. 7:30recognize that at a young age and then
200. 7:33just having a pure faith too of like
201. 7:36okay i like i trust in you god with
202. 7:38whatever happens so
203. 7:40when i lost my arm i was like okay that
204. 7:42wasn't what i had in mind god but
205. 7:45i had this crazy sense of peace that
206. 7:48like i don't understand where else that
207. 7:50could come from i was like okay
208. 7:53god's by my side and i don't know what
209. 7:55my future looks like but i was just
210. 7:58trusting that he
211. 8:00hugged me where i was supposed to be
212. 8:03and so yeah i mean it wasn't an easy
213. 8:06season but i was relatively filled with
214. 8:09peace and like an okayness that i'm
215. 8:11gonna get through this and
216. 8:14i i just like i can't i could attribute
217. 8:17that to anything else like i don't know
218. 8:19how like i have been in the middle of my
219. 8:2213 year old self i'm like how did she
220. 8:23just like cruise and stay so calm and
221. 8:26like optimistic and like just trusting
222. 8:29that it was gonna be okay
223. 8:31right because you grow up like that's
224. 8:34almost probably a lifetime ago to you
225. 8:36now like looking back like who is that
226. 8:37person like where was that mentality you
227. 8:39know like there's yeah
228. 8:41like you're you're again like in the
229. 8:42public eye at a young age like not
230. 8:44everybody's going through that you're
231. 8:45dealing with all of that attention you
232. 8:47know everybody wants to learn your story
233. 8:49how you're able to do the things that
234. 8:50you're able to do is that
235. 8:52obviously you know faith implemented is
236. 8:55that tough to go through at a young age
237. 8:56with all eyes and all cameras on you but
238. 8:59at the same time knowing like okay this
239. 9:00is happening for a reason like there's
240. 9:03something you know much much bigger
241. 9:05going on like jesus has my back in this
242. 9:07sense like was there ever like any self
243. 9:09like doubt or any like nervousness and
244. 9:11anxiety there in dealing with all of
245. 9:13that
246. 9:14yeah
247. 9:15i really
248. 9:16uh i don't like to use this word much
249. 9:18but i really hated being famous and it
250. 9:21was crazy because it was before social
251. 9:23media but my story went viral like it
252. 9:26was
253. 9:27viral
254. 9:28for that time like world
255. 9:31world known and so
256. 9:34um
257. 9:35that was really hard for me especially
258. 9:37my personality i'm not like yeah i want
259. 9:39to be like the center right and like
260. 9:41shining in front of everyone where some
261. 9:43people are like naturally born like that
262. 9:45and they just love being like the
263. 9:48center of the party and they love like
264. 9:50socializing all the time
265. 9:52like they energize that way whereas for
266. 9:54me it was the opposite and so
267. 9:57that was really hard but
268. 10:00i think i always had the this desire to
269. 10:03help other people and so um
270. 10:07when i lost
271. 10:08my arm and then i started surfing again
272. 10:11i started receiving letters in the mail
273. 10:13from people all over the world with
274. 10:15different stories and different
275. 10:17challenges that they are facing and
276. 10:18they're like if you can surf i can get
277. 10:20back on my board too like not like a
278. 10:23surfboard but like get back on their
279. 10:25board
280. 10:26and so i was like wow like that's so
281. 10:29cool that people are being encouraged
282. 10:31and i was kind of just doing me
283. 10:33i wasn't trying to you know put on a
284. 10:36show by any means i just wanted to be in
285. 10:38the ocean i got in the water as soon as
286. 10:40i possibly could
287. 10:42which was like a day before the doctor
288. 10:44said it was okay
289. 10:46and
290. 10:47that was less than a month later
291. 10:49and so
292. 10:50it was just really like amazing to hear
293. 10:53the stories and the encouragement that
294. 10:55people were finding in my story and so i
295. 10:58was just
296. 10:59empowered to um
297. 11:01you know want to share my story and so i
298. 11:05think as the years went by i like slowly
299. 11:07started to find my
300. 11:09ways of coping with it and wanting to
301. 11:11like just encourage people and so i had
302. 11:14the heart maybe not always the desire
303. 11:17so that was like evan flow and even
304. 11:19still to this day i'm like i'd prefer to
305. 11:21just like hide in the backyard and play
306. 11:23in the garden and like sneak out and go
307. 11:26surf but yeah but i still like i've
308. 11:29learned to embrace it and i love just
309. 11:32being able to encourage young people in
310. 11:34particular but
311. 11:36it seems like my story encourages just
312. 11:38about every age like i get old people
313. 11:40writing me all the time being like okay
314. 11:43i'm gonna keep going
315. 11:45well you gotta think like because you're
316. 11:46getting like a million different
317. 11:48energies coming at you all at once right
318. 11:50and you know you gotta know which ones
319. 11:52are feeding into your passion like
320. 11:54getting letters from whether it be kids
321. 11:56or people from older generations like
322. 11:58i'm inspired by your story like that'll
323. 12:00feed into you that will motivate you to
324. 12:02keep going like you said like your
325. 12:03heart's there is the desire there always
326. 12:07no it's not it's not gonna be like that
327. 12:08for anybody you know um you get worn out
328. 12:10a lot but like that's
329. 12:12you know like what what energies to have
330. 12:14you looked at um that weren't
331. 12:16necessarily like yeah i mean that's cool
332. 12:18but whatever because you know there's
333. 12:19been like biopics and you know getting
334. 12:21into acting and doing all of this other
335. 12:23stuff to kind of
336. 12:24more so promote the image promote you
337. 12:27know the brand that is bethany hamilton
338. 12:29in a sense like were there certain
339. 12:30things that you didn't maybe you enjoyed
340. 12:33all of it but were there certain things
341. 12:34that you were like okay that was maybe a
342. 12:35little too much or like this definitely
343. 12:37helped um promote my story and that will
344. 12:40inspire people
345. 12:41yeah i mean definitely through the books
346. 12:43and films um the films were the most fun
347. 12:46um soul surfer was really cool to be a
348. 12:48part of a super hard and my whole family
349. 12:51was involved in that so being able to
350. 12:53share my story initially through that
351. 12:55was
352. 12:56awesome and really cool and then fast
353. 12:59forward like uh eight or nine years
354. 13:01later we did my documentary unstoppable
355. 13:03which is more like the action sports
356. 13:06like real life version
357. 13:08and so that was really cool and it
358. 13:10turned out super good and so
359. 13:13those have been my favorite ways and i
360. 13:15honestly like
361. 13:17i actually really like social media i
362. 13:19think it's a really fun way to kind of
363. 13:21share um your life but
364. 13:25it also has its dark sides too you know
365. 13:28people have the lack of boundaries and
366. 13:30addictions and like get lost in dark
367. 13:33spaces there so
368. 13:35but i also feel this like desire to like
369. 13:38put something good there and like share
370. 13:40like now i'm sharing a lot of my family
371. 13:42life and just trying to encourage people
372. 13:44like with mindsets and
373. 13:47just to um kind of just put some
374. 13:50positivity out there
375. 13:52and so i have fun on that space even
376. 13:54though that's pretty exhausting too but
377. 13:56um
378. 13:58yeah it's just been really cool to kind
379. 14:00of
380. 14:01um
381. 14:02do different sort of mentorship programs
382. 14:04too it started initially i have a
383. 14:06non-profit called beautifully flawed so
384. 14:08we do retreats with women and then with
385. 14:11limb difference so
386. 14:13kind of young women and young men so if
387. 14:15anyone listening if you know anyone or
388. 14:17if you yourself have limb difference
389. 14:19like please check out
390. 14:21beautifullyflawed.com because
391. 14:22we'd love to have you join in on one of
392. 14:24our retreats and they're very like
393. 14:26health oriented so we do a lot of
394. 14:28physical movement but also learn about
395. 14:31nutrition and just mindset and
396. 14:33overcoming and just encouraging
397. 14:36um these different men and women who
398. 14:39come in and just are like maybe stuck in
399. 14:42a rut yeah absolutely
400. 14:45unfortunately it could happen in like a
401. 14:46blink of an eye getting stuck in some of
402. 14:48those that's right yeah
403. 14:50man like when was what was like not
404. 14:52necessarily one of the bigger ones that
405. 14:54everybody knows about but like just you
406. 14:55know like going through the daily
407. 14:56routines of being a parent you know
408. 14:58everyday life like some of those things
409. 15:00that get you down at times but at the
410. 15:02same time like you're able to build
411. 15:04yourself back up what do you use to
412. 15:06remind yourself constantly to build
413. 15:07yourself back up when that stuff happens
414. 15:10yeah i guess now i'm 32
415. 15:15and so i've been a mom for about seven
416. 15:17and a half years and um
417. 15:20the thing that motherhood has taught me
418. 15:22is like it all comes back to your mind
419. 15:25and how you're approaching each day and
420. 15:28like your expectations and so
421. 15:31with having children like
422. 15:33if you have unrealistic expectations
423. 15:36that like no doubt you're going to get
424. 15:38like frustrated and disappointed and
425. 15:41if you're not understanding like where
426. 15:43they're at and how their minds are
427. 15:45working
428. 15:46and not able to support them then it's
429. 15:48gonna like
430. 15:50be hard and conflictual so
431. 15:52i'm like i still feel like a very young
432. 15:55mom and like i'm learning so much and
433. 15:58it's probably
434. 15:59um changing me more than anything else
435. 16:02in my life in the sense that i think it
436. 16:05will make me a better human and so
437. 16:08there's a lot of beauty in that and it's
438. 16:10really fun and i i like i started off in
439. 16:13the like our chat was i'm a very
440. 16:16persistent person and i want the best
441. 16:19for
442. 16:20my life and the life of those around me
443. 16:23and so
444. 16:24it's been really challenging in like the
445. 16:27most awesome way and like i think it's
446. 16:29more of like looking at myself and being
447. 16:31like okay where is that emotion coming
448. 16:33from or why am i reacting that way or
449. 16:36why am i not able to keep my cool in
450. 16:38this moment
451. 16:39yeah
452. 16:40and so it's been really fun to just be
453. 16:43challenged and learn how i can best
454. 16:45support my children and my husband and
455. 16:48then i feel that coming out and other
456. 16:51like in my other relationships too like
457. 16:54just having more empathy on the people
458. 16:56around me and like trying to understand
459. 16:59where they're at and i've been doing
460. 17:00mentorship for teenage girls and with
461. 17:03their moms and a lot of these girls are
462. 17:05coming in lacking all the confidence in
463. 17:08the world like just
464. 17:09shoulders shrugged like not able to like
465. 17:13carry themselves with beauty and poise
466. 17:15and so
467. 17:17being able to like okay i'm the opposite
468. 17:20i'm like super confident i i go after
469. 17:23what i want and i'm like okay how can i
470. 17:25understand this girl and where she's
471. 17:27coming from and like come alongside of
472. 17:29her and just support her and help her to
473. 17:32find her
474. 17:34her beauty strengths and confidence back
475. 17:37and so
476. 17:38it's weird how working with my children
477. 17:41i feel like it's carrying over into all
478. 17:43the relationships i may experience and
479. 17:45it's been just really fun right and then
480. 17:47you learn to like surround yourself with
481. 17:49like-minded people who
482. 17:51want to preach that exact same thing and
483. 17:53that feeds into the energy too like you
484. 17:55talk about you know being in like soul
485. 17:57surfer and enjoying all of that like
486. 17:58there were some like i want to call them
487. 18:01like famous like you said but like
488. 18:02influential people um that you got to
489. 18:04work with a part of that were there was
490. 18:06there any like one specific conversation
491. 18:08that you had with anybody that you
492. 18:09worked with there um that kind of
493. 18:12really bled into the mindset that you've
494. 18:14been able to develop over these years
495. 18:18oh
496. 18:21say
497. 18:22there was anything super impactful in
498. 18:24that journey but i think it helped to
499. 18:27build my confidence to trust myself and
500. 18:31trust my gut and
501. 18:33just know that okay if something doesn't
502. 18:35feel right like
503. 18:37work on that and talk about it and
504. 18:40figure it out instead of just like
505. 18:41letting it run
506. 18:43and just thinking like i think we can
507. 18:45sometimes doubt ourselves and be like oh
508. 18:48this is just normal you know i just
509. 18:50gotta like roll with it but really if
510. 18:52like something feels off like working on
511. 18:55that and like questioning it and trying
512. 18:57to um
513. 18:59just you know
514. 19:00problem solve it and so that's been
515. 19:03something that's been like really key in
516. 19:05my life i think is and i think my faith
517. 19:07has influenced that and the people i
518. 19:10surround myself with but i have this
519. 19:12natural kind of intuition or gut and
520. 19:15like any time something doesn't feel
521. 19:17right it usually turns out something was
522. 19:20off and it didn't go how i would have
523. 19:22hoped it was so
524. 19:23i usually like kind of take ownership of
525. 19:26that and be like okay well
526. 19:27i didn't like
527. 19:29try to problem solve that as i felt it
528. 19:32being kind of off and so
529. 19:34kind of adulting up and like taking
530. 19:36ownership of the things that don't go
531. 19:38right and
532. 19:41like move forward with like okay let's
533. 19:43own it next time and try to problem
534. 19:45solve it
535. 19:46right absolutely and then you you live
536. 19:48and you learn almost like that's like
537. 19:49the simple like status quo the last
538. 19:52question i have for you i know you got
539. 19:53to go here soon kind of like in relating
540. 19:55to maybe um something you wish you could
541. 19:58have done differently maybe not so i'm
542. 20:00not sure um a question i know kevin
543. 20:02wanted to ask you um was what was more
544. 20:05challenging you know quietly surfing you
545. 20:07know being pregnant at one point and
546. 20:09then um versus you know stepping back
547. 20:11into the water for the first time after
548. 20:13the event
549. 20:15yeah i mean definitely learning to surf
550. 20:17with one arm was the most physically
551. 20:19challenging thing i've ever done
552. 20:21probably
553. 20:22and it took a lot of patience and
554. 20:25persistence and just willingness to like
555. 20:29feel uncomfortable like it didn't feel
556. 20:32good
557. 20:33paddling out with one arm it felt really
558. 20:35awkward and
559. 20:37uncomfortable and like frustrating to go
560. 20:40from like being so invincible in the
561. 20:42water to like
562. 20:43oh my gosh i can barely stand up on my
563. 20:46board and but all it took was like one
564. 20:50moment of like my surfing high
565. 20:53um
566. 20:54and i was like okay i can do this and
567. 20:56i'm gonna like
568. 20:58push until i figure out how and so
569. 21:00over time i slowly adapted and figured
570. 21:03out how to do things differently and i
571. 21:06still had a lot of that skill set
572. 21:08ingrained in me but i had to like figure
573. 21:10out how to do it differently so that was
574. 21:12just really fun
575. 21:14and then fast forward to having children
576. 21:16and recovering postpartum um that was
577. 21:19really hard and now doing it three times
578. 21:22i just
579. 21:23have a lot of respect for myself i guess
580. 21:26um and just like
581. 21:29i guess after my third baby in
582. 21:31particular was just being a little more
583. 21:33patient and just
584. 21:35um not feeling like i have to rush it
585. 21:37and like embracing my time with my baby
586. 21:40and then knowing that okay just be
587. 21:42consistent over the next year or two and
588. 21:46you'll get your strength back
589. 21:48and you'll get your skills back and so
590. 21:51yeah i've been surfing pretty good so
591. 21:53it's been feeling um this nice like my
592. 21:56youngest is now a year and a half and so
593. 21:59yeah it feels good to be like back at it
594. 22:01and like getting to sneak away first or
595. 22:04here and there
596. 22:05i love the fact that you're able to
597. 22:07continue your passion you know doing
598. 22:09what you love in both aspects of your
599. 22:11life professionally personally i love
600. 22:13how faith is a big aspect of what you're
601. 22:15doing behind all the projects and all
602. 22:17the opportunities that you've had so i
603. 22:19do want to thank you like thank you so
604. 22:21much i'm grateful that you're able to
605. 22:23hop on this call today i will let you go
606. 22:25be a mother go be an entrepreneur or go
607. 22:27be an athlete um go be bethany hamilton
608. 22:30so i do appreciate you coming on today
609. 22:31bethany thank you jack have a good one
610. 22:34as well
611. 22:41you