'That's how winning is done!'
Speaking on the theme Resilience at Speaker Slam® in Toronto on Jan 28, 2025, June Svetlovsky delivered “'That's how winning is done!'”.
Transcript
in 2012 my mother died unexpectedly in her sleep for months I was down for the count as my life fell apart taking up boxing is what saved me when people think of boxing they think of Rocky Balboa it's about how hard you could get hit and keep moving forward that's how winning is done to me boxing is about adaptability vulnerability and having people in your corner life constantly throws us punches be it a a parking ticket or the death of a loved one and most of us respond either by rigidly sticking to the plan or else freezing too stunned to move but boxing teaches us
to step back to block to reset and then go stepping into the ring is an act of vulnerability it is a choice to expose ourselves to physical danger the risk of public failure and for being seen exactly as who we are there's no hiding in the ring and while no one can fight your battles for you you when you are standing in the ring exhausted and ready to give up there is nothing like the cheers of your coach your teammates or the crowd to keep you going boxing confronts us with who we are I made myself small I avoided risks I dressed to hide my
body and I silenced myself to avoid judgment but with boxing I glimpsed a different June a queen claiming her power safeguarding her peace I yearned to be her but I doubted I could become her it's not easy having people who love you and I mean that coach and my teammates they believed in Queen June and they were always willing to call me out on my but me I was trapped by my fears I felt exposed and so ashamed that I had people in my corner when I couldn't show up for myself unable to accept that my toughest opponent was myself I bailed in 2016 I
quit boxing by 2020 I'd gone from Queen in the making to almost bankrupt nearly fired and diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and all of that happened before the start of the pandemic living alone physically cut off for months on end the only way I could connect with people was online a space filled with self-righteous anger and hatred and denial framed as debates I couldn't take it I started to go crazy unable to separate reality from my paranoia the world was splintering and I was splintering with it it was terrifying I barely made it out alive coach asked me why am I back why now in
2025 it's because I'm wary of the recent Spike of self-righteous anger hatred and denial both online and in the real world if I try fight back like I did in the pandemic I'll lose it's time for new tactics I need adaptability vulnerability and people in my corner but mostly it's because I see now that for eight years I made a choice I chose to suffer alone I choose differently now I choose to surround myself with people I love and who love me coach smiled June I always knew you'd be back come on let's get back to work as The World Keeps splin ring I invite
each one of us to step into the ring to learn to step back to block and to reset to choose to be seen exactly for who we are not who we imagine ourselves to be and to cherish the people in our Corner fighting our battles with us that is how winning is done thank you
Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.