Triumph Through Trials: Jessica Long’s Inspirational Journey to Paralympic Glory

Introduction and Jessica's Background hey there friends in today's episode I have an inspiring chat with a paralympic swimmer she shares her journey from being adopted from Siberia to becoming a champion athlete her struggles triumphs and the power of perseverance grab a cup of coffee you're in for a heartfelt story hi everyone it's Natalie welcome back it's been a busy few weeks after taking my middle daughter back to college and having her car breakdown in Southern Illinois between Colorado and Tennessee I won't go into too much you don't need to hear all of the specifics but let me just say the topic of the episode today is perseverance and it's something we are practicing here in the tisol household did you watch the Olympics I find it so inspiring so much fun and my guest is likely someone you know or have heard of Jessica long a par swimmer with an incredible journey the Paralympics by the way are coming up they follow the Olympics Jess shares her experience growing up as an amputee adopted from Russia from overcoming life's challenges to her daily rigorous training regimen I caught her in between two of her major workouts Jess opens up about her determination her faith and the importance of a positive mindset she talks about the power of not giving up finding worth Beyond her athletic achievements and the excitement of preparing for her sixth paralympic games you'll be inspired and your kids if they are listening maybe you're in the car with them or in the house they will be inspired as well I'd love to have you join my Weekly Newsletter and also subscribe to the podcast here wherever you're listening so that you don't miss out on a single interview on topics related to Faith Health and Family let's get started today with paralympic athlete Jessica long Jess it's so good to talk to you and it's go time for you oh yes yeah we are about to leave for Paris and next week so getting so excited so exciting I'm enjoying just following the stories of course of the Olympian Olympians but your story is unique in many ways and I want to start by you introducing yourself a little bit more a little more in depth and why this your sixth games right yes why this one is bigger and better if I if I can put those words in your mouth than ever or different uh well my name is jessal long I'm a paralympic swimmer I was adopted when I was a baby from Siberia Russia um I was also born with a birth defect in both of my legs called fibular homilia so when I came to the US um my parents were incredible they had two children adopted to my brother and I from Russia um not biological and then they had two more children so I'm one of six kids but they made a really difficult decision to amputate my legs when I was 18 months old and I think for me I've just wanted to be unstoppable you know I never wanted my disability to Define me in any Jessica's Journey as a Paralympic Swimmer way and it wasn't long after that I joined a swim team at the age of 10 fell in love with the water just the freedom that the water gives me and it led me to the paralympic movement and I've been a part of it I made my first team when I was 12 surprised everyone I think I was the youngest I'm one of the youngest to go but the youngest ever won a gold medal and here I am 32 getting ready for my sixth Paralympics and I could not be more excited and I can't even believe I'm still a part of it um but just so enjoying the ride and definitely trying to grow the Paralympics wow you've lived now a majority of your life as an Olympian well paralympian yeah Olympian well and and do you see it any differently when I hear the amount of work and probably more so for you I think it's important that we distinguish that because you do have different obstacles but yes but when people hear that they think the same thing they think the best of the best yes and I love that mindset the best of the best I think there was a long time that like it was always hard for me to correct people if they said I was a Olympian and you know I'm so proud to be a par Olympic Athlete just because it has I've had to overcome obviously so much and you know you're hearing my story but every single pa athlete has these this incredible story and I love Shing this too just you know the word parah is it's parah because it's parallel to the Olympic Games um so obviously like their counterparts or Team USA and I've had such a fun time I love watching the Olympics but we often say as a par athletes were like thanks for the warmup um and we'll uh we'll see you soon just help people understand so for those who haven't followed the Paralympics and haven't followed stories like yours what is it like what does your life look like what is training look like um what is the just the daytoday you as an athlete yeah I mean it definitely it's a full-time job right I am a professional swimmer um you know a typical week I'm swimming you know now that I'm older there's definitely a lot more quality work that I'm doing but I'm still swimming anywhere between four about 4 hours a day um I have weight training Pilates lots of recovery ice baths Epsom salt baths um Thea gunning just trying to get my body ready for the next workout um and that definitely is super challenging but it truly it's one of the best job jobs it's also so hard right I've learned so much over my career you know from the time that I was 12 to being the underdog to here I am the very seasoned veteran and my mindset is different right my perspective is different with Paralympics or just what I'm doing and uh I love the training day in and day out but uh it definitely is very taxiing um but it's also rewarding and there's lots of sacrifice that goes goes into it and even here I am living out at the Olympic and paralic Training Center away from my husband and our puppy the last 6 months just just the Tres a dream and to have no regrets yeah what advice and inspiration um and I know you've written about this and you tell your story but you know we all go through challenges in life some much bigger than others um what inspiration do you impart on people yeah such a good question you know I think for me just with my whole life right I was born without legs I've had so many surgeries with my on my legs and and found swimming and you know I've been adopted and I've worked through the feeling of Abandonment or just wanting to prove myself right maybe carrying that over into my athletic career right I've definitely gone through so many emotions and so many things and I think for me the inspiration that I just draw from is just that you know life is hard right life is going to continue to be hard but I I love this idea that we can face it headon and no matter what our circumstances are right we can find ways to to move forward and I think it's so important that you know not every day is going to be super positive like it's okay like to have bad days right I certainly have bad days and every day I still wake up and I'm an UT but I think if we can continue to shift our mindset right our mindset absolutely will dictate where our life will go and you know for me I can't change my legs and I have I have every reason to quit I have every reason to make my legs an excuse and I think for others I just want to really teach them that like why not you to do extraordinary things instead of the why me mentality yeah that's a that's a really neat one I I've heard that before but not often enough of why not you why not you it can be you but let's talk a little bit more about wanting to give up yeah because it's easy in the long run it's not but it's easy to just throw on the towel I'm just I'm done too much it's too hard do you face that do you remember that as a child and even now um as a animal swimmer you know it's so it's so interesting I see giving up as like I don't know I think obviously there's so many choices we have in our lives and Finding Worth and Identity Beyond Achievements from an early age you know I was just determined I also didn't have a choice at that time with giving up right like I had to keep moving forward and I think for me people are so it's like you I love that one of the quotes too where it's like you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take right like I never want to live my life with regrets and I I really really try not to right I I I'm not really afraid of failure and I think that's something I want to teach people too like you you can't be afraid of failure just starting is a is a success and you know I think for me giving up you know I I especially I think if I truly viewed my legs and my life as such a Negative I don't think I would be where I am right if I just felt sorry for myself all the time and and felt ashamed and I definitely felt those emotions right as a kid I I was very confused you know I couldn't understand why I was born without legs especially with my little sister's head legs and I think often it can feel like I must have done something wrong and I think just I'm so grateful for the people in my life and the perspective and just how I found ways to navigate it and I'm super you know therapy really helped me just open up into I think there's so much vulnerability and being just sharing your story right that's such a power um where there was a time I never wanted to share my story I never wanted to show my legs and I think for me I want you know when I do a lot of public speaking it's so amazing just to be able to talk about so many different topics right I don't just talk about the professional side it's I can talk to people who are adopted and who have felt we felt very similar things right and abandonment is real or being different in the world that wasn't designed for me right or just competing and winning medals but also knowing that that's not where my worth comes from so I love public speaking I think that's why I'm so excited for this book to come out wow where does your worth come from you mentioned that and I wanted to go a different direction but I want to ask you that yeah yeah well I mean I'm a Christian so I love the Lord um that's where my uh worth comes from and often times it can get it can be hard right I've definitely had a really uh long battle just with that feeling you know like why would God make me this way um but I gave my heart to Christ my whole heart when I was 22 it's so dry here in Colorado I always forget yes it is um but yeah I just I know at the end of the day swimming is just something I love to do it's a talent that God gave me and you you I've been able to touch so many lives through this through this talent that God gave me um so truly that's where that's come from um do you think that you were born with a drive to succeed or do you think you were taught that as a child you know this has been such a good question and especially just with um doing media for the new book it's something I've worked really hard to try to figure out on therapy right like it's that like nature versus nurture type thing was I always just determined or or was that truly just a a a response like a trigger or a trauma response right like all my life I've been told I was so determined but I also was fueled with anger right and I think something that's also really interesting right I I was fueled by anger and just so angry with the fact that I was given up for adoption but years later I found out that maybe it wasn't even my birth mom's choice but also I never thought of her perspective right so I mean obviously it's it's 100% Overcoming Challenges and the Power of Determination has made me who I am today and I don't really know I don't believe I had any other choice but to just be determined but I do definitely have this competitive determination that I don't always see everyone having and that can sometimes be so confusing for me because I'm like I am I the only one that's just this way um but I also think there was a fight right there was a fight in me to prove I've always been proving myself right to prove that I wasn't just a girl with no legs that I wasn't I was worth it that you know I I can find a way to forgive my birth mom and that you know truly was the best thing and it doesn't have to be black or white right I used to think gosh like you know what would my life be like in Russia my whole life I've been told it wouldn't wouldn't be good and it wouldn't be good like I I definitely know that it would be very different but also sometimes when I think about my family that I was adopted into right nobody asked a 13-year-old a 13-month-old me but like what I wanted I didn't have a choice so it's okay to live in just the middle the gray area that I love my family that I'm along but I also have a story and I wouldn't be who I am today without going through all the circumstances or or being an amputee so I think I developed I think I don't know there's not many times I look in my life and think that I gave up but I I don't know I just think I'm determined yeah it's just always interesting to me to hear where determination comes from and for a lot of people it is um I have to prove something and that's okay that that if that's your motivation and and it helps you be successful that's really actually can be really beautiful you come from a big family so six kids right um how are they in in watching you compete and them athletes and how has that played into your success yeah so I come from such a wonderful family um my parents have been married I think 42 years now um so I have an older sister an older brother and then my brother Josh was adopted he's older and then two little sisters so just such a good family we were all homeschooled um you know I especially was homeschooled because of all the surgeries that I had to have so you know I would go in for a surgery and and have to rest and recover for up to a month and get fitted with a new set of Prosthetics and my siblings were just amazing with you know watching all the movies that I wanted to watch or all the Popsicles I could eat or you know my parents got us a big trampoline so I didn't have to run around the grass and cut up my my knees um cuz when I'm not wearing my Prosthetics I walk on my knees um but they were just super great right and I definitely don't think you know there wasn't any I heard that I couldn't do right I would climb on top of a refrigerator I was always doing some results and flips and you know I think at times though it was really hard just cuz I was the one that was different and I was I'm the blonde in the family and I was also the one boring out my legs and I do remember sneaking into my little sister's um like looking into her crib when she was little and looking at her legs and being so confused as to why I didn't have legs but my parents would explain it to me over and over and over again and I think when I look back I had a really hard time with comprehending right comprehending why it was different why was I not born with legs why you know so they just we went over it a lot as a family but I definitely know like there was nothing that I couldn't do um none of my family were swimmers my little sisters tried out for the swim team for a few years but my parents just made sure that every kid had something they felt good at and I am positive that if my parents forced me into swimming or became obsessed with my success I would have been like no cuz no was my favorite word when I was little um but they just let me they let let me do my own thing and they were just proud of me no matter what and they allowed me to dream with them and we dreamed big but it was never it was never just like you know I never I don't know I wanted them to love me when I started swinning but I always knew that they they never really made me feel like they cared that was more me but yeah it was great yeah do you think okay so you're going here to the games you're leaving in a week what does that look like you've done it before yes um The Importance of Family and Support How do you set yourself up for winning yeah you know I think for me this time going into it I'm not you know I was talking with my coach today about this like this morning um I don't know if I'm super concerned about winning this time around right I was just thinking you know I've won all the races that I've ever wanted to win and I'm so grateful for the support I've always had over the years right everyone has gotten me here it's I often say you know when I get a gold medal it's incredible but it's I'm I'm the one receiving the gold medal for so many people who helped me but I think for me it's like the first time that I'm like I think I'm just going to do this for myself but I also often feel like I just have one person in the audience that's watching me and I just try to think of like God being there with me um and I think that really helps me just especially being a Christian just like okay like you know you can't give up and there's the last three years have been really hard right mentally just like why am I still doing this and it's I don't have the same joy as I once did the same Sparkle but I have the same love I've always loved swimming but I think for me I just know that my worth whatever happens the sun will rise and I think that's been really reassuring even watching the Olympics just knowing that you know I've worked so hard but it doesn't take away what I've already done and that's okay yeah yeah I know you have a dog so you'll have Grace for mine who seems to really like you just kind of sitting here barking little in the back there's nothing even to bark at oh yeah what I've read about um about your special dog um you're sweetie so uh tell about that small little family oh my gosh yeah so I got um my husband Lucas um we got married um in October this October will be 5 years um super great one of the best people I've ever met um obviously best friend love him but uh I ended up I never grew up with dogs and I was not a dog person actually now it's completely different but um I got him a dog I know I got him a dog for our second wedding anniversary and it's a little it's a like a cute little golden doodle and his name is goose and Goose of course like loves me like I spent the first like eight weeks really taking care of him cuz my husband at the time was working in DC and I was like I have no idea what I'm doing but it's been the most like it's just taught me so much just Selfless Love I can't even I think that's been one of the hardest things being out here at the training center just you know not being with my husband or not seeing cous and um you know we love doing our our walks every night after dinner and just stuff that I can't I think that's why I'm so so excited for Paris to kind of get moving along just so I can move back home and are they coming to Paris yeah my whole family's coming to Paris and I think it would be really great you know especially since in Tokyo no one could come with the pandemic um so this will be really really sweet and I'm so looking forward to just getting a big hug no matter what right obviously I want to win I do have that I love competing and I I want to win but also understanding that I'm going to be okay no matter no matter what happens yeah I I have a daughter who played she wrapped up her career um college lacrosse so much of what you're saying um and my audience listening here will be a lot of moms um a lot of families and we I I say that about my daughter because your sport can be taken away from you at any time and having your worth be in something else because I mean even I changed careers after 28 years like yeah if that's if that's what you live your life for then um it's going to be hard to find Writing the Book and Jessica's Journey of Self-Love happiness yes yeah and I think what the best advice i' ever been given was just Jess you're a person who loves to swim you're not just a swimmer and I think that's really helped my mentality that like okay whatever happens whatever results it doesn't take away the sacrifice it doesn't take away the hard work it doesn't take away the fact that I'm loved and that my parents are going to be there no matter what my husband's going to do there no matter what but I love this idea and um one of the girls who's competing in Paris right now just wrote this and you know I think she was expected to win and she ended up getting sixth place and she just said hey you know the sun is still going to rise tomorrow and I think we put such an expectation that if you're not winning gold you're a failure and it's like I'm actually I'm so proud of some of those bronze medals that I've won because I still got it you I still got a medal um but yeah it's definitely I'm I'm just super grateful for my parents in that perspective but I do think every athlete or anything that you go through you almost have to learn that right where does your identity lie and maybe that's just finding purpose right in your life and I think for me I I know that I have purpose after swimming right to inspire others and I think that gives me a little bit more joy to keep moving forward tell me about the book tell me about writing it what why did you decide to write a book and what can we expect to see in it as it's not out yet right yeah yeah so it's called me on the surface um I actually have two other books um one for ten and unders and I just had a children's book come out last year called the mermaid with no tail but this one was kind of alongside the mermaid with no tail but this one really Dives deep into just so many vulnerable pieces of my story and memories and just some of the the hardest parts of my life that I wasn't always super open or sharing with people and I think you know I hope that people reading my story or things that I've gone through that it's so real and vulnerable that they feel something also like they can res resonate with it um whether it's the adoption piece right or not feeling loved right it's a gold medalist guide def finding a loving yourself and it takes a lot of time and it it takes a lot it's you know you can climb one mountain and realize that you're there's always going to be another mountain to climb um another Peak but I think for me it's just it's very very vulnerable and there's my sister actually helped write it with me um so that's super special and she's someone that I absolutely trust um she's the one that came back to Russia with me when I met my birth mom um it gives there's some tricks in there some exercises you know one of them just sometimes when I have negative thoughts about myself or my body or my legs or just self-image right you know I definitely have this this idea of seeing Little Jess and I walk you through different exercises and stuff but it's very vulnerable and it really just Dives deep into ways to to love yourself through this this journey of Life yeah I didn't realize that you went back to Russia with your sister and how did that go yeah I mean it was book but yeah yeah it was definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done um my birth mom was 16 when she had me and I think my whole life right I was just so confused as to you know why wasn't I enough and to top it all off my birthday I'm actually a leap your birthday so I remember thinking you know I only get a birthday every four years confused born without legs like you know just I couldn't be more different and thinking that okay well literally the calendar just skips over me right like I don't even exist and I think we can feel I think we as humans or even just anyone listening or reading the book right we can so often feel like that one little thing does have an impact right my birthdays birthdays are so hard for me but I also love to be celebrated it's so weird and you know birth was a time that it was like okay well I was born it doesn't show in the calendar what like it I just don't exist like she just doesn't think of me but I ended up going and meeting her when I was 21 um I a Russian reporter went and found her for me and I dreamed about meeting her my whole life you know she named me Tatiana um which is my middle name um but I never thought that she would actually marry my birth father right cuz we were my parents were given a note just as she was too young and her parents I think were alcoholics and just she couldn't take care of a disabled baby um but she ended up marrying my birthfather and I went back to Russia and it was crazy I went to the orphanage I was adopted from and they said I was the only orphan to ever come back and I met the woman who handed me over to my dad because my dad was the one that went to Russia while my mom stayed home with the other two kids um to get both of us it was like a two Reconnecting with Birth Family and the Power of Forgiveness or 3 week process with paperwork um yeah I'll never forget I heard her crying when she came outside of the house and I remember hugging her and I mean at this point my story was all over Russia so there was probably about 30 cameras in their tiny little village and she came out in her purple house and I just remember hugging her and thinking like this is my mom my birth mom and then I met my birth father and they have three children children after me um but it was just pretty wild you know I have green eyes with like a gold gold in them and they have the exact same colored eyes and I got to show on my legs but I think the biggest thing for me was just the power of forgiveness right I think there's so often we can hold on to things so tightly and I often think of like could you imagine squeezing your fist so hard like often times I feel like I'm just like okay just let go Jess like release um and I think I talk a lot about that the book but and the book's been a couple years in the making so I'm trying to remember everything but uh it was just such a beautiful moment and truly from that moment I just I just forgave her and it just completely changed my perspective and I remember thinking how do I swim now when I'm not as angry right cuz anger is such a powerful emotion that can fuel you so it was a whole thing but anyway can go and watch it it's a documentary on peacock and it's called a long way home so my whole it's like 25 minutes story yeah you keep in touch with them now at all yeah do um through Facebook um when I met her there was about three translators so it was a little difficult to hear or to understand but um we translate a lot on Facebook and my my sister after me Anastasia has two kids so it's pretty wild it's just I never I didn't think that would come that early on in my life I thought I would maybe find my birth mom um years down the road right just maybe when I was married or had kids so truly amazing truly not all adoption stories are like that though um and I've definitely learned that with my public speaking and sharing my story and just what it felt like but just having that experience I hope to give back and to talk you know to other adoptive people you know I um I just finished a book maybe you're familiar with ber Brown and the um I think it's from the rising strong book but you've touched on something that is not easy for people and yet so so powerful and that is vulnerability like when you're able to actually talk about it because we hide much and like you talk about these things so openly and with such confidence and I know they're probably still not easy but being able to actually talk about the hardships it's like it opens this door to power yeah absolutely yeah you know it I truly don't think I would have ever gotten to this place if it wasn't for therapy and you know it just takes time and it's I've been in therapy since 2016 just to process everything right you know we we all have normals we all have our own normals right we all have our own stories but that vulnerability of Peace when I was little I thought was weakness I literally remember being like I I'm tough all the time and I'm not weak and and honestly I just have gotten to a point where it's like I want you to love me for me all of me right you know I think maybe that it comes from the adoption piece just take it or leave it this is me and if and I want you to love me for me but um just going to therapy I've been able to just connect all these dots and just truly just know myself and find confidence in my story and to not look at my story and see all the bad parts but see all the progress I've made and I think that's so important for everyone because there's stuff I didn't even think of that I've been able to dig up and I'm like oh my gosh like I never even connected that you know um even just like something so silly or simple as you know sometimes people will be like oh my gosh you have blue eyes and I'm like no they're green and gold which is because my birth family has the green Inspiring Others and Shocking the World and gold like little things where I like why am I always defensive with the blue eye like I don't know it's just been so crazy to be able to connect the dots or homeschooling you know homeschooling I did not like homeschooling and I think it's because I just wanted to be competitive and I always wanted to prove myself and but I truly think therapy is so incredible and so powerful and the more that we can open up with each other and share our stories and talk and connect I just think that people would they you just don't feel as alone well they think of the people who might be listening thinking I should do that or maybe I can be that way or just finding you never know how someone is connecting with you when they hear your story and how that can completely change someone's life yeah yeah especially in the athletic world right we talk a lot about you know finding your worth and your identity and the more I talk to athletes about it and we just kind of laugh like it's so comforting or the fact that I'm in the Paralympics right just to be near people who look like me their bodies look like me right that has changed everything for me and given me confidence but when I was a little girl right I couldn't I didn't even like wearing shorts in the summer right I didn't understand I didn't want people to stare and it's amazing because again when we go back to that why not you and you know it's so easy to fall into that well I could have or why me or this this feeling sorry for I don't want to be a victim in my life I don't want that for me and I don't want to teach that to the next generation of young girls or just the Next Generation Um and that's why I'm still swimming right I'm not swimming because it it I mean it hurts every single day it's hard it's I'm training all the time but there a bigger purpose um yeah what thread have you found um I could ask this of athletes at any level but especially your level what thread have you found in the par Olympians that is unique or inspiring we have a lot of friends in that Community yeah I just I don't just how powerful our bodies are maybe I think just that there's so much confidence in these girls these women with differences um but it doesn't take away that we still have hard days I just that the world seizes us so many so inspiring and I want to be inspirational for my athletic career and what I've done and what I can do with this body that I've been given but I don't think it's that inspiring to go grocery shopping or fill up my gas or anything like that but I also think that you know I can't really dictate where people draw inspiration right I think that's why I do love social media and I love you know seeing videos of amputees do things I think it's so encouraging but um I don't know I definitely want people to be more inspired and I think that's how a lot of us feel just be inspired by our athletic abilities versus I don't know it's a hard one though I it's a very fine line of you know I don't want people to think that it's inspiring if I just do simple tasks but yeah part of of athletes um at at any Elite level and that's why I asked that question of like a thread and often it's they're able to let things go or they're able to higher power or they you know these things that we can use in everyday life like we use them in our hardships in our competitive parts and getting jobs and all of that it's just interesting to me to hear where people draw that fire yeah well on TSA for the Paris swimming team we do have a saying that it just shock the world right shock the world because I think again this world is not designed really for amputees right we are a minority um I mean I see it all the time with my friends who are in wheelchairs right just stuff you don't think about until it happens to you right my husband um in marched towards Achilles and had to navigate you know uh just going through that surgery and being on crutches and I'm like I friends on crutches because they're a one leged amputee and a prosthetic doesn't fct it or it was a really good interest like just to hear his perspective but I would say for us we really talk a lot about shocking the world and proving to others that we can Jessica's Future Plans and Closing Remarks do it and we can do it really fast or you know shock you I'll never forget there was one time I was swimming and I wanted to share L and I was just like getting my workout in at like a local pool and the guy was like not swiming we can split Lanes right I swim you know and I just hey like would you mind splitting the lane and I think you just said something like oh well like I'm going to swim really fast and I was like you're not even going that F like this is not this is my warmup um but yes I love this this idea of shocking the world yeah well I can't wait to watch you do that again thanks and I'm sure people ask you this all the time and maybe you don't even know but is this going to be the last one or you just going to keep going I would love to end my career in LA in 2028 um this I'm not swimming as many events this time I'm actually kind of swimming half so I normally swim about nine events it feels like um this time going to Paris I'm swimming four so if I I I would love to end my career on home soil and kind of have my Farewell My goodbye um so I definitely plan to swim in LA but probably just one have bent and then just just you know excited to start the next chapter four that we'll watch you in and which of those which are your favorite what is your favorite yeah so going to re I'm swimming I'm opening up with the hunter backstroke which is one of my harder events I've gotten like bronze and that a few times um I have the 200 IM um which I have for the last four games one gold so I have a four Pete it's going to be pretty hard to get that fifth gold but obviously I'm going to try um I have the forer free um which I won I won an individual gold in that when I was 12 and then I have the hunterfly that I am the def should be the defending gold medalist so we'll see but it's it's a great group of girls super competitive and that's what I love about the Paralympics but uh I don't know I just love racing and I'm just going to try my best can't wait to watch you coming up here in Paris best of luck thank you God bless and thank you for sharing your story thank you for being B drum ball thank you for having me