[Music]
you
[Music]
retiring at the age of 38 doesn't that
sound wonderful enough money in the bank
no more pressure
lots of vacation do whatever you feel
like sounds great right well not to me I
never wanted to give up my job and if
you ask me I would have gone forever
but I was forced into retirement growing
up in the 70s didn't offer a lot of
distractions we had one TV with only
five channels we had no PlayStation no
computer no Facebook no smartphone and I
guess some of you might remember and I
was powered by lots of energy and I
probably drove my parents crazy with it
so I joined every sport Club our little
village had to offer and thinking back I
was pretty bad at all of them but that
was one exception however skiing in
skiing it turned out I had a huge talent
and a great feeling for the element of
snow and I considered our ski little ski
resort in Liechtenstein as my own
personal playground an idea was born I
wanted to become a professional ski
racer and that idea turned into my
ultimate dream I put lots of dedication
hard work and training into it and at
the age of 25 I finally arrived at the
top as an equal among the best ski
racers in the world in a sport where
99.5% of all that try failed and I was
living my dream life in the fast lane
for most people way outside the comfort
zone but to me and felt so good but life
wasn't about sunshine and victories and
happy faces all the time it was tough
and I had to suffer a lot throwing up
from exhaustion and training constantly
cold feet physical pain most of the time
injuries broken bones seeing some of my
best friends getting hurt
some of them even died being a
professional ski
tracer requires a huge ability to suffer
and trust me I learned my lessons losing
I did 300 Walker braces I won four of
them so basically I lost 296 times but
losing is part of our lives how can we
appreciate happiness if he never
experienced or even embraced the feeling
of losing the disappointment the sadness
and the shame that comes along with it
at the age of 37 a younger generation
started to beat me and I had to tap into
the last 5% of my safety margin just to
be able to be competitive on that level
and I'm not talking outside the comfort
zone I'm talking deeply in the danger
zone of an extreme sport I had to risk
my health on a daily basis way more than
I was willing to and fear started to
creep in and fear is always a bad
companion emotions can be a very strong
driving force but we have to learn how
to take care of them if we expose
ourselves to a huge variety of intense
emotions all the time our brain might
get overwhelmed and this is what
happened to me in the morning before the
World Championship downhill in 2009 in
Baldy Zaire
I couldn't handle the pressure anymore
in all the training rounds leading up to
that race I was making a very strong
impression and I had the chance to
become world champion and the most
prestigious discipline of my sport the
downhill I would have been a way to put
a crown on top of my career but all I
wanted to do I wanted to stay in bed and
cry I didn't have any energy left my
subconscious was completely overloaded
and I had a mental breakdown
somehow I put my stuff together dragged
myself up to the start of that race
tricking myself into taking one step
after another
after crossing the finish line ending up
fourth on that day I know my career is
over that panic attack was the sign that
showed me I need to retire so the next
day I drove to Syriac and bought myself
a flight ticket to Miami I told my
coaches not to look for me that I needed
some time some distance just to get away
and only 36 hours after that race I
found myself in a beach chair in South
Beach Miami looking up into the night
sky and in my hand I have the biggest
mojito you could ever imagine
but right then and there I made a
decision I'm going to announce my
retirement but I'll do one last season
just to soak it all up and after that
last season I had the chance and the
privilege to prepare for my retirement
sorry I was still one of the top ten
racers so they gave me a nice
opportunity so I dressed up nicely in a
tuxedo I did my last run I shook lots of
hands and enjoyed the spotlight I was
getting for one last time and right
after that last race the whole pressure
lifted and I will call it the honeymoon
phase
and for whole summer season I was just
simply enjoying life but as the new
winter season started I found myself in
front of the TV watching my fellow
colleagues racing down and I had tears
in my eyes and it dawned on me that I
will never ever in my life experience
this feeling again this feeling of
racing and all the emotions that it
included and for the first time I asked
myself seriously will I ever find
something that will fulfill me as much
as ski racing it
I need something that fulfills me
something that keeps me living but what
could that be
for the last two decades I was always
defined by numbers I left a distance
this much weight in the gym had its own
so many training runs I had this in this
position at a race every evening I could
tell by these numbers if
was successful or not but after my
retirement there were no more numbers
that defined me in my performance so how
was I now to measure my success and what
is success and is it only numbers that
fulfill me so the one big question came
up Who am I why was I so fulfilled with
ski racing it took me weeks to find the
answer which I probably already knew
from that one night when I was in Miami
lying the beach chair with a bigger grin
on my face than the mojito in my hand
call it crazy but obviously I needed
that distance just to realize that I'm
one hell of a lucky guy no matter how
intense that panic attack was I simply
felt so alive what I also realized that
night was on a typical racing day from
the moment I get up to the moment I go
to bed I experienced a complete variety
of it and this is what remains it's not
the physical metal or trophy I take home
with me it's needed money not a
spotlight it's the emotions that it
represents bra driven by emotions
interactions experiences encounters they
had the biggest adventure out there and
this adventure happens to be a huge
motivation and this certainly applies to
me so instead of asking yourself what
you will do in the future the question
is how do you want to feel and this is
what I ask myself how do I want to feel
talking always came pretty easy to me
since I love to communicate and the idea
of standing in front of a crowd having
one chance to deliver with all the
adrenaline the excitement and the
nervousness and trust me I'm so nervous
right now
this all seemed like a huge emotional
challenge
to me I even did some tests in this
studio right here just to see if working
in front of the camera could be
something for me and boy I felt so good
and the best thing about it it doesn't
only satisfy my own core it enables me
to create closeness and to build bridges
with my function as a TV expert now pine
skiing I get to convey my knowledge and
understanding transport emotions and
hopefully inspire lots of other people
through my passion for this sport life
sometimes puts us in a situation of
change maybe a retirement maybe we lose
our job get sick or have an accident or
just simply because we wish to have a
major change but what can we learn from
this
subtract yourself from what you do per
position you are professionally in and
what you own and go back to your core
and focus on your desired feelings how
do you want to feel because even if the
race is over
you never retire from being who you are
thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
you
[Music]