The Pull

This week my guest is sports psychologist Dr. Kristin Keim. Keim came to my attention several years ago when I began to see her posts on social media reshared by friends of mine in the bike racing world. Her posts were fonts of positivity rooted in practices that can bring about real change in a person’s life. I began to follow her as well and quickly realized hers was an outlook built on a backbone of daily effort and supported by a rigorous study in clinical psychology.Put another way, I was watching someone walk the walk at a world-class level.Her work dismantles what may often be decades of counterproductive habits and builds a new practice that reinforces better mental skills, improved life balance, strengthens relationships and eases transitions. At the ground level she deals with cancers like negative self-talk, overtraining and burnout, time management, interpersonal relationships, team dynamics, injuries including traumatic brain injuries, mindfulness, career counseling and even body image.Significantly, she works from a first-hand knowledge of what she addresses. She’s a former ballet dancer, elite tennis player and pro cyclist. And the currency of her work is an unfailing devotion to kindness, empathy and compassion.Truly, I felt such a deep sympatico with her than I could have talked to her all day, which is, I suppose, how everyone should feel when speaking with a psychologist.