Knowing The Power of Perspective

by | Jun 4, 2017 | Blog, News & Events

Ashli Barrett/Lacombe Globe Friday, June 2, 2017 3:02:30 MDT PM Olympic silver medallist Cheryl Bernard delivers a keynote speech to hundred of students the Alberta Student Leadership Conference at Lacombe Composite High School on Tuesday morning. (Ashli Barrett/Lacombe Globe)You don’t win silver, you lose the gold is a notion former Canadian curler and Olympic silver medallist Cheryl Bernard isn’t a fan of.   Kick-started by a controversial Nike ad campaign in 1996, it implies anything less than gold should come with feelings of regret, missed opportunities and failure, something Bernard has made the conscious decision to refute. A keynote speaker at the Alberta Student Leadership Conference (ASLC) hosted by Lacombe Composite High School, she spoke to around 600 students from across the province on resiliency, attitude and choosing how to view life experiences. Naturally, the focus was on one of her biggest experiences in Vancouver 2010, where her final shot in the extra end didn’t curl the way she’d expected and her team missed the gold by mere millimetres. “I really am a big believer in perspective and learning from losses,” Bernard said. “I told them the one quote – when I competed it hung on my mirror for years – and it said ‘I never lose, I either win or I learn.’ I honestly think if you can approach life that way and don’t have everything built around being an athlete or winning, but around the experience, the journey is pretty incredible.” Losses and failures, she said, are inevitable. It’s how one chooses to deal with them that builds resiliency and defines leadership. While athletes are recognized when...