Just Watch Me | with Lauren Spalding
People will tell you what’s realistic. They’ll size you up, dismiss your dreams, and tell you to aim lower. Lauren didn’t listen—and she made it to the Olympics. Maybe you don’t need to either.
“I was passionate about the ocean,” she says. “It was something from the inside out.”
That spark became a blaze. By age 13, Lauren was paddling at every opportunity—keiki practice, teen practice, open women’s. Not because she had to, but because she couldn’t stay away. It wasn’t about checking boxes or chasing approval. It was about the feeling. The movement. The challenge.
That inner compass didn’t waiver—even when life threw her off the beaten path.
Lauren Spalding (left) and her friend Ally (right) modeling for F2
At 18, Lauren was pregnant. “People would say, ‘Too bad, you could’ve really done something with your life.’” But she didn’t internalize their limits. She set her own. Watching the Sydney Olympics, something inside her clicked. “I’m going,” she told herself.
She wasn’t bluffing.
Months of grueling training followed. Lauren showed up at her first team trial in 2003 as a 22-year-old single mom from Hawaii. Not exactly who people expected to see. “They were like, ‘When you don’t make the team, you should check out Canada.’ I was like, uh-uh. I’m making it.”
And she did.
That determination carried her through every race, every sacrifice, every early morning and missed birthday. Three Pan American Games. The 2004 Olympics. Countless training camps, often weeks away from her daughter. And still, she showed up. Again and again.
Because when your fuel is purpose—not perfection—there is no quit.
Lauren’s story isn’t about being the fastest (though she is—seven of the fastest Molokaʻi to Oʻahu solo times belong to her). It’s about rising anyway. Despite doubt. Despite failure. Despite people telling you what’s “realistic.”
“I feel like I wrote the book on failure a little bit,” she laughs. “Teen mom, didn’t go to college… but I had that proud moment walking out of the Olympic ceremony. I heard my mom yelling my name, crying, jumping. I was like, cool. I made her proud.”
That’s what it’s about.
It’s not about proving the world wrong—it’s about proving yourself right.
People will always tell you how hard it’s going to be. And it will be. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. The challenge is part of the magic.
“The reason people say you can’t is because they’re afraid,” Lauren says. “But that ‘what-if’? That’s everything. That’s where you grow. That’s how you make it.”
So whatever your path—whether it’s a starting line in the ocean, a goal no one understands, or a dream you’re barely willing to admit to yourself—let Lauren’s story be a reminder:
You don’t have to fit the mold.
You don’t need permission.
You just need that fire from the inside out.
If you’re standing at the edge of something hard, something intimidating, something uncertain—lean in. Seek it out.
Because on the other side of hard isn’t just achievement.
It’s who you become because you didn’t back down.
Let the world say it’s too much.
You?
Go anyway.
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