Open Heart, Open Mind by Clara Hughes

from goodreads

4 stars

Well yesterday there was a minor Christmas miracle. I actually started feeling a tiny bit Christmassy and got out some of our decorations. So we finally have a nativity scene out (it is a Veggie Tales one, I feel sort of sacrilegious) and our stockings.

The kids kept wanting to put more and more out but I squashed those ambitions. Usually we have decorations in our bay window. But our tree is in front of the window and is so big that you really can't get to the shelf part or see it. We'll save those for next year, when hopefully, we will get a smaller tree!

Synopsis

One of Canada's best known athletes, most decorated olympian in both summer and winter olympics, opens up about the demons of her past, the demons she still faces, how sport helped her but also hindered her as well.

My Thoughts

This was a great, fast read about a Canadian celebrity.

It is amazing, the success she has found, considering she didn't find sport until late, by most standards. As well, it is amazing the early success she had considering the booze and drugged filled life she had as a teenager.

I think she did a great job of balancing her life stories and her sport stories. The balance helped maintain interest. For me nothing is worse than a book purely about just sports things, the games they played and training they did. While an important element, I like learning about the actual person, how they think, and feel. I felt that I actually got to know Clara the person, instead of learning about all her stats and awards.

I like how she doesn't always try to show herself in a positive light. She shows us times when she didn't act well, when things didn't go the way she planned. It was interesting how she had her on stigma against mental illness (she refused to believe she had depression when first asked about it) and now she is the spokeswoman for mental illness awareness and is working hard to remove the stigma.

I appreciated how she showed her relationship with her husband in a real light. She shows their highs and their lows. They seem really cool and suit each other and that is awesome. By the way, their wedding, totally awesome. It should be an inspiration to all those getting married.

While not a deep memoir, it still shed light on her life, dark times, good times, self-discovery and how sport literally saved her life. This memoir definitely helped make Clara a whole person and not just a memorable smile.