Jason Brown: To My Younger Self

When Jason Brown returned to competitive skating for the first time following the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, part of the excitement for him was competing with the next generation of athletes.

"I'm really excited about this next generation of skaters coming up and I want to support them in any way that I can and I am really am eager to cheer them on," Brown said in January at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, California.

As the two-time Olympian and five-time World competitor gets ready to skate another season, Brown looked back at his career, which has spanned more than two decades, and imparted some of the advice and wisdom he would share both with his younger self, as well as the next generation of skaters.

For more on Brown and how he's carved his own path in this return to the ice, check out the cover story in SKATING magazine. You can also watch Jason Brown talk about three of his favorite programs here.
 
Prioritize Your Successes, Not Your Failures
One of the things I think is so funny and I do all the time is with things you accomplish, you celebrate in the moment and the next day you wake up and you're determined to set the next goal. But then when you have a rough skate or have a bad day, you dwell on it. And you wake up the next day and you dwell on it. And you dwell on it. So I think a huge thing is take those victories and treat the failures the same way. In fact, sometimes it should actually be the opposite. If you fail, move on the next day and when you succeed, celebrate that longer. But it's always, you succeed and you're like, "Well, I should've because I worked so hard." You've trained those programs, so you expect that's what I should do at competitions. So then when it happens, you're like, "Yes I did it!" And you wake up the next day and you're like, "OK, I want to do more. I want to figure out something else." For me, I have struggled with the opposite and harping on yourself in those situations.
 
Be Yourself
We're very fortunate to be involved in a sport that integrates music and self-expression, so use it. I think for so many years, you're afraid to express yourself. I had a lot of vulnerabilities of like, "What will people think if I did something that was purely what I wanted to do?" Remember to skate to pieces of music that move you. What's so special about our sport is that everyone is so uniquely themselves and what they bring to the ice is something different that no one else can bring. You can have 10 people skate to the same piece of music and every single program will look very different, but we sometimes get wrapped up in, what is the look that we're all trying to go for? The whole point of our sport is self-expression – that it's art and that you're blending artistry and athleticism and you're creating a performance. So I hope for future generations, and I wish I could've told myself, skate to music that moves you. You won't regret that. You won't ever question it at the end of the year whether it was the right or wrong choice.
 
Every Person Has a Story, So Write Your Own Narrative
Another big one is that whole comparison game. I think we all fall victim to it, but every single person has a different path. I think sometimes we can look at someone else's path for guidance and for inspiration and to be like, "Wow, they were able to do it and it looked like this," but never, ever fall victim to thinking that's the way they did it so that's the way I need to do it, or that's the way they didn't do it so then I can't do it that way. To write your own story is probably the biggest piece of advice I could give. Create your own path. Write your own story. Write your own narrative. You have control over the story, and you can rewrite it the next day. You can keep creating your own path and I think that's so insanely crucial that I wish I had known that at a young age. [When you're looking at other people], you can learn and you can aspire and use the inspiration to be a better version of yourself and learn from their path, but that doesn't mean that their path is your path, or that it should be. I think so often people get so defeated, and I've gotten so defeated because I felt like, "Well if I can't keep up with that narrative or that direction, then there isn't a spot for me in the sport, or there's no hope for me moving forward or nobody's going to care about the program I bring forth." You start to compare in a way that's destructive versus helpful. I think that perfect balance is being able to be in a position where you can learn from people and aspire to be like them and be inspired by them, but not compare yourself where you start to be like, "Well they're here and I'm there."
 
Stay In the Moment
You can only move forward. Sometimes we feel like we aren't getting better. I always think about injuries. You can get injured and, yeah, that happens. It might be a setback, but the next day, you're like, "How do I move forward? What can I do next? What's the next process to healing?" People can get so defeated in those moments, but the next day is a new day. Yeah, that moment hit, whether it's great or it sucks, but you keep taking those next steps moving forward. If you fall, you get up. It's about the next thing you do. It's not about what just happened. What are you going to do next? How are you going to stay present to do the next thing? I won Nationals and then the next year I was injured, and I didn't even get to compete at the Championships. Some people can look at that like he's falling behind. I looked at it like I was falling behind. But I should have looked at it like, "OK today's the next day. I'm setting a next goal." [I needed] to have that mentality that I'm going to keep getting back up and creating my own path – keep moving forward.