Connor Carrick is currently home in Chicago during the NHL pause. He discussed what the experience has been like for him and what he is focusing on during this time.
"It's unprecedented, something I've never experienced in my career, hope to never have to again. It's been a little bit of a holding pattern," said Carrick. "When we came home I wanted to be as healthy as possible, stay away from people, take care of our civil responsibility.
"Then really just been trying to maintain health. [I'm] proceeding as if it's, sort of like it's a summer program, in which you're able to sort of heal up a little bit from the travel, the long nights, and the hits from behind and all that," said Carrick. "It's a little bit of a holding pattern but it's a good test of professionalism, and really just enjoying the journey of it, with the goal being a little abstract as of now."
Carrick is a mental health advocate and on the podcast he discussed how he is using his platform to share about his mental health during this time.
"As a professional athlete you are a leader in your community," said Carrick. "[I'm] trying to let people see the ups and downs that I'm going through, discussing how I'm trying to navigate and interact with those emotions and different things that go through my head in a day, and then also trying to create more and more out of this fearful, 'what does this mean' zone of living for me and my loved ones."
On April 10th, Carrick launched his new podcast and he discussed why he wanted to start one and what listeners can expect.
"A lot of it was internal, deciding I really wanted to do this. Evaluating if I was ready to take on a new challenge in my life or if I was just bored," said Carrick. "My goal is to create as much positivity to make this podcast a tool for learning for our listener, in a way that I want to give what I've gotten out of my favorite podcasts."
"My goal is to talk with my guests and unearth some things that can be useful to my listeners some day."
Carrick also discussed taking away some of the structure from his life during the pause.
"To not make everything so structured the way the NHL is. It's been really rewarding, and interesting to learn about myself and as person and an athlete."
