GG 54 | Overcoming Fears

Valerie Clark: Racing Through Your Fears In A Male-Dominant Sport

GG 54 | Overcoming Fears

 

Everyone is afraid of something. Whether it is clowns or heights, fear is normal. But not so much for Valerie Clark. She does something that most women would be afraid to do. She’s 17 years old, and she races trucks. That sport alone would make most men afraid because of accidents and whatnot. Join your host, Karen Pulver, and the Goddesses as they talk to Valerie about her passion for racing. Learn how Valerie works through the fear and anxiety of the sport. Discover the different sports she enrolled in before truck racing. And find out how it feels to be a woman in a male-dominant sport. Cope with fear with the help of Valerie today. Read how her assertiveness, good role models, and ability to lean into fear have enabled her to enjoy all she loves.

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Valerie Clark: Racing Through Your Fears In A Male-Dominant Sport

Conquering Your Fears, Facing Fears, Overcoming Challenges

We are going to be talking about fear and overcoming your fear with our guest, Valerie Clark but I would first like to start asking our feature goddesses. Camille, what are you afraid of?

I’m going to sound ridiculous but clowns.

How long has that fear happened? Since you were a baby or what?

I didn’t see the movie It because everyone was like, “It’s probably from watching It. Watch it and you will be over it.” That made it worse. Not the Stephen King original one but the second one was the scariest horror film I have ever seen. I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know if I overheard about the serial killer that was a clown that killed kids or something at a young age and that made me scared of clowns.

Are you still afraid of clowns?

Yes, very much so.

Have you tried to conquer that fear?

I have because my daughter and I were looking at doing Gymboree but they had a huge clown on the floor of their mats. I was like, “There’s no way I’m doing this weekly.” I was already there on a play date like, “Let’s test out this new play for our toddler.” They could tell I was starting to sweat and felt uncomfortable. I was hoping that they wouldn’t have a real clown come through any minute. I have been at birthday parties where they pre-warned me they were going to have a clown but they asked them not to wear the white makeup and that didn’t scare me.

It’s something about the white makeup part of it all where they look just corpses. It doesn’t make any sense but it’s consistent. In college, I went to an all-girls college. We had communion. For whatever reason, they hired a praise group that was clowns. I had to get bread and wine from a clown. That was the most terrifying thing because you are inside of the church. I’m scared of them consistently. I don’t want to be around them. I’m not a fan.

Alyssa, how about you?

I thought about it. I don’t have any real phobias or illogical fears of things. My biggest fear, truthfully, deep down, is I’m afraid of getting sick. I’m getting older. We are coming out of a pandemic world. I’m afraid of getting sick in what I do. I have friends who have unfortunately go from one day to the next, getting some nudes and changed their life forever. That’s what I’m afraid of. Not quite but I have been healthy thus far. I’m also afraid of my own mental health declining.

I used to be afraid of heights but not anymore and flying. I would take medication for it. I would be totally stone-cold out of it. On a plane, I would be one of those vomiting. I get sweaty and anxious. The way I conquered it is I made that decision in my head, “Am I going to not go visit this person because I have to fly there?”

I would drive places but I decided, “No. I’m not going to let that stop me.” It was one of those leaps where, one time, I didn’t take my meds. I went on the plane. I was jittery but I breathed through it. I managed to get over it. There are times when there’s turbulence. I don’t bring the meds with me but it’s okay. Our guest is Valerie Clark. She is a manager and spec trophy truck driver for Unlimited Motorsports.

She prides herself in her newfound ability to conquer her fears, which she did not come by easily. Through many years of battling performance anxiety in various sports, she uses her faith to bring her to and through many battles. Now she’s doing big things in the motorsports industry, breaking the mold and aspiring to inspire young and old everywhere. Welcome, Valerie to the show. Tell us what are you afraid of?

I’m going to get a little more vid here. I have always been afraid of getting sick, hurt and dying. That’s been what I have been afraid of but that’s because I do crazy things like desert races, played Rugby, women’s wrestling and rode horses when I was a kid. That was always at the top of my list.

We have watched some of your videos of racing and you are incredibly inspiring. Can you share with us the types of races that you do? Educate us about the types of trucks that you race?

The only way you can get to the top is to have the courage to be assertive. Share on X

I raced a spec trophy truck. What it is, is a buggy cage, a metal cage with a fiberglass body that makes it look like a truck. It has a solid axle in the back, independent front suspension. It can go 80 miles an hour through 4-foot holes and on dirt, it can go 120 miles an hour.

You grew up riding horses, which is amazing and then you transitioned to racing trucks. How did that happen?

I rode horses when I was a kid because my grandma loved horses. She has always been in animals. She got me into it. In between that, I tried all different sorts of sports but I loved horses. It was very competitive. There were 20 to 30 girls and boys in my classes all around my region. I love that competitive spirit. I moved into Rugby and wrestling, which is another competitive thing that I like to do.

Interestingly, you mentioned the boys in some of the sports that you did as well because that leads right into Alyssa’s question.

With all the things you discussed, horse racing aside, these were sports and activities that you don’t necessarily think lots of women do. I would think that once you move from horse racing into these other things, you were maybe a little bit more in the minority gender-wise. I’m curious if you could talk a little bit about how you work in these male-dominated sports and this world of racing. How were women generally viewed and treated? Are they making inroads, no pun intended and progressing in these sports?

In horses, I did not race. I showed in an association called American Quarter Horse Association. That was mostly women. It was weird to go from a place where it was all women into Rugby. In Rugby, I was on an all-women team and then into wrestling. On the wrestling mat, there were fifteen girls. By the end of the year, it dwindled to 10 and then to 5. There were 70 sweaty boys in the room.

It was weird because they didn’t view me as someone who could be a varsity wrestler in the women’s sport. Even though I wasn’t going against them, they didn’t feel like I belong there. It wasn’t that. It was just that they weren’t used to a woman being there and assertive like that. Wrestling prepared me for desert racing. I was on the cover of the SCORE Racing journal.

You can see there were only four women on the front. There are 1 to 2 women in my class. I’m one of them and I’m the youngest. There’s probably twenty-ish overall per race, depending on how big it is. If you are a smart and fast racer, you are humble and can excel in the sport. The microscope is on the women. They don’t expect you to be there. I love representing the sport.

Camille has some questions for you, too.

I’m curious when you’ve first got started. I know from your bio that you went in your father’s footsteps. You had a lot of support in that sense but when you’ve got started, was there ever a time you felt that it was not only because you are a woman but also your age? You keep saying that you were the youngest in a lot of the different sports you competed in, did you ever feel like that was something that was used against you that you had to almost prove your point? It almost was like fuel for your fire in a way when people would doubt you?

Interestingly, you say that because I am also the team manager. I wrangle all of the mechanics, suppliers or sponsors. When I pick up the phone and you hear my little squeaky voice, people are like, “Who am I talking to?” It’s not expected. Sometimes it gets me in trouble because, not to say, people don’t want to listen to me but they don’t feel like they have to. It’s cool to show that I am in charge and that I can be in charge at such a young age. It’s taught me to be assertive.

Do you have any advice for other girls that may be in the same position as you on how to have that extra courage or even the thicker skin to handle all of that?

Be assertive simply. That’s going to take some reprogramming for a bunch of people because it’s not normal for a girl to be assertive or expected. You are going to get funny looks, laughed and pointed at but you’ve got to do it for your own good. The only way you can get to the top is if you dare to be assertive.

How did you get that way?

I would say from my mom. She’s very assertive. She speaks her mind a lot. Sometimes it gets her and me in trouble. We have no filter. My dad has always been a businessman. He’s very articulate and speaks very well. He has his own business. He has had to fight and prove himself a lot.

You have had very good role models. What roadblocks have you had? How have you conquered them? I read your article in the magazine. You pushed through the hard stuff literally and figuratively. How did you do that?

GG 54 | Overcoming Fears
Overcoming Fears: If you’re a smart racer and you’re humble, you can excel in the sport. The microscope is on the women because people don’t expect you to be there.

 

I’ve got a lot of crashes and one of my main roadblocks is figuring out how to be competitive and go fast but not going too fast to where I’m hurting myself and my co-driver. Finding that balance is hard. I have been working through that a lot. Before every race, it pops in my head. Before every time some people get in a car they are like, “What if this happens?” When you get on a plane, “What if this happens? What if the plane goes down?” That stuff always goes through my head. I’ve got to remain faithful in God that he’s got me, will get me through and keep me safe.

We noticed behind you when you first came on that you have a lot of daily affirmations. You have little sticky pads on your mirror. Can you tell us about that? We talk a lot on the show about your mind taking over and learning how to listen to that inner voice, whether you believe in God or whatever it is that you believe in, at least if you believe in yourself. Each day, you check that off your list. How does that help you?

Some are about fear. I came down with anxiety really bad. It has always been an underlying thing for me but it spiked for some reason. It wasn’t because of the pandemic. It was because I was more alone with my thoughts. My dad was at work because he owns his business. My mom was doing mom stuff.

I relied on my Bible. Some of the stuff that stood out to me, I would write down. Personally, I believe that the enemy, as in Satan in the Bible, is afraid of you becoming everything God wants you to be. However you take that, whether that’s an Atheist or Christian approach, there’s always someone blocking you that doesn’t want you to be who you want to be, who God or you, see you be. That’s one of the main Post-it notes I have up there that I love.

I have some silly ones. This one says, “My favorite exercise is jumping to conclusions.” I’m a teenager. That happens all the time. This one says, “Keep your heels, head and standards high.” It has a Bible verse on it, 1 Corinthians 6:20. I liked this one because my mom got it for me. This one I’ve got from my dad. It is the definition of an entrepreneur. That’s what he is and that’s what he wants me to be, self-sufficient, build my own life and do what I want to do with the money that I make.

Alyssa?

Speaking of that, what are your goals? Do you want to stay in the sport? You have done many things already. Where do you see stuff in years?

That has been another struggle for me. I want to stay in the sport for as long as possible. I want to be a Monster Energy or Red Bull sponsored racer, whoever comes along and continues the sport until I retire. That would be cool but there’s a flip side where it’s hard on my body. I may want to open my own dealership like my dad and then pick it up later on in life. There are two sides to it. I’m in the important stage of my life where I don’t know if I want to go to college right away, take a gap year, go to a trade school or learn to weld? There are lots of unknowns.

You don’t have to have it all figured out but it sounds like you’ve got some great plans. It sounds like your parents have been incredible role models and supportive of your journey thus far. As a parent, I have to ask, do they watch you race? I don’t know that I would be able to do that. How do they do that? You have been to crashing. They’ve got to be ten times more than your parents.

I feel like almost every time I crash, my mom is not at the race. I called her immediately to get that first initial emotion out. She usually a cry or I’m upset at myself. My mom and dad, one of them are usually there at a time. It is scary for them, especially for my dad because he has raced. He and I are split driving. We usually cut a race right down the middle. He does more than half and I do the other. It’s very scary because he wants the truck to get to him safe but he also wants me to get to him safe.

Your mom can’t miss your race because if she’s there, then nothing bad happened.

In this race, she came. She and I split instead of my dad and I split. She crashed this time.

Camille?

I have to ask. A lot of times, athletes, especially when you play such demanding physical jobs, you end up getting injured. After that injury, you may be like, “I’m never doing this again.” I wonder for you, how do you get past those injuries and also the anxiety you said of the fear? Other than God, I know there has to be maybe a ritual or something you do to prepare yourself. Is there any of that?

The main thing that I would prepare myself for is my AirPods. I usually listen to music before I get in the truck at all, do my power walk past the truck pacing back and forth. I probably look goofy. I’m dancing but that’s usually what I do before I get in the truck. I do get hurt a lot. Whenever I crash, you would expect it to be a lot worse.

My worst injuries have usually been from one I’m the most anxious and I don’t crash, which is weird. I will crash. I will usually have a bruise on my hip, where the harnesses hit me and on my shins if I didn’t hold my feet down while we were going over. My worst injury was probably when I was in the passenger seat co-driving my dad.

The enemy is afraid of you becoming everything God wants you to be. Share on X

I was holding onto my belts because the belts come down like a car seat over my shoulders, hips and in between my legs. I was holding on to them so tight because I was so scared. I separated my ribs from my sternum. It was one of the worst pains I have ever had because in every bump I could feel on separating. That shows how connected your mind and body are. If you are not riding your mind, you can hurt yourself.

Have you got back up the next day or got back on the horse right away?

After that injury, I didn’t get right back on the horse. I was going to quit racing right after. I was done. I did not want to do it anymore. I was in a relationship with some guy. He wasn’t being mean or anything but it was one of those things where I was like, “I don’t want to get hurt because I don’t want to hurt him.”

I was going to quit. I was done. I’ve got hurt and that was the final straw. That was May-ish of 2020. Then we’ve got the truck for the first time in August of 2020. I hopped in the truck. I did not want to. My dad was like, “Just get in. Please drive.” I did it and here we are. I’m on the cover of magazines on this. It has been crazy ever since.

You have been on The Human Baton. Can you talk to us about that?

That was a cool opportunity. I’ve got the chance to be on a proof of concept for a show called The Human Baton. It’s 6 legs in 1 race. There are six different sports. There’s one co-driver that goes in between the six sports while they are with an expert like me where I’m driving the car. They are next to me and navigating me.

If I have a flat, they will get out, change the tire and take them from one leg to the next leg. With COVID, I took them from the beginning of the race to the start of the race and then they will start the next part of the race in another state. It was a cool opportunity. I brought my team from last place to second place. I was on Team IBR.US.

Your team is all women. Can you tell us about the different teams?

In the proof of concept, there were only three teams but how they want to do it whenever the show comes out and live is they want to have 15, 20 or 30 teams where each team has its own sponsor and own theme. At this race, there were three teams. I don’t remember what the first team’s theme was but my team was all women. Our sponsor would have been a woman. I was a woman. The co-driver was a woman, the Baton. The third team, they were all veterans. Every single one of them was a veteran that served at some point in their life.

It’s a very cool concept. We can’t wait to see when it comes out. That’s exciting for you. You also mentioned when you were younger that you were a tomboy. What was that like growing up?

Ever since I was little, I never played with dolls. I didn’t do anything girly other than watch iCarly. I was always into something. I played in the dirt. I rode motorcycles. I never raced. I just rode with my dad now and again. We always had some things that I could drive, whether it was one of those battery-powered cars from Walmart or cheap-made buggies, which I could go 10 miles an hour. We had UTVs and Razors all the way up until trophy trucks.

Races are expensive from what I have learned. How do you go about getting sponsors for your trucks since you are the one that handles everything? Do you ever get where people are like, “You are too young? I don’t want to spend that money on you?” It’s expensive. I have heard up to $100,000 for NASCAR. I don’t know what it is for trucks. How do you go about handling that or doing the business side of racing?

I’m in the thick of trying to get other sponsors. My dad is my sponsor. He owns Unlimited RV. We had a good year because nobody wanted to stay in hotels. Everyone was outside. It was crazy. He was like, “I don’t think there’s ever going to be a time where we are going to be able to buy a trophy truck. Let’s just go ahead and do it.” We did.

I have more of a resume. I’m meeting with not executives but graphic designers and networking people. I’m making a deck. What you usually have, is a deck. It tells people who I am in a nutshell like, “I’m seventeen years old. I have raced these races. This is my highest finish. This is my analytics on social media because that’s their main money-making source. If you want to sponsor me, here are some sample sponsorships. This sticker is this much. If you want to be a title sponsor and pay for everything, that’s this much.”

It is very expensive. We were talking with my dad that if someone wanted to sponsor one race day, it would be $25,000 to $30,000. That’s how much it costs to travel down to Mexico and get the whole team down there because we usually have a team of 10 to 20. We are paying for their hotel, food and entry fee for a week, getting the truck ready, paying everyone for their time, gas and everything. It’s a very expensive sport but because I am a woman and young, the microscope is on me. They liked that people are looking me up all the time.

They liked that I’m a girl and no one else is a girl in my class other than one older lady. The microscope is also on her. It’s cool. You get the competitive spirit of the young men versus me. I have a friend. He and I are always texting back and forth. It’s cool to see how people are interested in younger people and younger women.

GG 54 | Overcoming Fears
Overcoming Fears: If you’re a girl in a male-dominant sport like truck racing, sponsorships will come. The microscope is going to be on you, and people are going to look up to you.

 

It’s cool to have that flip off in the sense that instead of it being held against you, it’s a positive I’m glad that you are having great success with that.

Do other races take place in Mexico, in Baja?

There are many different associations. SCORE is what it stands for. That was the magazine cover that I showed you. SCORE stands for Southern California Off-Road Enthusiasts. There’s SNORE, which is Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts. There’s Legacy Racing Association. They all are in different places.

SNORE is in Nevada. SCORE is in Baja. There’s Best in the desert, which is all over the West, Arizona, California, Nevada. It depends. Each association has different levels to it and different types of competition that it attracts but I mainly race SCORE. We then pick and choose from a couple of other associations.

We talk about on the show tapping into those qualities that are inside of us. It seems that you are the ultimate racing goddess. We want to know, how did you gain the momentum and confidence to do that? You seem extremely confident at such a young age. You are our youngest goddess, by the way. We love this because it’s demonstrating to women out there. If you are reading and you are young under twenty, you have this now. Sometimes we encounter women that don’t get it until their 50s or 60s. How did you get this tap into that so young?

I’ve got very lucky with the role models that I have in my life. I have more of an advantage. I wish more people had great people in their life. Lean into something that you love and that makes you feel loved. That’s why I bring up the Bible so much. That’s how I personally feel loved, validated and valued. Some people find that in a community like with you. Some people find that in sports. Everyone has to find what they feel good at and what makes them feel valued. I found that in racing and my religion.

What an inspiration. You started our day off such a great starting point. You are going to encourage people to get to that finish line however they do it. It sounds like you leap into it but if you need little baby steps to get there, that’s fine. No fear is irrational. Whatever it is that you fear out there, look at Natalie in how she conquers through it. We appreciate you joining us on the show. Thank you so much for coming.

As a woman and going through your monthly period, for example, I’m curious, when you are racing, if you are cramping and stuff, how do you do that? Sometimes that might be something stopping women like, “I’m cramping. What if I can’t have babies after?” For men, they don’t think about that. I’m curious about that if that impacts your racing.

I don’t care if this gets put in at all. I don’t know-how. I have been racing consistently for years. I have never had my period during a race. I have my period. I’m not on birth control or anything like that but if you do, I know my mom has been on her period, “You wear a diaper. That’s what you do. If you have to go to the restroom while you are racing, you pee in a diaper.” There have been times when I have been wearing one and I have crashed. I had to spend the night in the desert. I had no change of clothes. You take it off. That’s what you do. If you are on your period, then you use paper towels.

There’s nothing wrong with wearing a diaper. Alyssa and Camille, when I was driving to Canada for ten hours, I wore a diaper because I was so nervous about sneezing and peeing in my pants.

Valerie, how long is a typical race? You want to be in the first place but let’s say you are the average racer in an average race. How long does it take?

The main quantities for miles in a race are 250, 500, 750, 1,000 and 250 in my family’s truck is 5 to 6 hours, 500 is 10 to 12 hours. The 1,000 will take a whole day. Some people Ironman it. Start to finish, don’t get out of the truck. There have been boys and girls that have done that. There’s one girl, her name is Sarah Price. If you could interview her, she is cool. She Ironwoman it and ended the whole thing without getting out. Her co-driver was also a woman, 4’11” or 5’2”. She’s carrying her out.

Did she say the races are the whole day?

They can be.

Where do you eat? How do you eat? Just do drink stuff or you don’t?

We have a CamelBak. Some people have big drinker tanks underneath their seats. They use a windshield washer fluid pump and it pumps the water into their helmet. It depends. A lot of people love different things. Some people just have water bottles. They tip their helmet down and they pour it in their mouth from the water bottle. It depends on the person. I like to eat before a little bit and then you get snacks throughout. Some people use five-hour energy to keep them going. Some people use energy drinks. Some people don’t do anything.

Lean into something that you love, and that makes you feel loved. Share on X

I know people that don’t eat at all during a race, whether it’s six hours or one day.

You have to be committed to the sport all around?

Yes.

The whole time it’s like, “No food all day.” There are so much adrenaline and calories you are using as well. With racing, I know you have to work out a lot to be able to handle the steering wheel. I’m amazed at all of this.

That’s why you wear the diaper too, than go to the bathroom.

The bathroom is in the desert.

The diaper thing is usually one and done. You get one chance. If you hold it and do it at the end or do it right in the beginning.

Things too, like women’s period panties.

I don’t think that this is a well-known thing. This needs to be out there.

My husband works as a UPS driver. I had no idea that they have to use water bottles to go to the restroom. One day I’m like, “What do the women do?” A lot of people wouldn’t let them in to use the restroom during COVID in the pandemic and so on. They don’t put in bathroom breaks. They just get a lunch break.

You get the big belt.

You use the little go girl thing. You use the funnel.

Think about the Dumb and Dumber scene, “As long as you never confuse it for Gatorade, that’s good.”

This conversation is getting a little hairy but inquiring minds want to know. These are the questions that don’t get asked. These are the personal type of things but if you can’t do these things during a race, how are you going to race? What were you going to show us a picture of?

Whenever I was talking about that girl that’s 4’11” or 5’2”, she’s short. This is how big the tires are. That’s my nine-year-old sister, who’s 4’6” sitting on top of them. That’s half of them right there.

Do your siblings race?

GG 54 | Overcoming Fears
Overcoming Fears: Rational fear is not grounded on experience. You can always overcome it because it is logical and rational.

 

My sister wants to race really bad but near us, there are many races and we are out West a lot doing my dad and I’s races. It’s hard to find in between. I want her to race. She has a 170 Razor, of which 170 is the engine displacement. How big it is? It basically has a lawnmower engine in it. It’s pretty short but I wanted to race those because those little kids get it. They are going fast. They are jumping like 5 feet in the air in these little lawnmower engine cars. She has no fear. She would be good at it.

When you were fourteen, you were racing but I don’t know if they disqualified you or something. They wouldn’t let you do it because you were too young.

I’ve got fifth place. My dad posted about me getting fifth place, on Facebook. The dude who’s got sixth place saw the post about me being fourteen getting a fifth place. He reported me and got me disqualified. You are supposed to be 15.5 with a permit and I was fourteen. We are breaking the rules.

He was so jealous. We can’t let that stop it.

A fourteen-year-old girl beat him.

Welcome everyone to Favorite Things with our guest Valerie Clark. Valerie, we are going to let you start. What is one of your favorite things?

I have three of my favorite things to do with me. We’ve got a new puppy. He is a pug and his name is Dude. I have my Bullmastiff. He’s Duncan. I have my other dog Benny and he’s a boy. I don’t know if he’s going to let me pick him up.

You are in the good company of dog lovers here. We all have dogs. Have you always had a dog growing up?

I have had a dog since I was four. That’s Benny. He’s my first dog ever and he’s still here.

They make you feel happy every day. Did they come to the races to cheer you on?

They do not. Benny is too fat to come. He will overheat because it’s 100 degrees there and Duncan’s too big. I can’t bring him on a plane. Dude, since he has a smashed nose, he can’t come either because he will get hot but I wish they could.

Thank you for sharing that. Alyssa, what did you bring?

I have a couple of products. I have been decided to overhaul all of my skincare lotions. I go to very basic clean, few ingredients. I buy stuff for my son’s dog. I’m always looking at every ingredient and making sure I’m going to give him the best stuff. We should have good stuff, too. I have been using stuff from a pharmacy that has one million different products but they are all very natural.

There are three ingredients in this whole thing. It’s a hand cream called Raw Shea Butter. What I liked about it was the woman at the pharmacy told me that it’s age-defying. I said, “Is it really age-defying?” As we get older, our hands get wrinkly, too. She promised me it was. I have been trying it. I don’t know if I see a difference yet.

The second one is oil. I’m reading a lot about body oils, face oils and very few ingredients. This one is very few and this is a Dr. Hauschka oil. It’s Rose Body Oil. I love the smell of roses. It’s not very heavy and scented. I’ve got rid of all my fancy moisturizers that cost way too much money and had too many ingredients that I didn’t know where they were coming from. I’m using this stuff. My third thing because I have many favorite things, I’m going to plug for season two because of how much I love Ted Lasso. It’s back. I love it. It was like a family event watching the first episode of the second season.

Valerie, you don’t have to worry about hand cream and wrinkly hands yet.

You wore gloves as part of everything.

Reach the finish line even if it takes little baby steps to get there. Share on X

I do wear gloves.

You could put some hand cream inside in the gloves. Your hands will be so soft after the race.

I will be exfoliated from the sun.

Camille, what did you bring?

I love journaling. Everything I do, I write it down. It doesn’t happen if I didn’t write it down. In different Zooms I go to, I will take notes or thinking different things for the day. Even sometimes, when I’m on the phone with my girlfriends, I will start taking notes with it or even doodling. Journaling is my thing. It’s hilarious that this is called Wolfwalkers with all the dogs that you were showing. This is from the original film, which was good. Journaling would be my favorite thing.

Here is mine. This is a cutout of my husband. The reason why I brought him along is for a few reasons. I am scared of this cutout. I’m not scared of my husband but this was made for him for a birthday. We keep it upstairs here. Every single time I walk up the stairs, even though I know it’s here, I get scared, especially if I come up, I forget something up here and the lights are out.

Camille, it’s like a clown. I brought this along because my husband does help me conquer a lot of my fears. In fact, when we were in Thailand dating before we were married, there was a fortune teller that said that I’m the fish in the fishbowl, very comfortable. Everything is the same every day. My husband is the fish in the ocean. Always adventurous, always conquering fears. He is in my life to help me get out of the fishbowl. I remember that.

This little tiger here gets me out of the fishbowl because he encourages me to face my fears. I feel like we need people like that in our lives that can boost us up and help us. I love to put all four of them together. Let me get some help here. How about we go on a day with Mr. Tiger? He will journal first, put some hand cream on and go walk the dogs.

The words of the very wise Ted Lasso, we should all be goldfish because, like you and your fishbowl, it’s not a bad thing. Goldfish have the shortest memory. It’s like a ten-second memory. It’s because of that, it encourages all of those people around him where you move on, put the past in the past and move forward. That’s what life is and, “Onward forward,” is the mantra.

Thank you again, Valerie. We are so excited to watch your success moving forward. You are already doing such amazing things but please join us again when you are even further along in your path. Don’t forget us.

I won’t forget it all.

Thank you so much for joining us on the show.

Thank you.

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About Valarie Clark

GG 54 | Overcoming FearsValerie Clark is a 17-year-old team manager and spec trophy truck driver for Unlimited Motorsports. She prides herself in her newfound ability to conquer her fears, which she did NOT come by easily. Through many years of battling performance anxiety in various sports, she uses her faith to bring her to and through many battles. Now she is doing big things in the motorsports industry and breaking the mold and aspiring to inspire young and old everywhere!