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The first time I spoke with Natasha Hastings was in April of this year.
Courtesy of Natasha Hastings/Lisa Moses
Back then, she said this summertheOlympic trials, and hopefully theTokyo Gameswould be her final lap.
Im ready for the next chapter, the two-time track-and-field gold medalist told me.
I have done this long enough.
Ill be 35 this summer.
Im ready to move on and watch from the stands now.
I was very, very sure that this would be my final lap, Hastings tells SELF.
Now Im kind of like, I dont know.
But Im also not feeling a rush to make the decision.
Im sure whatever decision I make, Im going to be sure of it.
Hastings says she will continue competing in the meets she already had planned for this summer.
In the fall shell reassess how she feels about the future of her athletic career.
Am I emotionally able to do this again, and am I physically able to do this again?
That all being said, she certainly doesnt need an elite track career to keep her busy.
In fact, maybe better than ever before.
Hastings did not make the Olympic team in 2012; she did in 2008 and 2016.
Im able to walk away from it, Hastings says.
I think a lot of it rests in knowing that there was nothing else I could do.
On that day, I did the best I could with what I had.
Hastings attributes much of her personal growth totherapy, which she started in 2020.
Its weird to me that Im in that space, she says of her self-acceptance.
Im like, Who are you?
One of my overarching themes intherapyor the thing that I constantly ask for or have been seeking foris peace.
Its kind of interesting, but I like it.
Im really focused on being a mom, finding new love.
Put that in theremaybe my future husband might read the article.
Most of my free time is after my son goes to bed at night.
Ill take being tired so that I can have a little bit of free time.
Also, I am a single mom.
We alternate weekends with his dad.
So when I have those weekends off, I try my best to make use of it for myself.
Whether its just going for a drive or gardeningIvepicked up gardening in the pandemic.
My son is a pretty good sleeper.
He does sleep through the night.
We have some off nights here and there.
But for the most part, hes pretty good at night.
The first thing I do when my son is asleep is pull up YouTube.
Lately I find I am more of a YouTuber than a watcher of actual TV.
I also love murder, likeSnapped.
And last week was Serial Killer Week on one of the stations.
I get into those types of things.
When he goes down and I crawl in bed, I dont have the brain capacity to do work.
So Ive had to learn tonotdedicate that time to getting the work donebecause its not going to happen.
Its truly my YouTube/TV time.
I was disappointed in Atlanta this season.
So I have to be forgiving of that.
Now I watch the New JerseyHousewives.
Im super excited for Beverly Hills to come back.
Im dying to hear Erika Jayne’s story.
I was really into Tyler PerrysSistason BET.
I go back and forth between using two skin-care lines.
I use Fre Skincare, which is a skin-care line thats formulated for athletic skin, orskin that sweats.
I also use another brand called Sei Bella.
I especially like their nighttime cream because its super thick and moisturizing.
Then, when I get home from training, there really is no downtime.
Im busy being a mom and then getting homework done and responding to emails.
Literally, I probably make it through one or two episodes of TV and Im out.
So Im boring in that sense.
I just go straight to sleep after getting that show in.
I sometimes fall asleep in my Normatec boots.
I love my Hypervolt gun and their vibrating roller.
Im obsessed with thoseproducts.
Sometimes if Im just watching TV, Illroll outwith the roller.
The gun I use more at practice than at home.
Depending on my race time, I might not even attempt to adjust.
So sometimes its more beneficial to just stay on your home time schedule.
It took me a couple of years to figure it out.
You do your best to coordinate with your agent and your crew to arrive in a timely manner.
But once youre there, its like, Okay, these are the cards Im dealt.
Let me do the best that I can with what I have.
I think in those three months hed been to seven or eight states.
I got him a little scratch-off map to show him where hes been.
At that point, he was up every two or three hours because he was exclusively breastfed.
Were stillbreastfeedingnow, actually.
But that was tricky.
I remember the first trip that we took, he cried the second night for four hours straight.
The doctor was just like, Oh, you guys traveled?
Yeah, hes stressed out.
Its interesting because most people assume theyre just babies and theyll adapt.
But theyre actually little human beings and theyre completely dependent on their caretakers.
So any little thing that throws them off their equilibrium is a tough adjustment for them.
Im in counselingthats a big part of my self-care.
I see my counselor every Tuesday at 3 p.m.
I have this running joke: Dont put anything on my calendar for Tuesday at 3thats nonnegotiable.
I started seeing her in January 2020.
Then I thought about how I really searched hard tofind a Black, female therapist.
Ive always said that I dont want to coach, but I love the mind game of it.
My career turned around when I started seeing a sports psychologist.
So thats how it played out.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
