From Burnout to Joy: What Olympic Skater Alysa Liu Teaches Us About Balance

Ice skates on a icy pond.

During the last two weeks in February, I found myself swept up—like much of the world—in Winter Olympic fever. I’m not typically a big sports fan. I enjoy attending games in person, but I’m not one to regularly tune in to watch a favorite team. The Olympics, however, are different for me.

The chance to watch sports I don’t often see—like curling or halfpipe skiing—drew me in night after night. But this year it wasn’t just the competition that captivated me. I was deeply moved by the stories of the athletes themselves: the injuries they overcame, the setbacks and adversity they faced, and the countless hours they spent training to reach the highest level in their sport. I found myself cheering for athletes from every country because each story was so compelling.

One story, in particular, stayed with me as I reflected on the games. Alysa Liu is a figure skater from Oakland, California, who was known as a skating prodigy by the age of 16. Yet shortly after competing in the Beijing Olympics, she made the surprising decision to retire from skating. She was burned out, exhausted, and no longer finding joy in the sport she had once loved. Her mental health was suffering, and at just 16 years old, she had the self-awareness and courage to step away and focus on healing.

Two years ago, she chose to return to skating—but this time on her own terms. She decided she would train when she wanted, spend time with friends, and allow space in her life for balance. Skating would be part of her life, not the entirety of it.

Watching her perform on the ice in Milan was magnetic. There was a visible joy in her skating, a sense that she was sharing her love of the sport with the audience rather than performing under pressure. Her new approach brought a lightness and strength to her skating—an ease that reflected a confident young woman comfortable in her own skin.

What struck me most was that she had accomplished something many of us spend years trying to learn: she found balance. Instead of fitting her life around skating, she fit skating into her life. And in doing so, she reminded the world how powerful it can be to pursue something simply for the joy of it.

Watching her story unfold made me pause and reflect on how often we, as women, push ourselves past the point of joy. So many of us move through life believing that success requires constant effort, sacrifice, and perfection. We fill our calendars, meet expectations, and keep going—even when our bodies and minds begin to whisper that something isn’t quite right.

What struck me most about Alysa Liu’s story was not just her talent, but her willingness to listen to those whispers early. She stepped away when she needed to heal, and when she returned, she created a new relationship with the thing she loved. One that allowed space for joy, friendship, nourishment, and balance.

In many ways, midlife asks the same of us. It invites us to reconsider how we are living and to ask whether the pace, expectations, and pressures we carry are truly serving us. It asks us to redefine success—not as doing more, but as living in a way that feels aligned, sustainable, and deeply nourishing.

Like Alysa, we have the opportunity to rewrite the terms. To build lives where our work, health, relationships, and passions fit into a whole life rather than consuming it.

And sometimes the most powerful shift we can make is remembering why we began in the first place—reconnecting with the simple joy of doing something because it lights us up.