What if slowing down your progression isn't playing it safe — it's actually the most ambitious thing you can do?

River Mutton is an extreme whitewater world champion from New Zealand who does tricks over waterfalls, runs lines most paddlers only dream about, and deliberately keeps her progression slower than her skill level. In this conversation, Anna talks with River about the mental game behind big water performance — and what happened when a bad swim in familiar water shook everything she thought she knew about staying safe.

In this episode:

• How River reframes fear as hyper-focus rather than a stop sign

• Why she runs things well below her skill level, and what that looks like at world-champion level

• The swim that shook her confidence and the month she spent questioning why she paddles at all

• What going to Chile taught her about rediscovering joy on the water

• Making decisions from facts instead of fear stories

• What River and Anna discovered about self-criticism across generations of women paddlers

Whether you're working up to your first big drop or returning to the water after a setback, this conversation will shift how you think about fear, confidence, and what it really means to progress.

Listen now for inspiration on how to be confident in your process at your own pace.