Lauren Sesselmann competed at the highest level of women's soccer — representing Canada at the World Cup, winning an Olympic medal at the 2012 London Games, and playing professionally for years. From the outside, her career looked like everything an athlete could dream of.

But behind that career was a story most people never heard.

In this conversation, Lauren opens up about the mental and emotional toll of elite sports — from nearly walking away from professional soccer in her first three years, to a pivotal World Cup moment that pushed her into one of the darkest periods of her life. She talks openly about the depression and concussion-related challenges that forced her retirement, what it felt like to lose her identity when the game ended, and the long road back to finding purpose.

She also gets into what she is building now  ...