Verified by Psychology Today

Connie Carpenter Phinney

About

Connie Carpenter Phinney is a former Olympic speed skater and cyclist who won the 1984 Olympics in cycling. She received her master’s degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder, where she studied exercise science; at UC Berkeley, she rowed on the crew and majored in physical education with an emphasis on exercise physiology. She is also the co-founder and a board member of the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s.

Recent Posts
Why Listening Is Vital to Caring
A care partner seeks guidance because she struggles to ask for help from friends. Simply being heard can help, but when you listen to yourself, you discover what you need.
Seeking Normalcy
Caregiving varies across diseases but a common thread may be our desire to keep, or somehow return to, normal life. We have to work at it.
Jenga and the Caregiver's Journey
Personal Perspective: Living with and caring for someone with a chronic degenerative disease can feel like a game of Jenga with falls being inevitable. How do we reset?
Optimism and Hope: A Care Partner's View
A Personal Perspective: Whether you are newly inserted into the role of care partner or are experiencing care partner fatigue, hope can be the most important verb to enjoy life.
5 Tips to Help Caregivers Help Themselves

I've been a care partner for more than 20 years. It's hard. Here are five tips from a recent care partner meetup to help you help yourself.

I've been a care partner for more than 20 years. It's hard. Here are five tips from a recent care partner meetup to help you help yourself.

Resilient Care Partnering

We recruited a pro to help coach care partners to build resilience. These are the five exceptionally helpful lessons I learned from our conversation.

We recruited a pro to help coach care partners to build resilience. These are the five exceptionally helpful lessons I learned from our conversation.

Clasped hands on the 1984 Olympic podium.
3 Lessons in Caring

Personal Perspective: Caring is hard work. These are my lessons from decades of being a caregiver for my husband and mother.

Personal Perspective: Caring is hard work. These are my lessons from decades of being a caregiver for my husband and mother.

Family circa 1958
Lessons in Caregiving

A Personal Perspective: Equanimity helps me find acceptance in my role as care partner. It's a trainable skill people can lean into in hard times.

A Personal Perspective: Equanimity helps me find acceptance in my role as care partner. It's a trainable skill people can lean into in hard times.

The author riding into the storm.
After the Diagnosis: An Elite Athlete Chooses Resolve

Personal Perspective: The diagnosis of a degenerative neurological disease is hard, but resolving to live well helped my family.

Personal Perspective: The diagnosis of a degenerative neurological disease is hard, but resolving to live well helped my family.

Taylor Phinney in full focus at the 2015 World Championships
The Power of Self-Talk

A Personal Perspective: Elite athletes rely on many tools to be successful, including self-talk. Here's how it can help in everyday life as well.

A Personal Perspective: Elite athletes rely on many tools to be successful, including self-talk. Here's how it can help in everyday life as well.