If you’re anything like us, at the age of 19 we were just starting to define our dreams. Kelly Clark, however, was living hers. An Olympic gold medal winner before she was even a legal adult, Kelly has now racked up four gold medals in snowboarding and established a legacy of greatness in just over a decade. She’s also the mastermind behind The Kelly Clark Foundation, which was established in 2010 to give kids both the resources and opportunities they need to achieve their highest potential through snowboarding. Kelly knows that even one singular opportunity to follow your dreams can lead to the kind of success that surpasses expectations – as a teen, the opportunity to attend Mount Snow Academy up in Vermont was what allowed her to fuel her passion and make her dreams a reality.

Why are we chatting with an Olympic snowboarder in the middle of the summer, you ask? Because Kelly is living, breathing, smiling proof that a healthy, happy, winning life is built in the “off season.” For athletes, that means the time of year when it’s not showtime and the final goal is months away. For the rest of us, it means the quiet moments – the ones in which we have a choice to sit back and press snooze or actively work towards that reward we know will be so sweet.

Take a few of Kelly’s healthy living tips, tricks, and favorite things and try incorporating them into your own lifestyle this summer and beyond. Turns out, the journey is what ends up defining us, not the destination.