Weeks after competing at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Alysa Liu announced her retirement from competitive figure skating.

At age 16, she was miserable: Competitive skating felt like something she had to do, she says. She rarely took days off, fearful that time away from her rink in Lakewood, California, would make it harder to land her most difficult jumps. At the peak of her burnout before the Olympics, Liu skipped workouts and stayed up late before practices just "to make time pass slower," she says.

She didn't lace up her skates again until December 2023, when she realized she missed the adrenaline rush of skating. She attended a practice session, and even after 18 months off, could still land some impressive jumps, she told NBC Sports on March 29.

Liu decided to give competition another shot — this time, helping choreograph routines to music she actually liked, rather than skating more traditional classical music. Instead of aiming for perfection, particularly after years away from the ice, she tried only to entertain the audience, she says.

She qualified for the U.S. national championships, and then the world championships, where she unexpectedly won gold in March.

"I always want to skate [perfect] programs, but I don't set that as an expectation for myself," Liu says. "In my mind, that's the goal, not the bare minimum ... I'm happy with however I do."

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Pursuing fun instead of perfection came with intrinsic rewards too: Liu sleeps better, enjoys practices more and, now that she's older, she can drive herself to and from the rink whenever she wants, she says.

"[Skating now] is all freedom, and because it's what I want to do, I make sure I set myself up for success," says Liu.

Not everyone can win a sporting world championship, but prioritizing wellbeing over your career goals is generally considered to be a healthy practice, experts say. People who focus on on internal aspirations like health and relationships are typically happier than those who pursue fame, wealth or beauty, according to a 2022 meta-analysis from researchers at Australian Catholic University.

People who find small ways to make everyday feel enjoyable, rather than staking all their self-worth on their ambitions, have fewer regrets when they die, hospice doctor Jordan Grumet wrote for CNBC Make It on April 4.

"[Having a] goal-oriented type of purpose often depends on an all-or-nothing equation. You either succeed or you don't," wrote Grumet. "The other problem is that any satisfaction that comes with this toxic type of purpose is fleeting. The newness of a major accomplishment is only felt once, and excitement about attaining it is quickly replaced by endless worry over its loss."

The shift in Liu's outlook showed in her performances. At the world championships, she skated one event in a glittering gold dress, with her dark hair no longer slicked back into a bun. Instead, it was loosely tied back into a ponytail that bounced rhythmically to Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park," a song about the end of a love affair.

After she finished her program and saw her first-place scores, her longtime coach Philip DiGuglielmo leaned over and asked, "Did you have fun?" Sports Illustrated reported on March 29.

She grinned and replied, "Yeah."

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