Soccer Star Jess Carter Pinpoints When She 'Stopped Giving a Damn' About Pressure After She 'Started to Break'

NEED TO KNOW

• Jess Carter of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) opened up about her mental "switch" that transformed her view on career pressures as a professional athlete
• The soccer star transparently opened up on the topic in e.l.f. Cosmetics' latest Show Yourse. l.f. series
• Carter began her senior career at Birmingham City at the age of 16 to now a world-class defender for Gotham FC and the England's Lionesses

Jess Carter has a winning mindset.

The National Women's Soccer League star, 27, transparently recalled the moment she transformed her perspective on the pressures of winning as a professional athlete in the latest episode of e.l.f. Cosmetic's Show Yourse.l.f. series.

As the new face of the empowering show, Carter opened up about her unprecedented journey in the sport having gone from the only girl on an under-12 team to a world-class defender for Gotham FC and the England's Lionesses.

Carter recalled loving soccer from the start; however, she had to stop playing on the boys team at 12 years old. Fortunately, she had a coach who formed a girl's team so that she could continue playing the sport she enjoyed.

"He basically turned a bunch of princesses into bulldozers," she recalled, emphasizing, "That team was really the beginning of everything for me."

Upon beginning her senior career at Birmingham City at the age of 16 in March 2014, Carter came to learn the mental effects that resulted from playing the game professionally.

"When I went pro, I realized that if you're not winning trophies, then you're out. If you're not confident in who you are, then that much pressure will break you... and I started to break," she admitted.

With time, Carter learned to flip her mindset.

"It just got to a point where, I think I just stopped giving a damn," she said. "I needed to reframe everything. I loved football enough that I put all of that aside, like the pressure of winning, and I really committed to being my best self."

That was the "switch" that made her the player — and person — she is today, explaining how she's been able to "be me" this past year.

Carter credits her shift in mindset to allowing herself to open up "more versions of herself,' she says in the episode.

One of those versions is "experimenting" with makeup, having not been a fan when she was a kid. Now, the the newest face of e.l.f. Cosmetics' Show Yourse. l.f. series, says it allows her to "explore new parts of who I am."

"I feel better. I feel happier. I feel like I can show all the versions of myself," she continues. "I didn't have anyone before that looked like me that I could look up to, so now I could be that for other little girls."

She concludes, "I can be a princess... and a bulldozer."

Through this purpose-driven film series, e.l.f. Cosmetics spotlights role models who turn adversity into strength, just like Carter's story of overcoming obstacles while inspiring the next generation of athletes to dream big and conquer.

The new season of Show Yourse.l.f. is available to watch on e.l.f.'s YouTube channel.

Read the original article on People