By Danielle Hill's own admission, opening up is not her "forte" but it's been the most impactful preparatory tool that has got her going into Paris 2024 with a positive mindset.
The Co Antrim swimmer went to Tokyo three years ago but the next couple of years had proven to be a difficult time as she grappled with her form in the pool, which came to a head with a struggle at last year's World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka.
"Tokyo was special because obviously it was my first Games and that can never be taken away but this time around it means a little more because I've had a rough couple of years - from Tokyo you could say," she told RTÉ Sport as Team Ireland's swimmers gathered together in Blanchardstown before they set out for Paris.
Daniel Wiffen, Mona McSharry, Danielle Hill, Conor Ferguson and Max McCusker have all been speaking about the highs and lows on the road to Paris 2024 and what awaits them at the Olympics:
"Especially this year I didn't even want to start the year, I didn't want to come back to swimming. So to be standing here, (I'm) proud of what I and what the team behind me has achieved."
Prying open the doors to the inner turmoil was aided immeasurably by the oil on the hinges provided by talking with sports psychologist and former London 2012 Olympian Jessie Barr.
"I brought someone on board to help me talk about it and I had to reach out. Talking is not my forte but it was either that or walking away from the sport," she admitted, adding that she cherishes the "really special relationship" she has built up with Barr.
"That first initial conversation, I sat in tears for 45 minutes with a stranger that I had never met and from that point, I realised there was something that wasn't right and my coach told me that I came back from the World Championships as a different athlete than I left, so that was hard to hear.
"People around me tell me (these things) but when I sat down for that first conversation it was like, 'Okay, there's an issue', and it was then how do we move forward.
"I suppose the thing was it was belief, confidence and I went to the two biggest competitions in the world, the World Championships and Olympics in the past three years and I've got to sit back and be proud of that.
"And although I didn't put in the performances at those meets, I was there and so the next step then was, 'How do we now perform at those meets?' So first test now is Paris so I suppose it's a good tester for me."
Hill was smiling widely as she said that last sentence, and key to finding her feet again was the important fact that the love of swimming persisted even amid the temptation to drift away from it.
"I would never ever walk away from swimming," she said.
"So we had to step back, reanalyse and move forward in a different way and learn to love the process a little bit more."
She feels that the weight lifted by opening up has left her "swimming with freedom" and "swimming happier".
Certainly looking at recent performances, the 24-year-old has been enjoying a return to form.
Last month, she medalled twice at the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade, taking gold in the 50m backstroke - the first long course win for Ireland in 27 years - and silver in the 100m.
In Paris, she will compete individually in the 50m freestyle and the 100m backstroke but she is also relishing the collective experience of relay events in the 4x100m medley and 4x100m freestyle.
But overall, the aim is to simply enjoy the experience and go with the flow.
She said: "I'm going to enjoy the process and I'm going to take it step by step and race fast I think. If I can race fast how I have been doing, then who knows."
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