The upcoming Winter Olympics will be very different for Travis Gerrits, regardless of the Canadian freestyle skier's performance.

The Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea come just months after the 26-year-old from Milton, Ont., publicly announced he is living with bipolar disorder.

"I don't like to say 'suffer' because we learn to control it and it can kind of help you in a way," Gerrits says, adding that "everything has been very very positive" since he first shared his story on Facebook in August.

"It was difficult to open up to everyone about that because of fear of losing that support. But knowing that nothing has changed and I only have more encouragement and more positive vibes from everyone, it's just helping my performance greatly."

Canadian Travis Gerrits goes public with bipolar disorder2:53

In the lead-up to the 2014 Olympics, Gerrits collected a gold and two silvers on the World Cup aerials circuit and won silver at the world championships, but it was a struggle at times.

"In Sochi I was undiagnosed with the fact I was bipolar. I was living with depression, with mania, with all of these things," says Gerrits, who finished seventh at those Games. "My results definitely came in spurts and peaks, especially when I was feeling great or feeling stable.

"The same was true with poor performances when I was a little bit down."

After being officially diagnosed with bipolar I disorder in November of 2014, it took Gerrits "quite a few years" of managing treatments — including medication and working with both a psychologist and a sports psychologist — before speaking publicly about it.

"This isn't something I want to control my life anymore," Gerrits says. "I want to take control of my actions and my future."

Adjusting on the fly — literally

The mental and physical preparation for the Olympics is strenuous under any set of circumstances, but Gerrits is confident in his approach to these Games.

In addition to the support he's received from family, friends and aerials luminaries like Nicolas Fontaine and Yves Laroche, Gerrits continued to practice over the summer at a water ramp facility in Quebec City. While good for the aerial aspect of his sport, he admits there's no substitute for snow.

"It's a different animal completely," Gerrits says. "You're landing on a 36-degree pitch rather than flat water. There are a lot less variables that control and affect your speed as well."

Managing the fluid conditions requires communication from coaches on the ground, but ultimately instinct and feel are the deciding factors when the wind changes during an event.

"We're in the air literally three seconds and I have a good... not just air sense but sense of my own speed," he says.

"So if [during] my takeoff I was leaning back a little bit too far, you can feel that extra flip rotation while you're in the air and you have to do everything you can to spot your landing and make adjustments on the fly while you're in the air."

Embracing a new role

Qualifying for the Games in Pyeongchang is only one part of Gerrits's life as an Olympian. He's always enjoyed sharing his competition experiences at schools, but now knows he has another story to tell.

"I hope to inspire more people, whether it's to get the help they need or just find that support system," Gerrits says, adding that he's already had a skier on the developmental team reach out to him for support.

"I kind of live for that, when you can clearly see that you've made a change in someone's life for the better."

He sees this as a way to pay forward the support he's received from athletes like Fontaine and Laroche and sponsors like RBC, which provides a reliable support network, and Visa, which helped cover his studies at Stanford.

"Now I feel like it's my turn to help others in any way that I can."