"I don’t want to have any regrets. If I pounded on closed doors and they remained closed--at least I tried...maybe no one responded, but I know that I tried." -Megan Conner on launching SWT-LIVE.

The good news is that hope is tethered to the will. Hope says that our emotions don’t have to hold us hostage. That we’re not powerless, because hope is the smallest, willful contribution we can deposit in times of discouragement and despair.

"But something changed during that run. I found peace with whatever the future holds for racing during these scary times. I no longer looked back at Boston 2019 and relived the anxiety I experienced. I was once again in control of my own happiness and love for the sport." 

At least that’s what I was writing when I glanced up at the television and saw breaking news that Kobe Bryant had been killed in a helicopter crash. I forgot all about my life-and-dishes analogy and, like most of America, mourned a celebrity athlete that I never knew. Because he was young. Because his daughter was with him. Because, I guessed, he had more life to live and his story seemed unfinished. 

meta·​noia /noun : transformative change “Our world is hungry for genuinely changed people. Leo Tolstoy observes, ‘Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.’ Let us be among those who believe that the inner transformation of our lives is a goal worthy of our best effort.” R. Foster, Celebration of Discipline.