“My team and I were at training camp when I developed a pain in my lower back, but I initially brushed it off as a sore muscle. It was common to be in pain all the time, as a Division 1 rower. But eventually the pain got to a point where I could not carry my boat up the dock with my teammates, because the lifting motion of putting it on my shoulder was excruciating. It wasn’t until I had survived Big 12’s and trained at home, laying semi-paralyzed with pain on the dock, that I went home for an MRI. The surgeon found that I had not one, but two bulging discs in my lower lumbar. That injury, ultimately ended my career. With sport ending, I questioned what I would with my life now after putting all my identity into rowing and being an athlete for as long as I can remember. But I realized, whether now or later, my athletic career would end, I just needed to accept that my time had come. Identity is not in your sport. It must come from something greater. For those who are lonely an...