For as long as I can remember sports have been one of the greatest things in my life. Playing sports not only brought out the competitive, determined side of me, but it quickly became an outlet for me. Being on the field was a place where nothing else mattered but the game.

We pull for our family, our friends and our teammates. We pull to not disappoint our coaches. We pull for the glory, and we pull for everything we are not able to control in life. At some point, we begin pulling for ourselves, and it all becomes worth it. That is one of the best lessons that rowing has taught me, that success and perseverance is mental, that when you really want something and you believe in yourself, everything is possible. So you endure, and without realizing, you cross the 2000 meter mark.

But I came to realize things about myself after that meeting. During my time at Delaware, field hockey became not my outlet but my enemy. I was working so hard towards something I didn’t even think I wanted anymore. And while leaving that school meant leaving behind my childhood dream, it also allowed me to find myself again.

As athletes we’re constantly told to run. Not only are we told we have to run, but we can never be slower than yesterday. Taking a step back or achieving a slower time is seen as unprecedented; it doesn’t meet your expectation as an athlete to be worse than you were yesterday. You are shameful or undedicated if you don’t consistently improve on your skills. You can’t slow down, you can’t take a break; you must keep going. In fact, in a moment where you might feel an inclination to run slower, you are reprimanded for running faster.

Coming off one of my best seasons of my soccer career in my sophomore year of high school, I started associating with people I had not before. All of a sudden I was wrapped up in what the success of soccer brought me and thought I was in one of the highest points in my life. Coming into my junior year of high school, I was looking forward to the soccer season, but also for the new attention and happiness I had gotten from the relationship I had just begun. It felt great. At that time I thought my life couldn’t get any better. Little did I know how wrong these hopeful feelings were.

The professionals say we shouldn’t avoid our problems because when we run away, it doesn’t change the fact that they still exist. Sure, running makes the problem seem more distant in the moment, however, there will be a moment in time where you can’t maintain the speed you once began with. Your problems when not dealt with runs parallel with the storyline of the tortoise and the hare; their slow and painful demise will always win if you choose to run.

My goal is to help as many people as possible. I decided to major in psychology because I want to learn about the human mind and hopefully become an eating disorder psychologist one day. Although my story is extreme. There are so many different ways people struggle with eating disorders. Never compare your story to someone else's. Your feelings are valid no matter what and you are loved.

I have been a perfectionist for as long as I can remember. This served me in so many ways that were beneficial for so long that this became second nature. I always was a teacher's pet in school, doing every extra credit assignment possible to get near perfect grades, staying after practices if I had a “bad day”, and needing leadership positions in every extracurricular activity I participated in. However, this perfectionism in combination with other life events allowed me to hyper fixate on my body image and comparison with others, and increased a desire to be in a perfect body.

Hi everyone! My name is Samantha Hagenbush, but everyone calls me Sam or Sammi. I am a junior at Penn State Berks in Reading, PA. I am a Kinesiology major with a Psychological Sciences minor. I play both basketball and tennis at Berks and I am a heavily involved student. Before reading my story, I want you to ask yourself the following question: How can you be an advocate for others if you aren’t an advocate for yourself?

I’m 28 years old. I was once a student-athlete playing Division I lacrosse at Manhattan College. It was truly a dream come true - one I never imagined achieving. Never playing club lacrosse or having the opportunity to showcase my talents because of constant injury, somehow, someway, I luckily and thankfully found myself at MC. Entering college as a fresh 18-year-old girl, never being on my own, I had no idea what was coming. My entire life up until my freshman year of college, I made it my mission to be someone of strength and guidance for my friends and family. Because I was so invested in supporting others, I left no time to support myself.