“Twelve one-hundred freestyle on a one-minute thirty interval!” shouts my coach. I frantically swim to the back of Lane 1. I watch as everyone lines up before me, leaving me disappointedly and embarrassingly last in the lane. I’ll admit it—that first day of practice, I quit multiple times. As everyone else continued swimming, I leaned against the pool wall, attempting to catch my breath. And for that, my coach, Eric, gave me some tough love. “Unless I see you...

The comfort of my mother’s arms weren’t enough to stop my five-year-old self from bursting into tears at the sight of Geddes Pond in Michigan. I trembled with gut-wrenching fear of drowning in it. At age ten, my blood-curdling scream rippled through Hershey Park as the Wild Mouse rollercoaster swerved around the sharp corner. I cried for the ride to stop, screaming louder at each brusque turn as nausea overcame me. And at the age of 14, I squealed...