A big achiever has encouraging words for us all

Let’s take a minute to celebrate Kelsey Pfendler, who earlier this month became the first American woman and fastest person to row alone across the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii.

Hundreds of thousands of people followed her 2,400-mile, 43-day journey on social media, where she shared her mental and physical challenges in videos.

Pfendler reflected on the meaning of her accomplishment and what she hoped others would take from it in a video as she neared Oahu:

“If any part of this made at least one person feel a little bit more powerful in their own skin, I couldn’t ask for anything else and I’m happy,” she said. “Think about trying to find your own big, hard, scary thing. You might not think that you are strong enough to finish it right now, but you’re definitely strong enough to start it, and you’ll find everything else along the way. I’m going to go finish my big, hard scary thing.”

Here is a video of her post-row interview on ESPN.

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