Stefi Cohen

I still remember that day like it was yesterday. It was early in the first year of my PhD program in Physical Therapy at the University of Miami when my advisor and committee called me into a formal meeting. You have to maintain a high level of work to stay in the program and I was right at the line. I remember sitting in that room with all of my male professors.

What does this bar mean to me? My bar, and its burden, represents the difficult road to achieving personal greatness. We have our own ideas about what greatness looks like and this is defined by our personal struggles and desires. My struggle chews me up and my desire burns me up. These two feelings can be a lot to handle. But this inner dynamic creates an outer benefit too – laser-like focus that I crave and need. Life is full of so much noise – distractions, temptations, expectations and condemnations. Focus helps you get closer to greatness, and as you do, these distracting sounds become more distant – like my past.