Preface

They told me that I needed to want it. They told me that I needed to will it to happen. They told me before a race just to say, "I. Will." I tried and I tried again, but I still went slower in races than in practice. I even just stopped thinking before races. It did not matter what sport it was, swimming or track, the results were always the same. After a crazy backpacking trip, I finally figured out what they meant. I discovered the will.

Cameras, reporters, curious people, they were all asking me the same question. How did I get out? How did I survive? My eyes roll. The real world, or what people think is the real world, does not matter to me anymore after that horrific experience. I do not even want to think about it at all. Still, after all of the relentless questions, I will finally answer, but it will be a different story. It will be about how I discovered the will.