If I can't win, I won't play

On living a fear-based life.

For most of my life, I wouldn’t play if I knew there was a good chance I wouldn’t win. This goes way back, and includes both the big and small things: from winning at people-pleasing to winning at checkers; from asking my MA advisor if there is a grade higher than an “A” (like, is there an “A+” I should know about?) to the countless number of rackets I’…