By the end of Middle School, I had become a four-time National Champion/Co-Champion, was a three-time All-American, represented the United States twice in the World Youth Championships, and have currently led my school team to 15 National Championships. My success masked the ongoing battle with performance stress and anxiety that affected how I performed in tournaments. Recognizing that chess has always been, for me, a mental sport, I sought help from a sports psychologist to not only manage but use performance stress to my advantage. I was still feeling burnt out and my trajectory didn’t seem sustainable. More than anything else, this sports psychologist, Steve Kahan, taught me that the absolute most important thing was to love and accept myself completely without judgment. Steve emphasized the idea to try to always be in the moment, fully present, and to find joy in everything that I do, including chess. Steve became one of my most formative mentors and close friends since I was 9 years old. I was devastated when Steve passed away suddenly and unexpectedly this past fall. There are no words to describe the loss. Through my work with Steve, for the past seven years, I have practiced mindfulness and gratitude and have tried to learn how to live with integrity, acceptance, intention, clarity… and joy. I have been thinking about how I could honor Steve and his living legacy with this initiative.

StoryCorps’ mission is “to preserve and share humanity’s stories in order to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. To remind one another of our shared humanity, to strengthen and build the connections between people, to teach the value of listening, and to weave into the fabric of our culture the understanding that everyone’s story matters.” The art of storytelling. The premise that everyone has a story to tell, and maybe a shared common experience, the feeling of joy. Let’s each download the StoryCorps App and get started! 

Using StoryCorps technology, I will share their App and assist in setting up interviews with a cross-section of students who have been exposed to my mindfulness initiatives; Colorflow and Mindmates, family, friends, teachers, local store clerks… anyone interested in participating and asking them to share the moments in their life that they could recall and wouldn’t mind sharing, moments that provided Joy for them.