On July 14, 2015, NASA's New Horizons mission will reach its much-anticipated destination: Pluto. Since the spacecraft left our planet on January 19, 2006, it has traveled more than 3 billion miles.
As the New Horizons spacecraft approaches Pluto, I invite you to ask yourself, "What's my mission?"
As I've been following the around-the-clock news coverage of the riots in Baltimore over the last few days, simultaneously scrolling through my Facebook news feed and Twitter timeline, I have found one of the most frequently asked questions is:
How could they do that?
As calendar pages fall to the ground on campuses throughout the country, the bitter cold and stiff winter winds have relented into more forgiving, more gentle spring breezes.
So too, the claims of rampant and systemic alcohol abuse, hazing, homophobia, racism, and sexual assault have become more tepid as the school year winds down, and the call for fundamental change that seemed so desperate now seems as though it will slip into the rhetorical abyss of "awareness" and starting a conversation.
We don't need yet another meeting. We need to put shovels in the ground and get to work.
This is the title of chapter 8 in my book, Being Single, with Cancer: A Solo Survivor’s Guide to Life, Love, Health & Happiness, and also the topic of one of the sessions in a 5-week tele-course I teach. The thing is, for a long time, I didn’t feel that way myself. It wasn’t until cancer knocked me flat on my back that I truly understood my own power. The power to heal, the power to make a difference, the power to connect others in meaningful ways, the power to change my perspective. We are all powerful, but many of us are going through life like I was – not recognizing our own unique superpowers, or even actively denying them.
From Thursday, February 13th through Sunday, February 16th, I had the distinct pleasure of facilitating at the Delta Gamma Institute in Columbus, OH, where thousands of women from across the United States gathered to hone their leadership skills and advance Delta Gamma's mission and values.
Although the Institute is targeted for undergraduate women, I couldn't help but take away three leadership lessons of my own.
