Tatum D.
Photography by Catherine White.
If you’re reading this, you can’t control everything that happens to you, but you can control how you respond.
I began running in fourth grade, and for a long time, it was just part of my after-school routine. I went to practices and races, worked hard, and didn’t think much about it at the time. As I’ve gotten older, it has become a much bigger part of my life. Competing at a higher level makes it easy to compare yourself to others around you. You face injuries, setbacks, and the constant challenge of balancing being a student, an athlete, and a person. Progress isn’t always linear, and things don’t always go the way you expect. Over time, I’ve learned that while you can’t control every outcome, you can control how you respond to it, and that’s what really matters. Learning to trust in the process and stay consistent, even when things aren’t going your way, what makes the difference. That doesn’t just apply to athletics; it applies to everything.
You can’t control how quickly things improve, how a situation turns out, or whether your effort immediately pays off. What you can control is whether you keep showing up. I remind myself of that daily, especially when things aren’t going as I had hoped. In those moments, instead of fixating on outcomes or trying to force progress, I focus on what I can do that day and let that be enough.
I think this is something everyone needs to be reminded of. There will be times when things don’t go the way you planned. You might not get the internship you wanted, the grade you worked for, or the opportunity you were hoping for. Things might take longer than you expected or not make sense right away, and it is easy to let that affect how you see yourself. But those moments don’t define you or your success. What matters more is how you respond and whether you choose to keep going.
Progress isn’t always obvious, and it definitely isn’t linear. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. Sometimes you can’t see it, and sometimes it just takes longer than expected to show up. If you're reading this on a day that hasn’t gone your way, don’t let that be the reason you stop. Just focus on what you can control and keep going.
Tatum D., University of Virginia
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