New blog post is up! 🎉🎉 Link in profile. Mental toughness in rowing. Read it! And let me know what you think. 😁 Thanks @lehighrowing for the writing inspiration! It was great to hang out with you guys, can’t wait to see you in action this spring. ✨✨✨ #rowing #blog #womeninsport #mentaltoughness #strong #raisethegame #ridethewave 👊🏻❤🌊

A post shared by Cara (@carastawicki) on Feb 16, 2018 at 11:08am PST

When Cara Stawicki ’05 ’06G visited Lehigh in February to say a few words to the women’s crew team, one of the athletes asked her about staying focused during the “Oh #$@%” moment that every rower faces during a grueling training session or competition.

For Cara, who rowed for Lehigh’s crew team for four years and competed in the 2017 World Rowing Championships for Team USA, this question was a perfect prompt for a recent post on her personal blog: 

“I used to think of mental toughness a lot like I thought of confidence — you either had it or you didn’t. I’m happy to report I was wrong! Mental toughness (and confidence) is a skill and, like any skill, it can be practiced, developed and perfected with time.”

In a blog post titled “Mental Toughness”, Cara provides insights for fellow rowers, including personal anecdotes about her own training struggles and a six-step process for getting through the grind.

For more from Cara, visit her blog at carastawicki.com.