December 2nd - 13th (Finals week!)

"We cannot solve problems with the kind of thinking we employed when we came up with them."

Albert Einstein

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By: Zoe Crimmel

We did it! Another semester in the bag has been completed and I am so excited to take the chance to get everything in my life under the reigns without the pressure of school building behind me. After I finished my final I felt the weight on my shoulder lift ever so slightly. For the past 122 days I have thrown myself into school, my clubs, and tennis, and I have been using it to avoid the emotions I was feeling. When I finished my last final I realized I wouldn't be able to do this anymore. The emotional buildup has once again affected me physically, much like my stress did when I was a kid and has left me facing some physical challenges for the next couple of months. Early in October, I had some shoulder pain start during practice after serving and what I thought would go away has only progressed from a bicep tendonitis diagnosis into a torn rotator cuff injury. It is not fully torn which means that we don't need to jump to surgery and my doctor has prescribed PT and PRP which I am pursuing now. This however will mean I need to redshirt the upcoming season and in all honesty, it scares me to lose my outlet. Since I was a child smacking tennis balls was always easier than talking, sitting on the court for hours losing myself in the swing constantly repeating one after the other took me to another world that was not bothered, not stressed. It gave me a distraction I could always rely on because I was always mad at the ball. However, this time will allow me to focus on healing, strengthening and mentally finding myself again without tennis, but also without mom. This is a new version of me that I am both anxious and terrified to meet but overall excited to see who I am going to become this time! I will also have time to work on a couple of projects I have lined up in my mental storage bins, this blog and a new blog that I will be publishing in January that will be strictly focused on Environmental issues, and solutions and will include a forum that people will be able to use to connect to like-minded people globally. I hope to grow this blog into a worldwide source for fellow environmentalists to communicate, pass info, and fact-check for any of their needs! I will also be able to fully and honestly set up the plan and schedule for the 2025 summer at the club in Colorado, and be able to organize the first summer without Petra and make sure she can never be forgotten. My family has taken on the responsibility of continuing on her legacy with Aspen Tennis and I want to make sure that it is everything she would have wanted it to be.

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As I continue my journey with this blog I always love to hear from each and every one of you. Whether it's in person, through text, email or phone calls what makes everything I write worth writing is hearing "I loved your post", or "I was inspired by what you wrote" and it brings me back every time. I love sharing my story through my journeys, my grief, and now my recovery from yet another injury and I hope there are bits and pieces that everyone can grab and hold onto. Thank each and every one of you for sticking with me for this long and I hope to be continuing with this group for years to come!