ESPN reporter Britt McHenry became massively infamous in April 2015 thanks to the release of a video of her berating a parking lot attendant (with references to the attendant’s weight, appearance and education) after her car was towed, the subsequent one-week suspension she was handed by ESPN, the people at the Worldwide Leader who reportedly wanted her to be fired, and her eventual return to the airwaves, apology and request for a second chance.
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It’s hard to describe how it feels to have people dislike you when they don’t even know you. It takes a toll on your mind and body alike. In fact, in dealing with all the stress, the vision in my right eye grew cloudy. I could no longer see clearly; everything was a blur. I went to a retinal specialist, who diagnosed me with CSR, a condition in which vision is impaired, often due to trauma or extreme stress. Neither medication nor time helped alleviate the problem. I had no choice but to start a series of injections directly into my eye to try to regain my vision and prevent further damage. The first time I watched the needle approach my eye (yes, you’re awake for this!), I broke down, halting the process until I could regain my composure. I was a wreck, not so much because of the injection, but because of what had brought me to that point.
It would become the first of endless injections, and I still flinch every time. The doctor says the vision in my eye might never improve.
I know now that as soon as you feel an empowering moment of success, you can experience a moment of utter failure just as fast. It’s what you do after those moments that defines you. None of us should be judged solely by our worst mistakes. And, when you get the opportunity, you should work as hard as you can to prove that.
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