When I saw the black bear appear, I knew I shouldn’t turn around and flee. So I held my ground in spite of my fear. It was a moment I’d been frightened for months.

I grew up in the Rocky Mountains and spent much of my childhood hiking and exploring out—doors. Fascinated by the mountains and streams, I decided to study geology at college. I was excited when I had the opportunity to participate in summer field research. One summer, I spent nearly 3 months hiking every day and living in a village cabin, which was a great experience.

I’d been hired as an undergraduate field assistant to do geology work. I worked alongside my supervisor and one other assistant. Before we went into the field, I overheard the other assistant saying I was a slow hiker. It wasn’t the first time that he had disparaged my physical or intellectual abilities. He argued with me constantly. The more it happened, the quieter I became. After a few weeks of misery, I could see that my supervisor was mistaking my silence for incompetence. Sensing his disappointment in me, I began to believe I wasn’t cut out to be a scientist.

Several days later, I spotted the bear. At first I was terrified. But when it quickly ran away, simply because I was standing there, my feelings started to change. I realized that if a wild animal feared me, I wasn’t powerless after all. I went back to camp with the confidence I needed to stand up to the real threat I faced that summer.

That evening, after the other assistant criticized the way I was setting up the camp table for dinner, I threw the table legs down and told him how sick I was of the way he’d treated me. I felt better after getting it off my chest. I realized that in the future I need to address problems head on rather than internalizing them and letting them affect my self-confidence.

Lynn Colwell is a mixed-media artist in Redmond, Washington. In grade school, a teacher told her that she had no artistic talent and Lynn believed her. However, in 2015 when she retired, she hoped to have a new interest and began to take year-long online painting class.

"It blew me away," she says. She started painting striking portraits of women's faces, combined with short messages of hope almost every day. In five years, she's completed about 1,000 paintings.

Lynn gives her paintings away. She started with friends, but that only went so far. Then she read about a movement called Art Abandonment, which encourages artists to leave their art in public places for anyone to pick up. That gave her the idea of putting her work into the hands of strangers through Facebook.

Nearly every day, Lynn posts a painting on her Facebook page. The first person who responds saying they're interested in it has 24 hours to make a donation of $ 25 or more to their favorite nonprofit or an individual in need. Then the painting is theirs. Lynn doesn't' ask for proof(证明). She trusts that the people who want her paintings share her ideas.

Five years later, she's still amazed at the results. Her paintings have raised more than $ 57,000 for nonprofits such as animal rescue centers, homeless shelters as well as for people who have lost their jobs. Sometimes Lynn hears that a painting helped someone at the moment they needed it most. "That give me chills," she says.

To be a part of Lynn Colwell's art-for-a-cause effort, send her a friend request at facebook.com/lynncolwell. Then keep an eye out for a painting that speaks to you. Lynn personally approves each request, so she asks for your patience. Also, she spends most of her time in her art studio-there's painting to be done. "I wake up every day and can't wait to get started," she says.

A woman who lost one leg to cancer is seeking to break a world record by completing 102 marathon-length runs in 102 days.

Jacky Hunt Broersma, who lost the bottom half of her left leg to a rare form of cancer in 2001, set her goal in mid-January. And every day since then, she has been running the distance of a marathon (马拉松). “Part of my body was gone. For me the most difficult problem was accepting my disability,” she told the reporter.

Until five years ago, she was not very active. But then she looked into running and decided to give it a try. The sport ended up being quite costly. Currently, the carbon fiber blade (碳纤维叶片) she uses, which is designed specifically for running, costs about $10,000. “Running really changed my life,” she said. “It helped me accept myself as a person with disability. It gave me a sense of freedom. I fell in love with the process of pushing my body further just to see what I could do. ”

However, she has faced both physical and mental difficulties during her record-breaking attempt. On one recent day, Hunt Broersma felt breakdown at 24 kilometers and began to cry. In that moment, she felt like her planned goal might not happen at all. By dividing it into little goals, she finally picked herself up and carried on.

Hunt Broersma’s main support team is her husband and their two young children. She is posting her progress online and has also got a large social media following.

As she nears the end of her goal, Hunt-Broersma is hoping to inspire a single thought in others: You’re stronger than you think and you’re capable of so much more.