Last week, I was out for a run. It was about 5:30 am, about 25 degrees, and pitch black outside. It was one of those times when nobody else is around, it's perfectly still outside, and there's nothing around to distract you from your thoughts. You know the feeling... the stillness and quiet leaves nothing between you and your deepest thoughts and sense of being. Nowhere to hide.

I couldn't stop thinking about the previous few days and some of the things that you've been saying to me and feelings you've expressed. The entire run, it consumed my every thought.

The next day, I was listening to my book, once again on a run. And almost as if answering my thoughts, there was a passage in the book that described Abraham Lincoln and what made him incredible:

“Having hope means that one will not give in to overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude or depression in the face of difficult challenges or setbacks. Hope is more than a sunny view that everything will turn out alright. It is believing you have the will and the way to accomplish your goals." 

Daniel Goleman, in "Emotional Intelligence" (1995) (As quoted by Goodwin)

You see, it's not his courage, or his perseverance, or his vision that made him great, but his hope. He had enough hope to carry himself, his family, his Cabinet, his country, and really, all of humanity through one of the darkest times in human history. And that, Amanda, is what it takes to get through.