Diana Nyad
Diana Nyad
Diana Nyad /ˈnaɪˌæd/is an American author, journalist, motivational speaker, and long-distance swimmer. Nyad gained national attention in 1975 when she swam around Manhattanand in 1979 when she swam from North Bimini, The Bahamas, to Juno Beach, Florida). In 2013, on her fifth attempt and at age 64, she became the first person confirmed to swim from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage, swimming from Havana to Key West. Nyad was also once ranked thirteenth among US...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth22 August 1949
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
The integrity and self-esteem gained from winning the battle against extremity are the richest treasures in my life
Swimming is probably the ultimate of burnout sports. It's ironic because millions of people who swim as their regular exercise love the meditation aspect of it; you don't wind up with any orthopedic injuries. But when you swim at a world class level for hours and hours - the loneness of the long distance runner.
There is... nothing greater than touching the shore after crossing some great body of water knowing that I've done it with my own two arms and legs.
I think I'm going to my grave without swimming from Cuba to Florida,
Swimming is probably the ultimate of burnout sports.
It's all authentic. It's a great story. You have a dream 35 years ago - doesn't come to fruition, but you move on with life. But it's somewhere back there. Then you turn 60, and your mom just dies, and you're looking for something. And the dream comes waking out of your imagination,
I am interested in the unknown, and the only path to the unknown is through breaking barriers, an often painful process.
I have three messages," said the breathless Nyad."One is we should never ever give up. Two is you are never too old to chase your dreams. And three is it looks like a solitary sport but it takes a team.
A lot of athletes have this sort of invincibility: [The jellyfish] should worry about me. I don't worry about them. I'll just swim right through them.
But for each of us, isn't life about determining your own finish line?
When I walk up on that shore in Florida, I want millions of those AARP sisters and brothers to look at me and say, 'I'm going to go write that novel I thought it was too late to do. I'm going to go work in Africa on that farm that those people need help at. I'm going to adopt a child. It's not too late, I can still live my dreams.'
My mom just died. We blink and another decade passes. I don't want to reach the end of my life and regret not having given my days everything in me to make them worthwhile.
Every human being on this planet has their pain and their heartache and it's up to all of us to find our way back to the light.
When you achieve your Dreams It's not so much what you get, It's who you become.