Diana Nyad - today's thoughts

10/7/12 – The last time I’ve bothered to look at the blog I promised myself I’d so faithfully update. Interestingly enough, 10/7/12 is the last time Diana Nyad made an attempt to swim from Havana to Key West – the very swim she conquered this weekend. Which reminded me of this blog, and my urgent need to review the post I had made about her last year. When I logged in, I realized I never even finished that post. Here’s where I started… 10/7/12 – Diana Nyad – “that woman is nuts” – that’s the first thing that comes to mind when I hear about Diana Nyad and her attempts to swim from Havana Cuba to Key West, Florida. Tuesday morning, I came to work with the news that Diana Nyad, marathon swimmer, was being pulled from the water in another failed attempt to be the first person ever to swim from Cuba to the USA without a cage. I thought “well lady, someone is trying to tell you something, give it up already!” – this was the second attempt I was familiar with, the last failure sometime last year. I thought “well you’re 62 years old, it’s obviously not something you’re going to be able to accomplish, so give it up” – then I thought HOW FREAKING RUDE. It’s HER dream, not mine and who was I to tell her that she couldn’t do it, she should give it up, or that she was crazy. I went out to the blog they were keeping and read up on the progress she had made. I saw her interview where she said “And really, in this day and age, the Earth’s gotten to be a pretty small place. All the mountains have been climbed, all the deserts have been crossed, but this piece of ocean has never been done by a swimmer without a cage”. Instead of staying on the couch for a lifetime and letting this precious time go by, why not be bold? Be fiercely bold and go out and chase your dreams. Life is about getting to the end with no regrets. So if you have dreams, you know, rather than being afraid, be bold. Go out and chase them. And what should I do now, say none of it was worthwhile because I didn’t make it to the shore. It was a magnificent experience. I wouldn’t change anything about it, except for that final walk up the beach” -- Diana Nyad And here we are 9/3/2013. Almost a year later. I didn’t even know she was attempting another swim until she had almost successfully come ashore. I was ecstatic for her. Thrilled that she had finally reached her dream. In tears at the realization that this woman would NEVER give up. I chased a dream of my own last year and kept waiting for someone to tell me how absolutely ridiculous my dream is. But kudos to you Diana Nyad for chasing that dream and finally getting that final walk up the beach.

Quotes

"For what it’s worth; it’s never too late, or in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make th best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again” – F. Scott Fitzgerald