AN AMAZING LADY

Today I saw this great story on the news...

An amazing 64 years old woman managed to swim from Havana to Key West, Florida. 53 hours in the water and never getting out. 

What an incredible story!

I asked myself, who is this amazing lady? 
Immediately I googled her name and found out so much information about her and her life.

Diana Nyad, an American author, journalist, and long-distance swimmer who is known for her world-record endurance championships. On top of all that,  she was also ranked 30th among U.S. women squash players.

On Monday, she emerged from the ocean having swum roughly 110 miles and still had the strength to walk ashore. Officially, Nyad became the first swimmer to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.  It was her fifth attempt after several failures.  In 1978 was the first attempt and then in 2011 and 2012. 

Upon reaching shore Nyad had three things to tell the TV reporters and the world that was watching her achieve her lifelong dream: 

"One, We should never ever give up.

Two, You’re never too old to chase your dreams

Three, Swimming looks like a solitary sport, but really it’s a team effort." 

Never give up, have determination: 

Determination is defined as firmness of purpose; Resoluteness.

We all have been in a situation where we were determined to accomplish something but quickly found a reason not to accomplish our goal.

How easy is it to find excuses?
How easy is it to quit?
How easy is it to forget our goals?

We should take the word easy out of our vocabulary and keep reminding ourselves that something worthwhile takes a lot of work and most importantly, determination!

Diana Nyad has the word determination embedded in her DNA.

“One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.”- Napoleon Hill

You are never too old to chase your dreams:

You are too old, when you decide that you are old.

Usually, grandparents are always giving us great advice and among other things they always mention “If I was your age, I WOULD be doing so and so...”

“If I was your age...” they live in the past with their memories or regrets!

Nyad does not live in the past; As a young lady she was not able to cross the ocean but now at 64 she accomplished another one of her dreams.

I am very sure that she has some regrets like all of us; yet, these regrets do not stop her from trying again and again to keep building new memories.

It looks like a solitary sport, but really it’s a team effort:

In life, at work, at home, in sports, in order to succeed you always need to believe in yourself. To be confident is extremely important but also you need to have a team that believes in you; weather it is your wife, your kids, co-workers, teachers... 

"To succeed you need to become part of a forest" this is a notion that I constantly preach.

In other for a tree to grow steady, strong and age it must be part of a dense mass. In the forest all trees work together as a blanket and protect each other from the wind or harsh weather. The roots of the forest will prevent mudslides and if a tree falls it does not come crashing down at once. It is supported by the surrounding trees. 

Nyad understands this concept;  she knows that without her team she would not be able to accomplish this incredible task. 

In reality it is a very simple concept to understand; 
if you grow by yourself, you fold by yourself.

At the end, Diana Nyad was able to fulfill her life long dream;  she believed in it, she never stopped thinking about it and she was determined to do it!

I wonder how many of us at 64 would be in some type of mental or physical shape to be able to swim at least ONE mile...

"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." - Mark Twain


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