I have an uncompromising relationship with my goals. Diana Nyad More Quotes by Diana Nyad More Quotes From Diana Nyad When you reach for the horizon, as I've proven, you may not get there, but what a tremendous build of character and spirit that you lay down. What a foundation you lay down in reaching for those horizons. Diana Nyad horizon foundation character I want to see all the countries in the world and learn all the languages. I want to have thousands of friends and I want all my friends to be different. I want to play six instruments. I want to be the best in the world at two things. I want to be a great athlete and I want to be a great surgeon. I need to practice very hard every day. I need to sleep as little as possible. I need to read at least one major book every week. And I need to remember that my seventy years are going to go by too quickly. Diana Nyad athlete country book Swimming is probably the ultimate of burnout sports. Diana Nyad burnout swimming sports 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. Diana Nyad distance exercise sports I think I'm going to my grave without swimming from Cuba to Florida. Diana Nyad florida swimming thinking The mantra I used was 'find a way.' Diana Nyad used inspirational way Just getting in the pool for seven straight hours is unbearable to me.... It's grueling. There's nothing physically pleasurable about it. If you're doing a hard workout, you're throwing up in the gutter. At night you cling to your pillow and just hope that your body revives before you have to go back and do it again. Diana Nyad swimming hard-work workout From age eleven to age sixteen I lived a spartan life without the usual adolescent uncertainty. I wanted to be the best swimmer in the world, and there was nothing else. Diana Nyad usual age world If you can just immerse yourself in your life, it doesn't matter what you do everyday. Just do it intensely. Be in it, so that when you go to sleep you're exhausted every night and you say, 'Whoa, I just couldn't have done any more with that day.' Diana Nyad everyday sleep night Endurance is not a young person's game. I thought I might even be better at 60 than I was at 30. You have a body that's almost as strong, but you have a much better mind. Diana Nyad better game you mind It's been a grand, elevating, life-confirming experience these last two years. Diana Nyad last experience two years There's so much boldness in living life this way, and we did it all, and no one can take it away from us. Diana Nyad us living life way I've never been in any pain, ever, like that in my whole life. Now it's set me so far back, I just don't' have the lung capacity to swim the way I can. Diana Nyad me pain life way I do write all the time about - you tell me what your dreams are. What are you chasing? It's not impossible. Name it. Diana Nyad dreams me you time About the 50th hour, I was going to start thinking about the edge of the universe. Is there an edge? Is this an envelope we're living inside of, or no, does it go onto infinity in both time and space? And there's nothing like swimming for 50 hours in the ocean that gets you thinking about things like this. Diana Nyad you ocean time thinking The most venomous animal that lives in the ocean is the box jellyfish. And every one of those barbs is sending that venom into this central nervous system. So first I feel like boiling hot oil I've been dipped in. And I'm yelling out, 'Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Help me! Somebody help me!' And the next thing is paralysis. Diana Nyad me ocean fire animal I don't want to be the crazy woman who does it for years and years and years, and tries and fails and tries and fails and tries and fails, but I can swim from Cuba to Florida, and I will swim from Cuba to Florida. Diana Nyad woman will i-can crazy The highs were high, the awe, I'm not a religious person, but I'll tell you, to be in the azure blue of the Gulf Stream as if, as you're breathing, you're looking down miles and miles and miles, to feel the majesty of this blue planet we live on, it's awe-inspiring. Diana Nyad looking feel you blue The box jellyfish takes you into an area of what I'd call science fiction. You feel like you've been dipped in hot burning oil. You burst into flames. Diana Nyad feel you hot science All of us suffer difficulties in our lives. And if you say to yourself 'find a way,' you'll make it through. Diana Nyad difficulties yourself you way
