Ep 381 | Diana Nyad and What True Perseverance Entails

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. I want to dive right in, and I'm using the word dive because I'm going to talk about swimming today. I want to talk about Diana Nyad. You may have heard of Diana. If you haven't, well, you might look her up after we talk about her today. Her story is an amazing one. And it's one that I think is worth telling. Because it's about perseverance. It's about resilience. It's about breaking barriers. And I recently watched for a second time, the documentary on Diana Nyad. I think it's Netflix. And what she did, what she accomplished. I just think it's so cool. So Diana was born in 1949, and she grew up to become one of the greatest long-distance swimmers to ever live. Maybe the greatest long-distance swimmer to ever, ever live. Diana, um, I don't know, she got this crazy idea. That she wanted to swim from Cuba to Florida. Now she had done many long swims, but this, this swim from Cuba to Florida was a different one. Because while the distance was incredibly long, and the amount of hours it would take in the water was crazy, the, the flow of water from Cuba to Florida is, is nutty. The sharks, the jellyfish, the current, I mean, like the unpredictable weather, This goal was said to be damn near impossible. And so she decides in 1978, which would have made her what, about 29, what, 29 years old, 28 years old. In August of '78, she decides that she's going to make an attempt to swim from Havana to Key West. And so she jumps in the water, she attempts to swim, She's got a shark cage around her, which was actually fairly common for long-distance ocean swims in shark-infested waters. They put this giant cage around them. And despite the protection of the cage, the swim, the sharks were not even a challenge. The strong currents pushed her way off course. And after 42 hours in the water, Diana was forced to abandon her attempt. She had only covered 76 miles of the 110-mile journey, 42 hours. In these waters, had covered 76 miles. But the severe storms and the rough seas, they knocked her out. She did not complete the swim. And this is where the story— well, as if that wasn't crazy enough— this is where the story really takes a turn because she decides not to try it again. At least not until 2011. So at 20 years old, 1978, she goes at it for 42 hours, fails. Decides for whatever reason it's not possible, probably because everyone tells her it's not possible. And then at the age of 61 in 2011, tries again. 61. So quite a long hiatus. She returns to the sport, this time without a shark cage. She spent decades away from swimming, but she had this drive, this pull to go after this unfinished goal. During this particular swim, lots of challenges. In this one, she had shoulder pain, she had an asthma attack, she couldn't breathe. The water conditions were terrible once again, strong currents, the debris in the water. And after about 30 hours in the water, having only gone 50 miles this time, her team pulls her out of the water because it's just too dangerous. She didn't make it, but this attempt created this, or was the start of what I would say is this renewed commitment to achieving this dream, this dream that eluded her for decades. So about a year later, just over a year later, she goes after it a third time. This time it's 2012. She's 62 years old. She goes just over 51 hours in the water. She had a different strategy, different preparation. She was trying to figure out how to deal with jellyfish, which had become a much bigger concern. In this particular swim, though, she took on numerous jellyfish stings. No matter what she had done to counteract the jellyfish, she still got attacked. And it was painful. And it was potentially dangerous from these, these box jellyfish, which are incredibly poisonous stings. And they could cause severe allergic reaction. And it did with her. And it created this life-threatening scenario. She died, more or less died, brought her back to life. And at 51 hours and 5 minutes, she was pulled from the water. But she learned a lot. And she learned how to better prepare for these future swims, especially with the jellyfish. So a month later, she tries a fourth time. A fourth time, even though she's failed 3 times now, she makes another attempt in September 2012, this time age of 63. She wears a full body suit, gloves, mask to protect her from these jellyfish stings. She gets good distance, she gets moving. However, the weather was terrible. Crazy storms just beat her up, pushed her way off course. She couldn't swim straight. She was completely disoriented. She was hallucinating. And even though she had this protective gear, she still suffered jellyfish stings. She's wearing this mask and she couldn't breathe. And after 41 hours and 45 minutes, even though she covered a good portion of the distance, she was forced to abandon the swim. This particular setback was pretty devastating because her team started really saying, "This can't be done." But Diana was pretty determined to complete the journey. Every failed attempt had taught her some valuable lessons. How to better prepare, how to protect against jellyfish, how to manage her mental endurance, how to navigate these unpredictable currents and weather. And in 2013, with the knowledge and the experience that she got from these previous attempts, she was better equipped than ever. She made her 5th and final attempt in September 2013 to achieve this dream and become the first person to swim from, from Cuba to Florida without a cage. And guess what? She in fact does it. In 2013, on September 2nd, 2013, at the age of 64, she finishes this swim, this 110-mile journey, in 53 hours. Lots of challenges—current, fatigue, jellyfish—but she pushed through. And she had this mantra. The mantra was, "Find a way. Find a way." So Diana Nyad, in terms of perseverance, there is very few quite like her. The perseverance it takes to, to achieve that, to get through, is, is just amazing. It's insane. And I think just that story alone should be fuel for all of us. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]