What Diana Nyad Teaches Us About Liberation
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
– George Eliot
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Yesterday many of us watched the amazing quest of Diana Nyad, as she successfully swam the strait between Cuba and Key West – at the age of 64.
As she came on shore and gasped for air, she offered these words:
“I have three messages. One is, we should never, ever give up.
Two is, you’re never too old to chase your dream.
Three is, it looks like a solitary sport, but it is a team.”
All three are great pieces of wisdom but I am especially taken with Diana’s second point.
Years ago, I remember seeing a photo in a wonderful book called I Dream a World – it portrayed an African American woman who was in her 80s, as I recall, and receiving her college degree.
That image has always stayed with me as proof that we never need to buy into the myth that we are too old for something. As I’ve said many times here, liberation is about freeing ourselves from social and cultural beliefs that do not serve our souls.
One of the biggest of those beliefs is around age, and what age is “appropriate” for what kind of activities.
That’s why I love stories of people who break out of that mold. Like Diana Nyad. And like:
- Nola Ochs, who started college at the age of 65 and graduated at 95 (at the same time as her granddaughter).
- Mary Armstrong, who celebrated her 90th birthday by skydiving from an airplane at 12,000 feet
- Yuichiro Miura, who at 70 years old became the oldest person to climb Mt. Everest in 2003
I am grateful to Diana Nyad for her courage and her persistence…. and for exemplifying what it means to live unconstrained by the limits of our minds or our society.
What magnificent thing do you want to do with your life? Have you let the idea of your age hold you back from it? How can you imagine that changing if you gave yourself permission to think bigger?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
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5 Comments
I am currently breaking out of the mold. Two yrs ago, at 57, I wrote my first poem, and now regularly share at public readings. 3 months ago, on my 59th birthday, I began my first blog. Recently, I got my first tattoo which is the subject of my blog post today.
I don’t know where this is heading, but I feel I have taken the lid off. My current passion, and the purpose of my blog as well as some local activities, is to encourage and support people so they will begin creating in midlife. My creative activities have been very liberating, and I think they can be for many more people.
September 3, 2013
That’s fantastic, Don! Thanks for sharing your story with us here…. and good luck with that tattoo!
September 10, 2013
We seem to be at similar points. I left the corporate world recently to start marketing my photography and new-found love of video production. I am currently producing promotional video for a local animal rescue benefit, and hopefully will eventually be able to both make a difference and a living at the same time! (a shame how hard it is to do both these days, huh?) I don’t know where it’s headed either. Some days I think “OMG – get a real job, get a real job, get a real job!!” I’ve never not worked for someone else in a large corporation. It’s daunting even though my husband is very supportive.
I never thought I’d ever feel that going to work for a major corporation making a major salary would be my definition of failure! Been there, done that and it didn’t feel much like success.
Good luck to you!
September 17, 2013
Spectacular. When I was younger, I thought 30 was old. Then I thought 50 was old. And yet, now that I am over 50 I do not feel old at all. In fact, life gets better and better because I have gained so much, dare I say “wisdom”. What it comes down to is most of life is lived in the mind.
September 3, 2013
Wonderful, Ron!
September 10, 2013