Diana Nyad, Superhuman? Super Obsessed?

I am in absolute awe of Diana Nyad's recent success at swimming from Cuba to Florida. I look up to her as an example of what a person can do by setting goals and working towards them with passion and dedication. I would have been this impressed whether or not she ever succeeded because even the attempts are more than most people are willing to do.

I've heard a variety of reactions to this feat. Ranging from some who said she is superhuman and others who said, "Why would anyone even want to do that? Talk about obsessed."

To those who see this as superhuman. You have missed the whole point. If Nyad had believed this to be a superhuman feat she would either have had to delude herself into believing she was superhuman, or never tried. This was not a superhuman feat, it was a demonstration of what a human can do.

It was a rude awakening for me when I heard someone call her obsessed. It reminded me that there are people in the world who really and truly don't understand the desire some of us have to push the boundaries.

There is a choice to be made in life. A person could cruise through life doing what is necessary, getting by with what they have to do, approaching lifes struggles as a nuisance that must be avoided or tolerated until things get easy again.

Or,

Life can be viewed as an opportunity. Challenges can be seen as chances to prove oneself. Obstacles can be things that make us stronger instead of things that get in the way of a passive existence.

We can avoid struggles, or we can embrace them as strengthening exercises.

We can seek out comfort, or allow discomfort to cause us to grow better and stronger.

We can take the easy path or we can take the hard path.

The hard path doesn't have to be as extreme as it was for Nyad, it can be pushing oneself past one's own perceived limitations.

So don't settle, live, challenge yourself, get up, get fit, run a 5K, a 10K, a marathon, a triathlon, learn a new skill, master an art form, do something new, challenging, and outside your box.

You won't really know what your limits are unless you push yourself against your perceived limits. You won't know how strong you truly are or how strong you could become if you don't test yourself.

You won't know what you can achieve if you don't try and fail, and try again and fail again, and get up and try again and again.

So what are you waiting for.