Mantra: Find A Way

I somewhat recently wrote a blog post about pursuing what you love, which included a link to Diana Nyad’s Ted Talk.  I recently saw a video of Oprah interviewing Diana Nyad.  During this interview, Diana Nyad shared how she got through her long marathon swim, her fifth attempt, and became the first person to swim across the Florida Straits from Cuba without a shark cage.

Nyad said her mantra through the swim was “find a way.”  Referring to the journey, she said, “It doesn’t matter … what you come up against because none of it’s going to be pleasant.  You’re hardly ever out there going, ‘Oh, my God, isn’t it a beautiful moon tonight?’  The crew is feeling that.  But you’re kind of suffering through the whole thing.  So my thought was, ‘everything you come up against say — and this is why people are relating to my story — all of us suffer heartache.  All of us suffer difficulties in our lives.  And if you say to yourself ‘find a way,’ you’ll make it through.”

I found this to be a simple, yet profound mantra and perspective.  There are many things that we do not want to do; there are many things that we are afraid to begin; and there are many things that we put off for various reasons.  I find Diana Nyad’s mantra, “find a way” very inspiring.  This mantra will help you move through difficult times and attempt things that you might not otherwise pursue.  So, I am adopting this mantra: find a way and make things happen.