Verified by 
My husband and I have a subscription to the Baltimore Speaker’s Series. Seven diverse, articulate presenters, all leaders and highly accomplished within their fields, share their insights, opinions, personal experiences, and professional journeys. Some of the names are more recognizable than others. I wasn’t overly enthusiastic the night we were scheduled to see Diana Nyad speak. I didn’t know her story at all other than it was something about swimming. The evening turned out to be one of the most moving and inspiring experiences I’ve ever had. Midway through I was leaning so far forward I was practically in the lap of the woman in the row ahead of me.
In mesmerizing fashion Diana Nyad shared her story. She was a successful swimmer in her twenties and then gave up swimming for thirty years. But she had always envisioned accomplishing a goal that both buoyed her and haunted her. And so at 64 years old after four devastating and nearly life ending attempts she successfully swam from Cuba to Key West, Florida. For 53 hours she swam 111 miles in shark and jellyfish infested waters. Listening to her journey, her determination, her refusal to give up and her insistence about chasing her dream was awe-inspiring. She was adamant about the fact that we're never too old to pursue what we love. She emphasized the importance of the presence of her team of experts in the boats beside her. Her accomplishment was firmly rooted in all the ways in which they supported and encouraged her.
A beautifully written impossible to put down narrative, that both deepened my respect for her and answered the questions about her trauma.
Like any other clinician it was impossible to not be curious about her “backstory.” I was deeply moved and incredibly impressed by her heroic feat and I also wondered if perhaps she was a trauma survivor. How was she able to manage the brutal workouts, the life-threatening nature of the swim, her almost dissociative ability to endure the hundreds of jellyfish stings, the frightening swells and winds, the endless darkness both above and under the water at night, the perpetual threat of lurking sharks? I became so curious about how her family-of-origin experiences marked her and primed her for this remarkable and almost unimaginable personal goal. And the next day my husband surprised me with her book. A beautifully written impossible to put down narrative, that both deepened my respect for her and answered the questions about her trauma. Yes, there was trauma. I urge you to read her book this summer! You will be moved and motivated. It will reinforce the absolute necessity of secure attachments, loving relationships, the power of positive self-talk, and the power of leaning on others when your hope runs dry. And you will also gain a deeper understanding of both the impact of trauma and the remarkable resiliency that many survivors can access and channel when they approach life from a place of post-traumatic growth.
