Inspired by Diana Nyad and Roz Savage

In yesterday’s post, I asked, “Do you do things just so you can tell others you did them or do you do them for the sheer experience of doing them?” Today I take it a step farther and ask, “Do you focus so much on the finish that you miss the joy of the experience along the way?

Two women that inspire me to focus on my experiences rather than on the finish, and especially rather than thinking about impressing others are Diana Nyad and Roz Savage … both have had an exciting and challenging summer.

Diana Nyad is an American author, journalist and long-distance swimmer noted for her world record endurance championships. She is a member of the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. After not swimming for 31 years, Diana hit the water again about two years ago.

This summer Diana (age 62) planned to swim from Cuba to Key West, a distance of 103 miles (estimated 60 hours). She gave it two valiant attempts, the first one was cut short after 29 hours by an asthma attack. During the second attempt, Diane received two Portuguese Man-of-War stings and had to end the swim after more than 40 hours in the water.

Diana Nyad

Roz Savage is a British ocean rower and environmental campaigner. After 11 years working in London as a management consultant, she embarked on a new life direction – in a rowboat. She views herself as a recovering office worker.

Recently, on October 4, 2011, Roz became the first woman to row across the “Big Three” oceans of the world — the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. In 2006 she had completed her trip across the Atlantic. In 2010, she finished conquering the Pacific and this year the Indian Ocean.

Roz Savage

After Roz completed her trip last week, Diana interviewed her (video below) One question Diana asked was, “Will you remember the sight of the finish and the huge elation that you made it or will you remember the journey and how you felt alive and having to remind yourself what it takes to get there every day?”

Roz answered, “… I do love the arrival. It’s fantastic to see human faces again after 5 months of solitude. … but I suppose when I’m old I’ll remember the quiet little satisfactions. The times when I felt like I triumphed over myself … the pictures I have in my mind will be of the journey rather than of the arrival. 

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That tells me these women do what they do for the sheer experience of doing them … not focused on the finish or so that they can tell others what they did. I think that is why they inspire so many.

They are following their dreams and being true to who they are and what fulfills them … and that is attractive to all of us.

 

The interview continues with video 2, video 3 and video 4.

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Do you do things for the experience of doing them? Or do you focus so much on the arrival/finish that you miss the moments of satisfaction along the way?
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  • Janis

    People who focus on the goal only tend not to finish things, I’ve found — just because the process of getting to the goal can be so tiring and the goal so far away that they can’t stick with it.  Accomplishing anything that takes a long time is a matter of falling in love with the process of getting there.

    I tell people that who say that they wish they could play piano when they hear some really great piece.  Wanting to play a gorgeous scary piece — or getting to tell someone else you played it :-) — isn’t enough.  What you have to want is the small steps between that and where you are now, because that’s what it’s really composed of.  You have to want that process more than the goal or the minor payback of telling someone else about it.  It’s like handcrafting, too — that’s another analogy.  Wanting a huge beautiful handmade bedspread is all well and good, but if you don’t love the process of making those tiny little stitches over and over for its own sake, you’ll never get the bedspread.