Living Lucky® Podcast with Jason and Jana Banana

Give Up On Quitting: Never Quit On Your Dream

• Jana and Jason Shelfer • Season 5 • Episode 57

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Join us on a profound exploration of the indomitable human spirit through the awe-inspiring odyssey of Diana Nyad, the first individual to conquer the unassisted swim from Cuba to Florida at the age of 64. In this compelling episode, we uncover Nyad's tale of relentless determination, resilience, and triumph against daunting odds.

This isn't merely a story of an exceptional physical feat, but a masterclass in perseverance and alignment. Discover how Nyad's unyielding 'never give up' ethos propelled her through repeated failures and life-threatening challenges. Embrace her enduring spirit and learn how she transcended limitations, refusing to succumb to setbacks, ultimately achieving the seemingly impossible.

Learn the secrets behind Nyad's preparation for peak physical condition and how she navigated leading a team under extreme conditions. Delve into the fascinating role of technology, notably Google, in her strategy against jellyfish, an unexpected yet pivotal component of her survival tactics.

Nyad's journey showcases the immense power that surfaces when desires, decisions, and divine design converge. Her experience emphasizes the importance of unwavering belief in one's dreams, the significance of team support, and the timeliness of opportunities aligning with one's aspirations.

In this illuminating narrative, you'll be captivated by the profound wisdom gained from Nyad's story. It's a beacon of hope, illustrating that one pivotal decision to 'give up on giving up' can redefine the trajectory of one's life. Nyad's journey serves as a profound reminder to realign with our dreams, persevere through adversity, and embrace life's challenges with unyielding determination.

This episode transcends a mere retelling of a remarkable voyage; it's an inspirational anthem for all seeking motivation and a testament to the human spirit's infinite potential. Tune in and discover the magic of pushing beyond perceived limits to find victory and fulfillment.

#DianaNyad #TriumphOverAdversity #ResilienceStories #NeverGiveUp #InspiringJourneys #TriumphOfHumanSpirit #OvercomingChallenges #PeakPerformance #DreamPursuits #AchievingTheImpossible #PerseverancePodcast #TriumphantStories #AligningDreams #JourneyOfResilience #UnyieldingDetermination #EmpoweringNarratives
Peak Physical Condition, Team Management, Google Strategy, Jellyfish Survival, Overcoming Setbac

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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

*Previously Recorded

Speaker 1:

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start living lucky. Good morning. I'm Jana, I'm Jason and we are living lucky Because the Quitter's never quit quit, quit, quit, quit. Is that a Taylor Swift song?

Speaker 2:

And the winners never quit, quit, quit, quit, quit.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you only fail if you quit right.

Speaker 2:

Right. Yeah, it's hard to beat someone who just won't quit, who won't give up.

Speaker 1:

Oh, say that again, Jason. I feel like that's the quote of the day.

Speaker 2:

It is hard to beat someone who won't give up.

Speaker 1:

And that is exactly the position of Diana Nyab. We watch the movie. She is a water nymph. Nyad actually stands for water nymph. Who knew? I mean talk about your mission being your last name Water nymph. Now you know what does Shelfers stand for.

Speaker 2:

Just sit on a wall.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's sit on a wall.

Speaker 2:

Make her on the shelf. So, and the beautiful thing about this is she was adopted, so that wasn't really her biological name.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, well.

Speaker 2:

But she took the identity and she owned it and she loved it.

Speaker 1:

She was adopted into the perfect family that was destiny For her calling Now for anyone that does not know what we're talking about. We are talking about Diana Nyad. She was the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida Unassisted, meaning she did not have a shark cage or any other assisted device. She swam in the open waters you didn't have to take any breaks. It took her 53 hours to do it and she did it at the age of 64 years old. Years young, yeah 64 years young.

Speaker 2:

That's uninterrupted. Uninterrupted swimming.

Speaker 1:

So that means she didn't sleep at all, she just kept swimming and swimming. I mean, she was like that little goldfish on Nemo she just kept swimming, just keep going, keep swimming Keep swimming, Keep swimming. Yes, and what's so remarkable is it was her fifth attempt. She had tried it four other times and for various reasons. Whether it was a jellyfish.

Speaker 2:

The box jellyfish.

Speaker 1:

Clan that ended up attacking her face.

Speaker 2:

Almost killed her.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and then at one point, one time, they gave her some medicine that she was allergic to.

Speaker 2:

She got anaphylactic shock and the first time she ended up in the golf stream and got off course too far In the current. Yeah, the first time she was 28 years old and then she went for 30 years without touching it.

Speaker 1:

And that was so remarkable. So let's start there. She's 28 years old, probably in the physical prime of her life. She's a marathon swimmer in the prime of her life and she doesn't make it and so and she gives it her all. I mean this was her 110%. Jason hates it when I say 110%, he's like it's 100%, but she gave it one.

Speaker 2:

Nothing greater than the whole.

Speaker 1:

And at that point she said you know what I did? My absolute best. I don't think I could have done any better. So she stops and stops trying and is like you know what I couldn't have done any better? That was my best attempt. It can't be done by me. We have to imagine.

Speaker 2:

At the time that she did that I mean you said it she was 28 years old, she is a gold medalist Olympic marathon swimmer and she tries. And this is something that's never been done before, so it's out of the possibility. It's like the four minute mile, so it can't be done. It's in that impossible zone. In fact, people said it's a well, and people even said it's not possible, and which made it even more attractive to her. She's like I think I can do this, but then she tries it and she comes up way short in the prime of her life.

Speaker 1:

And so then she fears people. Not just a little short, way short, she comes up way short.

Speaker 2:

And then she's hearing people say well, we knew it wasn't possible, and if you can't do it, it can't be done all these things. And then 30 years nobody can do it and nobody does it she literally puts it on the back burner.

Speaker 1:

It's in the back of her mind and she goes about her life. However, there's that little whisper, there's that little whisper of huh. I wonder, if I wonder, I wonder I could have been a contender, that's what it is.

Speaker 2:

I could have been a contender. And she's feeling like there's something missing. There's that fire missing in her belly. There's that fire missing in her body.

Speaker 1:

There's something bigger and better. I have felt that before. I have felt that in my belly, I have felt the burn. There's something bigger and better. You can do this, you can do it.

Speaker 2:

You can do it. She's been going through the motions of life doing things, working harder, working faster, trying to do all these things to kind of fill that void. But that voice of something bigger and better is calling you towards your purpose, towards what you're meant to do. And then she said she had a birthday and she said I'm gonna do it.

Speaker 1:

I'm like it's time. If you don't listen to that voice, you start dying.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it helps you and that's exactly what happens.

Speaker 1:

Your soul starts to die because your soul starts saying well, if you're not gonna listen to me, I'm just gonna shut up and die, because I'm bored to death on this planet just going through the motions I am bored.

Speaker 2:

You're working to death for nothing.

Speaker 1:

I didn't come here to just celebrate birthdays and play Scrabble. That's not what I came here to do. I came here to swim the ocean and to be a trailblazer and to have adventures and to stretch myself and to see if I could do what nobody else thought was possible. That's what my soul came here to do, and if you're going to stand in my way, then I'm just going to die.

Speaker 2:

So she didn't give up. She brought it back to life. She fanned the flames. She fanned the flames and listened to her soul.

Speaker 1:

And not only. This is what is so, so incredible. And she finally finished. She had three things to say. She said never give up.

Speaker 1:

Never give up. And she said it takes a team. It takes a team. And I felt like that was, I mean, the whole time she was doing this, even though swimming seems like it's a solo sport If she hadn't had gotten her best friend on board and said I need somebody to believe in me. I need somebody out there that is cheering me on, encouraging me. I need somebody to share this with. I need somebody to keep me company on those times that I want to quit. I need somebody to walk alongside me. I need a partner because and isn't that true in everything we do, we need a team. It is a team. Everything's a team. Sport we need energy, can go so far, but if you get a team behind you, that energy becomes exponential.

Speaker 2:

Am I right?

Speaker 1:

Jason, or am I right?

Speaker 2:

You are right 100%, 10%, even and I know that's something I go against. But I think you only gave us two of the things, because I think the other thing that she said was your dream is worth believing in. So your dream is worth believing in. Never give up. And it looks like a solitary sport, but it's a team effort. It's always a team effort, regardless of what you're doing, because somebody's teaching you, you're learning from somebody, you're aspiring to be somebody. Even your different versions of yourself are pulling you towards this and pushing you towards your dream, if you open up to it.

Speaker 1:

No, she said your dream, I believe, to piggyback off of that third thing that you said. She said it's never too late, it's never too late.

Speaker 1:

And I know that so many times we have these limiting beliefs and I know one of those limiting beliefs is oh well, you know what I'm already? I'm already this age, so why would I start climbing this mountain now? Well, that is, what is so beautiful about Diana Nyad's story is because when she was 28,. Yeah, she was in physical peak condition, but she didn't have the experience. She didn't have the expertise in managing a team. She didn't know how to fundraise, she didn't know how to do the media, she didn't know how to mentally mentally manage her emotions and her, her thoughts, and how to zen out while she was underwater. And she didn't know how to Google. She didn't know how to. She needed to know how to Google.

Speaker 1:

I mean, that is the truth when it came to managing the jellyfish. I mean, timing has a lot to do with this, because there came a point where she needed the right equipment and the right technology in order to protect herself from the jellyfish. She needed the right people to come along and say, oh well, this is what you need, and she needs those people to be far enough along in their journey so that they crisscross and have the right synchronicity and and align. I mean everything needs to come in alignment. So when Jason and I often say it's when your desires align with your decisions, align with your divine design, and that's when the synchronicities happen the right opportunities, the right people, everything will just fall into place and God will make it happen. And it happens fast. It happens so fast that you're going to all of a sudden go like a thief in the night.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So all the whole time you're telling that story, I've got this big Cheshire cat grin on my face because I'm just hearing living lucky in this vortex of success that looks like a cyclone, pulling all the right people, all the right experience, opportunities, like everything into place for the dream to happen. And that is living lucky. When you get that type of alignment and that energy flow, things come into that flow and start working with you and it's amazing and it's beautiful and it's fun.

Speaker 1:

And the first thing you have to do is you have to be big and brave enough to face your own fears, to get out of your own way, to get out of that comfort zone and say you know what? I'm gonna show up, I'm gonna play full out and I'm gonna be my best self. I'm gonna do the damn thing.

Speaker 2:

And know that you might hit a wall. But hitting the wall doesn't mean that it's wrong, doesn't mean that you did something wrong. It just meant that you hit a wall and if it's your dream, you keep going, you figure out the way around.

Speaker 1:

Hitting a wall is actually a blessing. Every time they hit a wall, they learn something. Yes, boom. And every time they learn something, it propelled them to even go further, to even go further, to go a little faster. And they needed that knowledge so that they could hit that stream right at the right time. Because if you know anything about oceans and currents, you have to hit that current right at the right opportunity. Otherwise it's gonna pull you way out into the, into the nether regions.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, you're gonna be going in the wrong direction. Oh man, it inspired me and I'm telling you, if you have any doubt, any uncertainty inside you, or if you're wavering thinking, I know I may have a dream inside me I'm kind of thinking about you need to watch this movie.

Speaker 2:

You need to watch this movie.

Speaker 1:

It's on Netflix. It's with Jodie Foster and Annette Benning and I'm telling you, these two broads, they brought it. They brought it Jason and I. We were enamored with even their acting. I was like these guys are great, they are so believable in these two roles and they are just phenomenal actresses and I just I loved everything about this movie. I loved it.

Speaker 2:

It's a tearjerker at the end, but it's a. It brings to mind the three feet from gold. Like how often do we stop in life? Like how often do people give up three feet from gold? And they had no idea that they were so close to realization of that dream. And it was because, like if she had stopped after that fourth attempt and said, you know what? I got stung again. I gave it my all, we put in a whole another year of training and then they went out and it was like the weather wasn't bad. It was like there was, but things lined up. Things ended up taking like they had the right team in place. They did have like everything did come together in that fine moment where it was like, wow, it was perfect.

Speaker 1:

And here's what's so great about the whole thing Is that final time that they went out, they really just went out for the adventure and the fun of it. They really just went out because they were like I would rather be out here and be on the water and even if we just have a glimpse of yeah, I believe we can do it, even if we can just get a glimpse of that, I would rather do that than be sitting on the couch thinking I wonder if I wonder what would have happened?

Speaker 2:

I'd rather be chasing dreams and chasing regret.

Speaker 1:

I wonder what would have happened if we would have tried one more time. Oh, so good, so good. Say your quote one more time. Let's repeat it from the beginning.

Speaker 2:

Oh, it's hard to beat someone who was, who won't give up, give up on giving up.

Speaker 1:

Give up on giving up.

Speaker 2:

That's your quote.

Speaker 1:

Give up on giving up. Have a great day, guys. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 2:

Bye.

Speaker 1:

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