You may have already heard the recent news about Diana Nyad’s huge achievement of swimming from Cuba all the way to Florida. This is a fascinating story because of how challenging this was for Diana, and the amazing achievement it represents. Think about it… She is 64 years old, and she covered 110 miles of ocean by swimming for almost 53 hours! To top it all off, she was in the water without a shark cage, and had to deal with jelly fish stings and other hazards.
But what’s really amazing to me about this story, is the incredible amount of persistence this woman has. The first time she tried to make this trek was in the 1970’s, and had failed at it four times! But she just kept trying. She kept pursuing her goal. Think about it, the first time she tried and failed, she was in her late 20’s. Most people would have given up eventually. Especially as we get older, we start to give up on some of our dreams because we feel like it’s just too hard to achieve them, or maybe we just missed too many previous opportunities. But that’s absolutely the wrong attitude, and Diana’s accomplishment is a great example of where persistence can take you.
When you look at what she did, the question to ask is how she could have swam for so long, and how she could put up with such a grueling ordeal. Is it because she’s in great shape and trained hard? That’s definitely part of the equation. But there’s no way she could have accomplished this if she didn’t believe in herself. There’s no way she could have stayed in that water, just pushing forward, minute after minute, if she didn’t believe in her heart that she could do it. And that’s what many of us forget on a daily basis. Whatever dreams and goals we have, we just have to believe in them wholeheartedly, and work toward them step by step, little by little.
This kind of attitude can make a huge difference in anything you do, including building a secure retirement for yourself. Whether you are already retired or are thinking about it, you have to realize that it’s never too late to start working toward a better future for yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’ve had setbacks before. It doesn’t matter if you lost a huge chunk of your savings in the market crashes. And it doesn’t matter if you regret not having set more money aside in previous years. Do you know why? Because all of that was in the past, and you can’t do anything about it anymore. So you accept any mistakes you may have made, you learn those lessons, and you move forward. Why? Because unlike trying to fix the past, you actually CAN do something about your future. You can save more NOW, you can budget better NOW, and you can plan better NOW. So the next time you’re feeling a little down, or maybe a little discouraged about not having a large enough nest egg; cheer up, and think of all the people like Diana who achieved something seemingly impossible. And then realize that the task before you is actually not as impossible as it seems! Looking over your bills on a monthly basis, cutting spending, setting aside more money for the future, and building a good retirement for yourself may be tough, but it’s WAY easier than trying to swim 110 miles for 53 hours, with jellyfish stinging your face all the way.