I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of the most

valuable gifts you can give yourself is time. Taking time to be more fully present. Your

journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right now.

Like so many of you, I watched Diana Nyad's first tentative steps returning to land

after more than two days at sea. I watched with wonder and amazement. Who is this woman? And how did she do that? What does it take to swim

110 miles straight? It was a dream that began when Diana was just five years old. Her father told her that her

last name Nyad meant champion

swimmer in Greek, and that would become her clarion call. She began swimming competitively in school,

driven and focused, sometimes practicing more than six hours a day. In 1978, when she was only 28, Diana attempted the 110-mile

marathon for the first time, but rough seas forced her to quit. A year later, after setting another

world record, she announced she was done. For more than 30 years, she did not swim a lap. Instead, she forged a new

path with a career in sports journalism. But in 2007, after her mother died, Diana began re-evaluating

her life, and that unfinished business of the Cuba swim began tapping her on the

shoulder. So at 60, Diana returned to the water, more fiercely determined than ever. She'd try it

another three times before finally, in her fifth grueling attempt against all odds on September 2nd, 2013.

Diana Nyad stood victorious.

So when I first heard you finished, I wanted to talk to you immediately.

It just filled me up because I just became a swimmer a couple years ago

and not that good at it, just, you know, okay.

I couldn't even imagine what it takes to do something for 53 hours straight.

And I recognized, as I know you do, that you had to transcend your

humanness and go beyond that to something else. Is that true?

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