Diana Nyad talks about her inspiring swim: “You look and see what’s inside yourself, and you find a way”

Diana Nyad has a lot of people – myself included – thinking about undertaking new challenges that take us out of our comfort zone.

On Labor Day, the famed long-distance swimmer made history by becoming the first person to ever swim from Cuba to Florida – that’s 103 miles in 53 hours – without a shark cage, flippers or a wetsuit.

Diana is 64 and this was her fifth try.

I had followed some of her previous attempts and, quite frankly, I thought she was not going to be able to ever make this dream come true.

But she did!

She told CNN’s New Day that things just went her way.

“This time, I got lucky,” she said. “I mean, the waves were tough. The jellyfish mask, that I’m so lucky to have, made me take in a lot of salt water. I was very sick. But, the Gulf Stream was my friend.”

“When you’re feeling good and you’re cruising through the daylight hours, you’re singing Neil Young songs to yourself. And counting in French and German and Spanish. Just passing the time in sort of metronomic ways,” Diana said. “But when you’re suffering, and I have to say that through the nights, I had two nights of full suffering this time with the mask with the salt water. Now you’re not thinking of anything. You’re just coping and surviving, and your team is somehow helping you making it through every 15 minutes, every hour. Let’s not give up.”

On the meaning behind her swim, Diana said: “The people that follow me aren’t sports hounds…. They’re human beings who are dealing with their own heartaches, and their own obstacles in life. And they want to know how to get through. And I think I’m a person who represents, A, You never give up. You find a way if something really is important to your heart, you look and see what’s inside yourself, and you find a way.”

What’s next for this amazing athlete?

During October 8-10, she will be swimming for 48 hours in a pool built in New York City to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. From there, she will take this fundraising event to help the victims of the Boston marathon attack and Moore, Oklahoma tornado.