Swimming to Antarctica
Brrrrrrr!!! Just finished reading Lynne Cox’s Swimming to Antarctica, and that title is not a typo. She really did it–1.06 miles in 32-degree water that left her shivering so hard her teeth nearly fell out.
And gee, what have I done today?
I tell you, if you want to get motivated in life, read about someone else’s extreme weather achievements. Helen Thayer (author of Polar Dream, the first woman and first American to circumnavigate the Magnetic North Pole), >Dr. Jerri Nielsen (the South Pole doctor who discovered she had breast cancer while down there, and had to do some pretty gnarly self-treatment–see her book Icebound), Ellen MacArthur (the youngest person and fastest woman to sail around the world alone).
(By the way, I do also read books by adventurous men. See two of my favorites by Bill McKibben and Tim Cahill.)
It’s like Geena Davis (our first woman president–not our last) says: “If a person can do it, I can do it.” That would explain her qualifying for the Olympics in archery a few years ago. She must have figured, why not? And she makes an excellent point: We all have human bodies and human brains, and it’s at least theoretically possible–with enough training and bravery and a long list of other details–that we can accomplish whatever anyone else can. Sure, age and body type and temperament and finances and a whole lot of other things go into what we’re able to achieve, but what’s wrong with starting out thinking, “There’s no reason I can’t do this”?
What I love about Helen Thayer’s story (Polar Dream) is that she became the first woman to trek solo to the Magnetic North Pole–cross-country skiing, hauling all her food and supplies on a sled behind her, with only her dog Charlie for company–and that she did it when she was fifty. I first read her book back in my 20s (and I’ve read it about six more times since then, I love it so much), and I remember how happy it made me to think I might do something so physically amazing when I was 50. Of course, I’ve haven’t done anything like that yet, so I probably ought to get started. Build up my strength like Helen did by rigging a harness around my waist to drag truck tires through the woods. Better add that to my List.
So there you have three great books to add to your list: Swimming to Antarctica, Polar Dream, and Icebound. If any of you have some book recommendations for me, please let me know. I can’t read enough of this stuff.
Technorati Tags: Reading, Books, Book Recommendations, Book Lists, Motivation, Goals, Goal-Setting, Lynne Cox, Helen Thayer, Ellen MacArthur, Jerri Nielsen, Geena Davis