Diana Nyad shares the epic playlist that kept her motivated on her swim from Cuba to Florida

Diana Nyad swam 110 miles from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage, a journey that took her just under 53 hours last September. In today’s talk, Nyad gives a vivid account of what it was like to be out in the water, making her fifth attempt at this swim — one she first tried in 1978 when she was 28 years old. So how did she make it through the jellyfish, the unpredictable currents and the darkness “like you’ve never seen?”

[ted_talkteaser id=1896]The answer, as Nyad reveals in today’s talk: a deep belief in perseverance, and some really good songs. Nyad says that singing a playlist to herself over and over again — anchored by John Lennon’s “Imagine” played more than 100 times — helped tremendously.

We asked Nyad to share the motivational playlist that propelled her through the swim and all the training it required. She obliged. As…