Why I said yes
I never planned to swim across the San Francisco Bay.
My godfather asked if I wanted to do Shark Fest — the Alcatraz swim.
That was it.
And I don’t back down from a challenge.
This was the summer before I transferred to LSU — a season where I was saying yes to hard things and proving to myself I could finish them.
The training
Training wasn’t dramatic.
It was repetition.
Cold exposure.
Long swims.
Consistency when no one was watching.
There’s nothing glamorous about building tolerance.
But that’s the point.
Discipline compounds quietly.
The swim
Halfway through, I stopped for a moment and looked up.
In front of me: The San Francisco skyline.
Behind me: Alcatraz prison.
Below me: Water known for sharks and strong currents.
It felt surreal.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just real.
The same stretch of water that made the prison nearly impossible to escape from — and I was crossing it by choice.
What it reinforced
Cold water doesn’t negotiate.
Currents don’t care how you feel.
You either stay calm and keep moving — or you panic.
The lesson carried into everything else:
Exams.
Guard weekends.
Moving across the country.
You don’t wait until you feel ready.
You execute the plan.
What it represents now
That swim wasn’t about proving toughness.
It was about following through.
Skyline ahead.
Prison behind.
Just keep moving.
Key takeaway
Most limits are imagined.
Say yes to the challenge.
Then finish it.
— Myles
Discipline compounds.