The Channel of Discovery (29-46).

Before indulging in the Annette Bening version of the Diana Nyad story, I wanted to watch the documentary first. It was an accident, actually. I didn't even realize there was a documentary until I started searching for the movie.

In case you're unfamiliar (as I was), Diana Nyad is a woman possessed by a single vision: swimming from Cuba to the Florida Keys through shark and jellyfish infested waters. To do it, she must push beyond her physical and emotional limits — she already tried to do it once at the age of 28, and she's now in her seventh decade (!).

The story is a gripping representation of the grit and determination and will and refusal to ever accept defeat, qualities that are similarly embodied in the legendary story of Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27 men on their Imperial expedition to the Antarctic in a ship aptly named "The Endurance" — only this time, the protagonist is a woman clad in a swimsuit, sunscreen, and goggles.

There is a moment in the documentary after the third attempt (aka "fail") where the embers of desire take hold again and her devoted friend and coach, Bonnie Stoll, is struggling to get on board. You can see it in her face. There's a look of utter exasperation, disconnect and disbelief — and maybe even a little resentment having already witnessed Diana at the edge of death in her prior attempt. You can also see in Diana's face that she has already made the decision — she will do it alone if she has to. She is unable to let this dream die.

At this moment I began to wonder if she had the Human Design Channel of Discovery (29-46). (That's the traditional name of the Channel energetic that is best represented by the concept of "endurance.")

In our vernacular at Mastering Your Human Design, we call it "The Alpinist." It's a nod to the intense focus and training and extreme physical exertion and skill and refinement this particular athlete requires as they dig ever deeper to push beyond their physical limitations — while every step they take is a knife's edge between life and death. People with this channel have a deep awareness and connection to their physical form, driven to experience its extremes.

My nephew has it (he's a Marine). Matthew Perry had it (a master at physical comedy, he also struggled with the physical extremes of addiction and wrote a book about it.)

My curiosity about Diana's Human Design got the better of me, so I decided to put my intuition to the test and create a Human Design chart for her. While I didn't have her exact birth time, I had the date and location.

I plugged in "12:00" to split the difference in the 24-hour clock. Sure enough, she has this channel, and it's conscious. (This is next-level Human Design, beyond the basics of energy type, strategy, and decision-making authority. It's the level that helps you understand your gifts and whether or not you have conscious awareness of them so you can be more intentional in how you use them.)

I then created charts for other birth times throughout the day from 00:01 to 23:59, and the channel is conscious throughout. In addition, she is a "pure" Manifesting Generator with a direct connection from the Sacral center (our most powerful physical energy source) to the Throat center (where we manifest and express ourselves through words and actions) — basically, she creates energy by doing what she loves, and she loves long-distance swimming.

She also has the ancient, archetypal channel of physical survival (we call it "The Survivalist") that connects the Spleen (survival instinct and source of the different dimensions of existential fear, e.g. failure, death, past, future) and the Sacral (again, raw energy).

Finally, she has the Channel of Initiation (we call it "The Maverick") that connects the Heart center of commitment and will to the True North of one's inner GPS of the Self. It's a channel characterized by the pioneering urge to be first. She also has the Channel of Maturation, which we call "The Gardener". It's ultimately about progress and cycles of growth and adaptability that include beginnings, middles, and endings. People with this channel must finish what they start, or the thing will keep coming around again.

Any one of these channels would be enough to fuel a dream like Diana's — but all five working together — she was defenseless, and somewhere inside she knew it. So she did the only thing she could — she surrendered. Not to defeat, but to the dream.

What I love about the Diana Nyad story and her Human Design and why I think it's an important story to share, is how she was already living very much in alignment with her design without even knowing it. She embraced the outlier nature of her dream, her drive, and her will — her true self — whatever the consequences.

Each of us is born with a unique map and set of gifts that we're here to use intentionally — to enhance and evolve humanity. Nobody else can do what we came here uniquely to do. And yet, our uniqueness is what others often encourage us to mute or tone down so that we can fit in, instead of standing out.

Individuality can be inconvenient. It can also feel like a curse. Society is organized around large groups of sameness, and when you're built in a way that doesn't easily fit in or comply with the status quo, you're cast out.

I've experienced this first-hand most of my adult life. I was a solo-prenuer right out of business school in the early 1990's before it was a thing. I was labeled a dilettante. I changed my mind about my career a lot. I was perceived as non-committal or even flaky. I never married or had children. Friends and loved ones wondered out loud if I was gay.

While these more traditional choices of working for someone else or being committed to a single career or pairing up and procreating might work for others, they just never felt right for me. I enjoy my solitude. A lot. I also enjoy what I like to call "my life experiments" and explorations. Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman are my spirit guides. Walden and books are my happy place.

It turns out that my Human Design supports exactly the person I have eventually become — I have three of the four integration gates, forming three channels of self-empowerment. I also have a channel from the Individual circuit that loves to be left alone while pursuing their own version of creativity and beauty. No wonder I felt totally, completely "seen" for the first time when I finally met my Human Design. I am not designed to fit in — and seeing this brought me enormous, instantaneous relief because it meant I no longer had to try.

My life's choices have been a function of my needs, my time, my purpose, my horizon, my story and nobody else's. This has irritated or confused a lot of people in my life along the way as my lifestyle becomes an affront to theirs. But I am not here for other people to "figure out." I am just here to be.

Like Diana.

It's human nature to want to categorize and sort others into knowns and unknowns. In fact, it's part of our wiring and ancient survival strategy to be judgemental — it's how we navigate threats and avoid danger.

But there's a greater danger when we rush to put each other in boxes. It's the danger of not having ever really lived.

The reason we encourage people to stay small and predictable is because it keeps us from having to look at our own trail of forgotten, broken, abandoned or "failed" dreams. As long as the people around us stay stuck or small we can avoid taking personal accountability for that hollow feeling a little longer, dulling our pain and sensitivity with any variety of escape tactics.

But what kind of legacy is that?

Human Design teaches us that we're each built for something extraordinary. And while your unique gifts and tools might be a function of your unique blueprint — what you decide to do with them is entirely up to you.

So on this Saturday — the first day of the rest of your life — what dreams are you hiding from?

What dreams will you take to your grave?

Note: Every Human Design chart is more than the sum of its parts, and every element of a chart affects — and is affected by — every other element. Human Design is a deeply layered, complex system that integrates eastern and western traditions and wisdom. When I share discrete elements of a chart, I am simply sharing glimpses into the mechanics of Human Design (and the Gene Keys) to show others how they, too, can discern practical insights from their own charts into their uniqueness and the patterns of thought, behavior, conditioning, emotions, and psychology that keep them from achieving their highest potential.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash