I still remember the days, not wanting to see anybody, not wanting to talk to anybody, really not wanting to live. I was on an express elevator to the bottom floor, wherever that might be.
Interpretation
The quote reflects a time of deep personal struggle and the desire to retreat from the world.
In this quote, Michael Phelps shares a vulnerable moment from his life when he felt overwhelmed and isolated, expressing a profound sense of despair. This imagery of being on an 'express elevator to the bottom floor' conveys the rapid descent into hopelessness and the emotional turmoil that can accompany mental health challenges, highlighting the importance of acknowledging such feelings and the journey toward recovery.
In practice
Using this quote to encourage individuals in a mental health workshop.
I want to be able to look back and say, 'I've done everything I can, and I was successful.' I don't want to look back and say I should have done this or that. I'd like to change things for the younger generation of swimmers coming along.
For so long, I looked at myself as literally a kid who was talented who would go up and down the pool. That's it. Nothing else. Very few people knew who I really was.
I don't want to be the next Mark Spitz; I want to be the first Michael Phelps
There are too many kids who are drowning for lack of water safety. That's something I'd like to do. Teaching kids to live an active lifestyle.
My goal is one Olympic gold medal. Not many people in this world can say, 'I'm an Olympic gold medalist.'
I know it won't be eight medals again. If you want to compare me to that, that's your decision, not mine. I'm going out there to try to accomplish the things that I have in my mind and in my heart.
Sir, it is not God who will assemble us on the battlefield, nor position our troops, nor place the cannon, and it is not God who will aim the musket.
As a black, you find you have to be two or three times better than a white even to play. And when it comes to front-office jobs, management believes you'll never be as good.
Action cures fear. Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fertilize fear.
The strangest of our powers _x000D_ Is the courage to live _x000D_ Knowing that we will die, _x000D_ Knowing nothing more true.
Martial arts is not for hurting people, it's for protecting people.
I think nowadays it's so easy as an athlete to become a statistic whether or not you lose everything or having trouble or whatever it may be.
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