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.
The principal act of courage is to endure and withstand dangers doggedly rather than to attack them.
It is something that is called MDS. It is a rare blood disorder that affects the bone marrow. I'm going to beat this. My doctors say it and my faith says it.
You can get claustrophobia and agoraphobia - a fear of wide, open spaces - simultaneously on a spacewalk.
Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country's cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause.
What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist — the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art. You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too. Help, you women of privilege, give her the ballot to fight with.
The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service.
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