Chicago Bus Driver Jumps Into Lake Michigan 365 Days in a Row to Ease Pandemic Stress
This wasn’t just any neighborhood lake. It was Chicago's Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes located entirely within the United States, with a water surface area of 22,300 square miles.
Like most of us, Dan O’Conor was anxious about the coronavirus pandemic.
To relieve his stress, the Chicago bus driver jumped into a lake. This wasn’t just any neighborhood lake. It was Chicago's Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes located entirely within the United States, with a water surface area of 22,300 square miles, according to the site Pure Michigan.
O’Conor, also knonw as “The Great Lake Jumper," began taking this leap of faith one day in June 2020, he told The New York Times. And, once he started, he didn't stop. Saturday marked his 365th jump.
The father of three said he continued to jump even on the coldest of days, poking a hole in the ice of the frozen lake that was big enough for him to jump through despite getting some cuts and bruises in the process, the Times reported.
“It was during the pandemic, it was during the protest, it was during an election year… So it was somewhere where I could come down where and block all that noise out and kind of be totally present with me in the lake, and find some moments of Zen.”
O’Conor said once he started posting videos on Twitter and Instagram messages he got from random strangers online sending him words of encouragement and positive energy his way kept him going.
“I got more wind in my nails there because people started commenting like, ‘This makes my days, it’s nice to see this,” he said, according to NCB5 Chicago.