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Ep. 154- Aron Ralston’s Amazing Story: “The Boulder Didn’t Take my Arm, it Gave me Everything Else” — Transcript

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0:00Hello and welcome to the Bamboo Lab
0:03podcast with your host, Peak Performance
0:05[music] Coach, Brian Booseley. Are you
0:08stuck on the hamster wheel of life,
0:10spinning and spinning, but not really
0:12moving [music] forward? Are you ready to
0:14jump off and soar? Are you finally ready
0:17to sculpt your life? If so, [music]
0:20you've landed in the right place. This
0:22podcast is created and broadcast just
0:24for you. All of you strive, thrivers,
0:28and survivors out there. If you'd like
0:30to [music] learn more about Brian and
0:31the Bamboo Lab, feel free to reach out
0:34to explore your true peak level at
0:36www.bamboo3.com.
0:41Welcome everyone to this week's episode
0:43of the Bamboo Lab podcast. As always,
0:46I'm your host Brian Booseley. Folks, I'm
0:49just I'm not going to give a big
0:51introduction or bio to this guest that
0:53we have today, but I will give you a
0:55clue.
0:57Back in 2003, in April of 2003, there
1:01was a young man and his 20 27 years old
1:05was out doing a solo descent of Blue Jo
1:07Blue John Canyon in Utah. And something
1:10happened. He slipped down this creasse
1:14and a rock followed him down and crushed
1:17his right arm.
1:20He was stuck there for several days.
1:23And what he had to do to get to freedom
1:26and save his life is a story you'll
1:28never forget. You may know him by his
1:31book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
1:33Amazing read. We'll have a link to that
1:35on the show notes today. or you may
1:37remember the movie starring James Franco
1:40of called 127 Hours.
1:43Enough hints. Today we have Aaron Rston
1:46on. Aaron, my new friend. Welcome to the
1:48Bamboo Lab podcast.
1:51>> Thank you so much, Brian. I I appreciate
1:53it. Yeah, oftentimes I'm just simply
1:55known as the guy that cut his arm off.
1:57[laughter] I I
2:00I'm glad you gave a little bit more
2:01context to it.
2:02>> Okay. Well, I do have to tell you this,
2:03Erin. My mom's never seen the movie. My
2:05mom doesn't watch TV other than the
2:07three channels she has. You know, she's
2:09never read the book. My mom is 90 years
2:10old. She's she'll be listening to this.
2:12She's the [clears throat] first guest.
2:12She's the first listener of every show.
2:14I was out out hiking today and I called
2:17her and I actually spoke to her through
2:19my whole hike. And we were talking about
2:21the I have to go back and do a podcast
2:22this afternoon. She do you have? And I
2:24told her and she I she I didn't tell her
2:27about the arm part till I told her your
2:29story and you know you're hiking and
2:30you're you know climbing these mountains
2:31cuz I hike a lot and and and I said,
2:34"You know how we got free?" She goes,
2:35"No, I said he cut his arm off." And she
2:37went, "Oh my god." She couldn't. She was
2:40just flat. She was flabbergasted. So,
2:42what do you think she What do you think?
2:43She said to me, "Brian, you make sure
2:45you're careful when you're out hiking."
2:47I'm like, "I'm not hiking Utah, man. And
2:49I'm not going down in caves and
2:51canyons."
2:53>> But that is a good lesson. You know, let
2:54your mom know where you're going.
2:56>> Be careful. Watch out for falling rocks.
2:58Carry a sharp knife.
3:01>> Cover the bases here. You know, until I
3:04watched the movie again last night for
3:05the second time, Aaron, I didn't realize
3:07then that the um the u the Yeah, there
3:11your multi-purpose tool you had was
3:13actually a cheap one.
3:17>> So cheap. It was free actually. Yes.
3:19Technically [laughter]
3:21with a flashlight. Yeah.
3:24>> Yeah. when I go out with friends and you
3:27know there's a there's an opportunity
3:29like oh hey we we need a knife or
3:31something like h sorry guys famously I
3:33only carry dull pocket knives so I'm no
3:36I'm no no no no use here you know but we
3:38need to cut the salami and cheese for
3:40lunch like yep now here
3:43>> that one you could probably handle with
3:44that knife
3:47>> I don't know it was it was not much
3:50better than the like handle end of a
3:53spoon really But it it did get the job
3:56done. I'll I'll say after six days.
3:58Yeah.
3:59>> After six. Do you still have that knife?
4:01>> I do actually. I'm looking at it right
4:03across my office. But uh I have a I have
4:05a little you know museum including Yeah.
4:09that tool. Uh it's uh yeah, it was not
4:12the one that I would take uh but it
4:15happened to be the one I had in my um in
4:17my glove box. And I love the sort of the
4:19metaphor of that. you know that you they
4:21say you you you go to battle with the
4:23army you have not the army you want so
4:26sometimes you find yourself you know
4:27cutting your arm off with the tool you
4:29have not the tool you want but it's how
4:32life goes sometimes
4:33>> that right there is a great lesson for
4:35anybody I think going through any
4:37problem you have right now in life it
4:39doesn't matter what it is you know
4:40because I think so often Erin when we're
4:42going through a problem you know
4:43obviously not as as egregious as yours
4:45most often but any emotional financial
4:48health problem relationship problem.
4:50It's like we're looking for all these
4:51other tools. We're looking for more
4:53help, but sometimes you just have to
4:55fight with what you have and, you know,
4:57and and make the best of it, which you
4:59clearly did. [laughter]
5:00>> It's it's the it's the best way to
5:03create peace to find uh presence in
5:07life. It's it's about being, you know,
5:09in in this very moment, not in some
5:11other moment that you wish you were or
5:13that, you know, where you had more or
5:15less or that you Yeah. you're just here
5:18with it. And yeah, I I think it is it's
5:22really solid advice, especially because
5:24that's that's what we're made of. I
5:26mean, if we jump jumping already into
5:28the the metaphysics of it all, but that
5:30it's it's really in the end, it's about
5:33our presence in this experience as human
5:37uh beings that we we don't always get to
5:40know everything we'd like to know before
5:42we have to make a choice or a decision.
5:44We we don't always get to have all the
5:46resources that we'd prefer to have and
5:48yet we still are in this. And so to give
5:51ourselves the grace with that and also
5:54to find the courage to take bold action
5:56because that's that's really where the
5:57genius and the magic of life comes too.
6:01It's still about taking that leap uh
6:04making as it were for me making that cut
6:08and not knowing but committing to a
6:11process rather than an outcome. Oh, I
6:14love it. Well, we're going to get into
6:15all what you've learned because I I I'm
6:17so curious to see where you've come from
6:19that 27 year old man to now next in
6:21October going to be joining the 50 the
6:2350-y old men club here. Um, we'll get
6:25into that in a minute. Can you tell us
6:27all of us a little bit about who you
6:29are? Look, your childhood, where you
6:30grew up, Erin, a little bit about your
6:32family, or maybe is was there any one
6:34person that inspired you growing up? So,
6:36a little bit about your background.
6:38>> Yeah, for sure. I mean, I know you're
6:40based in the Midwest. I grew up in Ohio
6:43and Indiana that I was born out in a a
6:47rural farmstead. Uh, I mean after we
6:50came home from the hospital, but uh,
6:53yeah, I I grew up surrounded by
6:55cornfields and soybeans and uh, yeah,
6:58cows and that was my dad's industry that
7:01eventually brought us to Indiana with
7:04the cattleman's association and then to
7:06uh, Colorado with the sheep industry
7:08association and I was 11 years old
7:11moving to the west in the Rocky
7:13Mountains and my family we started going
7:15out on vacations to the national parks
7:18and exploring all these grand landscapes
7:21and getting into the the sports and
7:22activities as one does out here. It's uh
7:27kind of the amenities lifestyle that I
7:29still appreciate and and pursue today.
7:32It was skiing. It then got into hiking
7:35and rafting and just all the exploring
7:38and both the exploring of of the
7:41mountains but also the exploring that
7:43happens internally which became more of
7:46the quest for me as I went through my
7:49adolescence and had my challenges. that
7:52it was among the first boulders in my
7:55life as I make this metaphor about the
7:56rock of course that that befell me in
7:59blue canyon but that I was a kid who had
8:04come to a new state new school didn't
8:07have friends and and relations here that
8:10it was exacerbated by me being
8:15an accelerated kid uh and gifted and
8:18talented like I skipped a grade and so I
8:20was the smallest and youngest kid in the
8:23whole school. And that didn't go great
8:26for me back in an era before we had
8:28anti-bullying programs and inclusivity
8:31programs and all the rest of it like
8:32that my kids get to enjoy today. But it
8:36then fell to my ego and self-esteem
8:38project to find a way where I could
8:40build myself up in the midst of the
8:44feeling from others that I was less than
8:46or not enough. And I think it's a pretty
8:49universal experience when we we have
8:52those suspicions or fears that we aren't
8:56good enough or that we're not worthy of
8:59love or respect. And we then have
9:03various strategies, compensations, uh
9:06for me defense mechanisms even that uh
9:10part of it was to include uh yeah the
9:15proof to others that I was enough that I
9:18was capable especially in then areas
9:20outside of academics. And of course you
9:23can see this leads to uh the
9:26explorations, the adventuring and trying
9:28to uh be not just enough but even
9:32better. Uh and to then do things and I
9:37set about a project in my early 20s
9:40where I decided I was going to try to
9:43become the first person to ever climb
9:45all of the highest mountains that we
9:46have in Colorado in the wintertime solo,
9:50which was something that had never been
9:51done before. And if you think for a
9:53moment about why that might be, it had
9:55never been done before. It's because it
9:57was stupid dangerous, just on the
9:59ridiculous level of upstream. And yet I
10:03embarked on that and
10:06>> survived my learning curve along the way
10:08through many, many adversities, which
10:11taught me a great deal about myself that
10:13I was someone who was capable, that I I
10:15could do things that that seemed
10:17impossible. And in the midst of that, I
10:22was about 34 of the way through that
10:24project of all these almost 60 mountains
10:27that we have that rise above 14,000 ft
10:29above sea level. Uh that I quit my
10:33career as a mechanical engineer and
10:35decided to move to uh Aspen in Colorado
10:39where I was working in a little mountain
10:40shop. And then in the off season of my
10:43winter solo project, I found myself out
10:46on a walk in the park in Blue John
10:48Canyon. And so I was a very experienced
10:51outdoorsman by that point and
10:54definitely overlooked some of the
10:57potential consequences of my choices
11:00that day. I made choices to go by myself
11:03as I often did, but in this instance, I
11:05didn't leave an itinerary. No one knew
11:08what state I was in. And so I was out in
11:10the middle of that hike then when fate
11:13would deliver me a very interesting
11:17answer to a question that I long asked
11:20which was who would I be? What would I
11:22do if my life were on the line?
11:27>> Well, that question was answered.
11:31[laughter]
11:31>> Yeah. If we have doubts, if we have
11:33those kinds of uh I curiosities in our
11:38lives like you know am I good enough? Am
11:40I am I worthy that you know what would I
11:43do? I had been inspired by other stories
11:46of adventures, misadventures, people who
11:48had found themselves on the very edge of
11:52of experience of survival and people who
11:57found something in themselves. And I
11:59wondered what what's inside of me. Now,
12:03that was not on the forefront of my mind
12:05as I was descending that canyon that
12:06day. I was just out for a good time. I
12:09was
12:11celebrating a successful winter of
12:14climbing and that it was for me to take
12:18like spring break. Winter was over. It
12:21was now the end of April. It was 80
12:23degrees out in the desert. Uh just
12:25gorgeous bluebird days. Beautiful
12:28sandstone slot canyons. Not the Grand
12:30Canyon. These are are micro canyons
12:34almost in in the sense that they might
12:36only be as wide as your shoulders and
12:39maybe five to 10 stories deep and that
12:41you're descending down. There can be
12:43drop offs, repels, the down climbs and
12:47it's uh it's largely especially in a a
12:51canyon that's been been documented. It's
12:56it's uh an adventure, but you still
12:59mostly know what's coming. And yeah, I I
13:04was not at all put off by the the idea
13:07that okay, I'm going down through this
13:09section by myself. Uh that there might
13:12be risks um that I couldn't get myself
13:15through. Now, that was all without
13:18anticipating, of course, that the exact
13:20circumstance that befell me, maybe a one
13:22ina- million kind of situation, but that
13:25I dislodged a rock that I was climbing
13:28down off of that was stuck between the
13:31walls of the canyon, kind of an an
13:34obstacle at the edge of a drop off, and
13:37I was using it to continue my descent.
13:40And when I was dangling from it at full
13:42extension as if I just slammed dunked a
13:45basketball off the backside of it, uh
13:48that I I torqued that boulder uh free
13:53from its its moorings where it was
13:55wedged and I was falling then in the
13:58bottom of the canyon. The rock was
13:59falling from my head. And just in the
14:00split second as I put my arms up above
14:03my [clears throat] my skull to try to
14:06protect myself and push myself out from
14:09under the rock. I was successful in
14:11that, but of course I exposed my hands.
14:14And as the boulder ricocheted between
14:15the walls, it smashed my left hand just
14:18for a split second. It rebounded,
14:22smashed my right hand against the right
14:24wall of the canyon. It It bounced once
14:27more. And in that split second, now my
14:31hands slipped in between the boulder and
14:33the wall even further as then the walls
14:36tapered down in this constriction right
14:38in front of my chest where the boulder
14:40became wedged as it had been but about 7
14:43feet lower down right in front of me as
14:45I'm standing in this narrow defile in
14:47the canyon bottom. and my arm was now
14:52disappearing, crushed into this
14:54impossibly small shadow between the
14:56boulder and the wall of the canyon.
14:59>> Okay, I've got a question for you. As we
15:02talk on here about so much about human
15:03behavior and peak performance and the
15:05human mind,
15:07>> what is the first thought that hap
15:10what's the first thing that goes to your
15:11head when you look and see your hand and
15:13your arm trapped?
15:17There was a moment before I even felt
15:20the sensation of it where it was just a
15:24shock of disbelief of of not not being
15:26able to understand and comprehend. Like
15:29it looked like my arm had been swallowed
15:33by the boulder and the wall that that as
15:36if somehow it I just like plugged my arm
15:39up to like where you would wear a
15:41wristwatch into this um
15:46It was it was a gap of about a half an
15:48inch like the width of my piggy finger
15:50as opposed to three or three and a half
15:52inches wide that your wrist is there.
15:55>> So it it was just the impossibility the
15:58visual impossibility of of what I was
16:00seeing. And then of course there's
16:03that's that's
16:05a micro delay of the time it takes for
16:08the sensation to travel from your nerves
16:11all the way up to your brain. And boom,
16:13now the pain, something I'd never
16:16experienced before. And that was where,
16:19of course, the next micro delay is the
16:23adrenaline rush that comes out where I
16:27am filled up with the fury of of of
16:31range of energy trying to harness it as
16:34I I had some cognition that okay, this
16:37is this is actually an opportunity here.
16:39use all that and brute force to try to
16:43lift the rock, try to rip my arm free,
16:45try I mean I was punching the boulder, I
16:47was cursing at it like like it you're
16:50[clears throat] just offended into
16:51letting me go. Uh but it was very clear
16:55even though this this rage lasted for
16:58over 45 minutes that I was not going to
17:02brute force my way through this. I was
17:04going to have to eventually, and I and I
17:06did. After taking a lot of deep breaths,
17:08I was able to use what I now see in
17:11hindsight as as a a rubric to manage
17:15crisis, which is this stop acronym, the
17:18ST, to stop, take a breath, to t think
17:22my way through this as opposed to trying
17:24to brute force my way through it. that I
17:27might be able to uh oh make some
17:30observations and come up with some
17:32options and p decide on a plan that I
17:35would I could use some of that
17:36mechanical engineering background that I
17:38had that I would be able to problem
17:40solve like rationally use some of the
17:42tools that are in my brain as opposed to
17:45just the strength that's in my muscles
17:47to
17:49yeah get myself out of this predicament
17:51that I found myself in.
17:53>> Okay, I got so many questions to ask
17:55you. Um,
17:58the one question I have for you, and
18:00this is a big one. So, the one question
18:03I ask everybody, um, quite frankly, that
18:05I'm not going to ask you, is what is the
18:07one of the biggest obstacles you've ever
18:08had to come over or what is the one of
18:09the biggest challenges you've ever had
18:10in your life? Now, let's let's forego
18:13that question today. Um,
18:15>> well, I got a list of about another
18:16dozen [laughter] I could help you out
18:18with.
18:19>> That are much more universal. Like I
18:21mean it's I don't know I'm interjecting
18:23here but I do think you know to to
18:26humanize me that I'm I'm not just this
18:28character from this esoteric story but
18:30that you know I've I've gone through
18:32like I mentioned bullying and being
18:34ostracized by my peers in my adolescence
18:38that of course like financial hardships
18:41at times where you know cumulatively my
18:44my debt far exceeded by like orders of
18:47magnitude my my checkbook balance es and
18:52you know my my income even that there
18:54have been plenty of times where my
18:55health has been a huge issue especially
18:58as you mentioned now that I'm I'm
19:00rolling towards 50 that one body part
19:04after the next seems to come up with
19:06[laughter] a a new a new a new boulder
19:09in my life I've I've been through
19:11divorce I've I've been through child
19:13custody litigation I've I've had the the
19:17challenges that come with having two
19:18kids as well as the fact that they're
19:20with two different moms and sometimes
19:23the co-parenting scenarios that aren't
19:26that aren't the most copathetic the uh
19:29the health of my parents and six years
19:31ago my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic
19:33cancer and and after six months he
19:36passed away you know all of these things
19:38in in my life I've dealt with depression
19:41and anxiety so like there are so many of
19:44these obstacles of boulders and so you
19:47know without getting down about I have
19:50to remind myself just as I did with the
19:52boulder and the canyon is that these
19:54things arrive for us in our lives for a
19:56reason and we get to choose the reason.
19:58That's kind of the good news about it is
20:00that we get to decide what is this here
20:03for me to do with it. And when we
20:06intentionally create meaning around uh
20:10an adversity, that's how we can turn it
20:12into an advantage. It's a process that
20:14starts with first discerning this is not
20:18just a boulder a burden but rather I can
20:20make it into a blessing. Yeah. It takes
20:23a whole lot of work and that intention
20:26that determination takes entire maybe
20:29years of of time and process in order to
20:32bring that to fruition. But it starts
20:34with the seed and that that first
20:36question is why is this here for me and
20:39what am I going to do with it?
20:42>> Okay. I I I want to just interject for a
20:44minute here too, Erin, because I think
20:46there's a there is an audience member
20:47out there right now whose mouth is a
20:49gape and and I want I'm talking directly
20:52to that member, that subscriber, that
20:54listener. You look at you've watched the
20:57movie, you perhaps you've read the book,
20:58you know Aaron's story. I mean, he the
21:00movie was an amazing hit. Um the book
21:03does fantastic. Um uh great read by the
21:06way for everybody. But yet, you just
21:08heard Aaron, who you might have saw on
21:12the Howard Stern show, you might have
21:13seen his skint, his little his little
21:15cameo on the Simpsons. Um, this guy's
21:19been, I think, interviewed by David
21:20Letterman, um, if I'm not mistaken,
21:22Aaron.
21:23>> Yeah.
21:24>> Yeah. A couple times.
21:26I [clears throat] mean that that was
21:27such a fun thing like you know growing
21:29up like idolizing him being a
21:31Midwesterner and then like oh my
21:32goodness I'm like sitting here getting
21:35to crack him up like what what fun I've
21:38had with all this but go ahead.
21:40>> Well I think yeah that's it's I think
21:43this the the lesson here is for that
21:45listener out there you also heard Aaron
21:47say he also has struggles too personally
21:50just like you do just like I do. We all
21:52have had financial struggles perhaps you
21:54know I've gone through uh custody
21:55battles twice in my life I went through
21:57a divorce many people have health issues
21:59have lost their parents go through we so
22:01many people have faced depression
22:03anxiety this is not just the the
22:06challenges and adversity you face these
22:08are universal challenges and adversities
22:11and when you have a gentleman like Aaron
22:12on on here talking about how he still
22:14faces these things at times we all do
22:17but the idea is those adversities there
22:19there are those those um they arrive for
22:22a reason and we get to choose the
22:23reason. I love that. I I love that what
22:26you said and you have to find meaning
22:28around and why did it happen potentially
22:30and what am I going to do with it? I
22:32mean that's probably the two greatest or
22:34the greatest lesson I've heard in 150ome
22:37episodes for anybody which means all of
22:40us who are going through have gone
22:42through or will go through some type of
22:43adversity. So I appreciate that. I think
22:45that was perfect. That was that was a
22:48that was a nugget right there that uh
22:50that we get to hear from somebody who
22:52actually went through something very
22:54challenging and traumatic at one time in
22:55his life. What 22 years ago, Erin? Yeah.
22:5822 years ago. This past April, right?
23:00>> Exactly. Yeah. And I marked that
23:02anniversary because it's it it was this
23:05time where I was given the greatest gift
23:08that I've ever received in my life from
23:10that experience. not just uh the initial
23:14entrapment but all of the gifts that I
23:15would receive from that boulder over the
23:17following nearly six days that I was
23:19down there before eventually that I'm
23:22amputating my arm and and you know to
23:24skip ahead a little bit to to say that
23:27in the end even the act of amputation
23:29was one of these incredibly powerful
23:31gifts that I received from that
23:33experience because I was smiling as I'm
23:37going through that
23:40ostensibly ly horrific act to be cutting
23:44through my arm. And yes, it made the
23:48sensation that I felt being trapped by
23:50the boulder now feel like a zero on a
23:52new scale of 10. That [clears throat]
23:56that was this incredible euphoria.
23:59>> Wow. also because of what I was doing to
24:02get myself out of there, to give myself
24:04a chance, to take a step out of what
24:07became my grave and back into my life
24:09again. That that is again the potential
24:13that boulders have within them. And
24:16there's there's a line Shakespeareian
24:19that nothing is good or bad so much as
24:22what we think of it. And that's the
24:26ideas that our minds, the choices we
24:29make are are our power and they are the
24:33most powerful tool that we have when it
24:36comes to facing our lives. It's the
24:40meaning we put behind something. So, for
24:43me to look back and be able to say, you
24:45know, on day two when I was out of
24:47options to get myself free, that I knew
24:49that I couldn't cut my arm off because I
24:52I wouldn't even survive making it back
24:55to my truck, let alone driving out of
24:56the desert and like, why did I have to
24:58buy a stick shift? That I've got all of
25:01these options that have failed to get me
25:04out. I can't carve through the rock. I
25:05can't lift the boulder even with all the
25:08mechanical advantage systems that I've
25:10built with my ropes and came in here
25:12that I can't wait for help. No one's
25:13coming because no one knows where I was
25:16that all of it means that I'm going to
25:18die here. But what do I do in that
25:20moment? The gift that the boulder gives
25:22me is to understand I can get my camera
25:25out and I can say goodbye.
25:27>> Wow. And [snorts] I talk about that as a
25:29gift because what it [clears throat] did
25:31was it connected me with what was really
25:33important in my life at a time when I
25:36mean could you be more isolated in the
25:39in the universe? I don't know, maybe
25:40you're those Apollo 15 astronauts stand
25:43on the back side of the moon that
25:44eventually made their way home. But that
25:46like to be out in this most remote
25:48desert in the bottom of a hole where no
25:50one's going to find me until I'm a
25:52skeleton. And yet to be able to turn on
25:54my camera, look through that video
25:55camera's lens, and then connect with my
25:57loved ones, my mom, my dad, my sister,
26:01all my extended family, my my closest
26:03friends, and to be able to say these
26:05incredibly important things. I love you.
26:08I'm sorry that I'm leaving you.
26:11Thank you for everything that you've
26:13given me in my life. That those those
26:16words, those connections that that
26:20brought me into this place of being
26:22filled up with love and there was no
26:24room for despair because I was I just
26:27felt gratitude.
26:29That was an incredible gift to me and
26:32I've used it many times in my life since
26:34then intentionally because I've I've
26:37learned that lesson. You cannot
26:39simultaneously hold profound despair and
26:41profound gratitude in your heart at the
26:43same time. They displace one another and
26:46you practice gratitude. You say thank
26:48you. you go over the the it's like a a
26:52Thanksgiving time
26:55to understand what it is that you've
26:57been blessed with. And that that to me
27:01picked me up. It gave me the strength,
27:02the courage, the determination, the
27:04perseverance, the resilience, everything
27:05that I was going to need. And it was
27:08there for me because of that rock
27:10showing me what was what was truly
27:12important in my life. It was not a list
27:14of my achievements and accomplishments
27:16that went onto that video camera. It was
27:19a will and testament in a way, but the
27:22primary
27:23service that it it gave me was the
27:26ability to know that my loved ones would
27:29be on the other side of that lens
27:32watching that even if it were after my
27:34death. But that that's what showed me
27:37what I had to hold on to and what would
27:40fuel me over those coming days. It
27:42certainly wasn't the just a a few uh
27:45cups of water that I had in one of my
27:47Ngene bottles by that point. It wasn't
27:49the little bit of like two convenience
27:52store burritos that I I had left of my
27:54food supply by the time I became
27:56trapped. It wasn't the inadequate
27:58clothing. You didn't even have a jacket
28:01for the 40° 38° 36°ree nights that I'd
28:04be shivering through. What was going to
28:07keep me going was this connection to
28:11what was important in my life. And what
28:13I learned was that it's it's loving
28:15relationships.
28:16>> Amen to that. Thank you for saying that.
28:18Do you think, Erin, if you wouldn't have
28:19had that little video camera with you,
28:21what would that have changed for you?
28:23H
28:26I think I would have found another way
28:30to have achieved the same
28:34I guess process. Maybe maybe I would
28:36have taken my knife and and started
28:40etching
28:41a letter to to my loved ones into the
28:44wall of the canyon. Maybe I if id have
28:47had a I had some paper with me that that
28:52you know um I could have figured out how
28:54to write
28:57something to them or have simply taken
29:00pictures on my other camera. um that I I
29:05would have figured out a way and maybe
29:06it would have just been through the
29:08prayers that I that I also I I used that
29:11as a tool uh to connect um myself with
29:15greater energies in the universe and
29:17that that I think that could have
29:20sufficed as well. It's something that
29:24we are these we are these energies and
29:28and we forget on our daily experience
29:32that that is tends to be fairly
29:35superficial. those moments when we can
29:38take a pause and remember to breathe and
29:40to connect with our presence and to come
29:42back to to something that's really
29:43rooted and grounded in in the uh in the
29:47spiritual
29:49reality of our of our existence here and
29:53and yet we we forget to do that or we
29:56get caught up and myself I'm I'm not
29:58immune to that but that those those kind
30:02of communications that happen
30:06energetically, let's say, rather more
30:09than physically. That that's that's no
30:11less real. And I I had experiences
30:15while I was trapped of seeing my mom uh
30:19and hearing her and would come to find
30:22out talking with her afterwards that
30:24yes, I was sitting on those stairs in
30:27our house and I was telling you to hold
30:28on, that we were coming for you. that
30:31that I mean it was almost telepathic
30:34like that you know something something
30:38beyond what I would say is like oh yeah
30:40I I believe in psychics I like yeah I'm
30:44I think I find myself more on the
30:46skeptical side of things like you I'd
30:48like to have some proof that that exists
30:51and yet yeah that was in a way it was a
30:55personal experience uh that does provide
30:58proof that we are connected in in ways
31:01that we don't we don't always see until
31:06enough gets stripped away and out of our
31:09superficial level experience to that we
31:12see something greater that's underneath
31:13it that in the end before I I went
31:18through the final night of of my
31:20entrapment when I'd written my epitapath
31:22into the wall of the canyon I I had said
31:26my final goodbyes on the video camera
31:28that I had an experience, an out-of-
31:31body experience where I was in a living
31:32room and I saw what I knew to be my
31:35future son and he came running over me.
31:37I scooped him up and I was dancing with
31:38him and this little blondhaired
31:40blue-eyed little boy about three and a
31:42half years old in that moment wouldn't
31:44be born for seven years from now. But at
31:48this day here, he's 15 and a half. He's
31:52upstairs doing his online academy. We're
31:54going to go play lacrosse later in the
31:55afternoon. that he is that little boy
31:57who came to me and showed me that I was
31:59going to have a life after the candy and
32:01that
32:02>> I I I have never had a more mystical
32:06experience in my life that something
32:08that showed me very clearly uh how we
32:11are connected in love through like
32:15across time across distance that it's um
32:18you know the the wormholes of our
32:21[laughter]
32:22of our spiritualities that that bring us
32:25to be everywhere. where and anywhere and
32:27and that's that's that's
32:33something that served me and also today
32:38I I can sit with and know it our
32:43mortality even with my dad being now on
32:46the other side of this that that we all
32:48we all come from some great pool of
32:51consciousness into this experience and
32:52then we go back to it and that that that
32:54pulsing that breathing of our lives and
32:58it's it brings me peace to know that and
33:00to to be comfortable with it. So again
33:05more gifts from [clears throat] this
33:06this canyon from this boulder.
33:08>> Well that's the question I would have
33:09for you. You were mechanical engineer
33:11obviously you went to Carne Carnegie
33:13Melon I think you went to CMU.
33:14>> Yep. I so I went to the other CMU,
33:17Central Michigan University and in in
33:20Mount Pleasant, Michigan. And we'd go on
33:21I played rugby in [clears throat]
33:22college. So we'd go on rugby tournaments
33:23and our our jackets always said CMU
33:25rugby. And at tournaments anyway, we had
33:29so many people, oh, you're from CMU?
33:31Yeah. Yeah. And they'd start talking.
33:33I'm like, I don't think we're talking
33:34about the same CMU here. They were
33:36talking about Carnegie Melon a lot. We
33:38obviously we CMU. I don't think we ever
33:40played Carnegie Melon uh in in a game. I
33:42don't I don't recall, but that would
33:44have been pretty cool. Yeah, we didn't
33:45have a rugby team.
33:47>> So, your son plays lacrosse. What what
33:49position?
33:50>> Yeah.
33:51>> Oh, he's he's an attack. Uh I I played
33:54lacrosse in college. That was my travel
33:56thing. I was also in the marching band.
33:58Uh so, we would travel uh sometimes to
34:01to support the football team and uh very
34:03very goofy, silly
34:06experiences with all of that. But yeah,
34:08he he's found his passion and it's
34:11something I I I just adore for him that
34:14at this point his sister plays lacrosse,
34:17too. She's just about to turn 12 now. Uh
34:19so they're three and a half years apart,
34:21but that's, you know, anything he's
34:23doing, she's got to be in doing it, too.
34:27We we go skiing and there's backpacking.
34:29She's in scouts, so we were just up in
34:31the mountains a weekend ago. Uh we
34:34waiting out into lakes and hiking cross
34:37country through wildflower fields and
34:40jumping uh doing jumping photos up on
34:44the continental divide.
34:45uh just so many amazing experiences with
34:48my kids that have come true because of
34:50that connection that you know I I first
34:53touched on when I was I was in those
34:55moments when it was I thought I'd even
34:58etched into the canyon uh the death date
35:00of April 2003
35:03and then as I had this experience with
35:07my future son and at midnight the clock
35:11rolled over and all of a sudden it was
35:12no longer April 30th but it was May
35:14first and I even had to decide whether
35:16or not to scratch out April and and
35:18carve into the wall in May because my
35:21epitap was outdated now and and yet it
35:25was just the the clarity like okay that
35:27doesn't matter. But what I did know,
35:30what did matter was that I I was I was
35:33going to see the other side of this of
35:36this experience in the canyon. And
35:39again, what gifts that that boulder gave
35:41me to understand like the power of love
35:45of these connective energies in the
35:47universe that I would get through. And
35:49so in the end was that final dawn gave
35:52way and I I saw the sunrise that I had
35:56said I wasn't going to see because of
35:57this vision of this little boy that I
35:59was then like so sure I was going to get
36:02home to someday to see him. And that's
36:04how in the final moments I I can say I
36:08was smiling as the idea comes to me that
36:10I don't have to use the knife to try to
36:12cut through the bones in my arm. I used
36:14the boulder and how it was holding me to
36:17to gain leverage and bend and bone my
36:20arm enough to break it as it snaps in
36:23its [clears throat] cap gun kind of, you
36:26know, starter pistol. The sound effect
36:28just
36:29>> crack in the canyon. And yet this smile
36:32gets even bigger because I know I've
36:34solved it. I've got to do this. I'm
36:35going to get out of here. I'm going to
36:36get home. I'm going to get a hug from my
36:38mom. I'm going to see that little boy.
36:40And [laughter]
36:41I still recall how all of a sudden this
36:44this ecstasy resolved into the
36:46understanding of oh wait a minute
36:48there's another bone there.
36:51>> And so I had to do it again and actually
36:54cracked it and broke in the same spot
36:56and this mechanical you know engineer as
36:59we mentioned that mind took over and it
37:02was just okay what's next? How do we
37:05overcome that? Put the tourniquet on.
37:07Keep cutting. There's the nerve. Yep.
37:11This is just going to happen now. And
37:13and yet as I sucked in my breath as I
37:17severed that nerve
37:20>> and I resolved as I exhaled
37:25and I was smiling the biggest smile I've
37:27ever smiled in my life. I was getting
37:29through this. I was going to finish it.
37:30And I had to stretch my arm like you
37:32stretch fabric in order to cut through
37:34it. Put a little tension there. And then
37:35that tension released and I stepped out
37:38of my grave and into my life again. And
37:42the smile was
37:44it it
37:46I I I felt the pain there, but it was it
37:49was the possibility that was far more
37:51important. possibility of everything of
37:52my life coming back to me that I had I
37:57had the chance now maybe, you know, it
38:01was it was a one in a thousand chance,
38:04but that it was still a possibility that
38:07I was going to be able to get out of
38:08there. And I did everything I I had set
38:11out in my mind. Okay, I know which
38:13direction. I'm not going to head back to
38:15my bike. I'm going to head for my truck,
38:16continue down canyon. Maybe I come
38:18across water. I'm going to get to the
38:19big drop repel. I bring my rope along. I
38:22got my arms slung and tourniqueted to
38:24my, you know, in just doing the basic
38:28first aid that I could. And along the
38:30way though, I even stopped and I took a
38:33I took a photo before I left the boulder
38:35and I said thank you out loud in that
38:37moment.
38:38>> You you have to have that that picture
38:41framed somewhere, don't you?
38:44I I mean I put it in my book and it's it
38:47it's it's [clears throat]
38:48definitely what I actually have is a is
38:50a
38:51>> replica fiberglass model of the boulder
38:55sitting here in my office that I'm
38:56looking at as well. uh from the film set
39:00from 127 hours uh it's it's got James
39:03Franco's blood on it and all [laughter]
39:04this uh because yeah the gratitude I
39:07have for that rock it showed me what was
39:10what was important to me in my life what
39:13was possible for me in my life what was
39:15extraordinary about being alive and all
39:18of that that's that's this gift and
39:20again the choice I made to say yeah I
39:23walked out of that place but I didn't
39:25leave I I I didn't lose anything. I left
39:28something behind, but I I only gained
39:30from that that this is the the choice
39:32that I made, that this was not horrific,
39:33but rather the best thing that's ever
39:35happened for me. And yeah, it was far
39:38from over. Uh I I did on my way out,
39:44hike for almost five and a half hours. I
39:47covered six and a half miles of ground.
39:50I run out of water u that I found at the
39:53bottom of the big drop repel.
39:55I'd been moving and just staggering my
39:58my weight, but I lost over two liters of
40:00blood. During that time, I hadn't slept
40:03in six days. So, the exhaustion I've
40:06lost over 40 pounds. Uh I had just
40:09nothing left. And yet, as I come to
40:14the moment where like I'm having a heart
40:17attack from the just my body shutting
40:20down and there not being enough blood to
40:22pump in my system to get oxygen to my
40:24brain and boom, it's happening. And what
40:27I realize is the roar the [laughter]
40:31building in my chest that it is somehow
40:33expanding outside of my body. And I look
40:36up and there's a helicopter
40:39that passes by and circles around, lands
40:43and plucks me out of the canyon. And I
40:46know that it's the other side of the
40:48equation of what that that connection
40:50and love that I had had with my family
40:54through the video camera that this was
40:56my mom's projection of manifestation of
40:58her love as she had figured out how to
41:02motivate search and rescue to go find
41:04me. Not even knowing what state I was
41:06in. But they tracked me down and plucked
41:09me out of that canyon when I had minutes
41:11left to live in that helicopter. had
41:12minutes of fuel left in this miraculous
41:15synchronicity that gets me to a hospital
41:18that before the helicopter crashes or
41:20bleed to death. And I I'm here because
41:24of that miracle. That's that's to me the
41:28other side of this is that it's it's
41:31these again these big energies that are
41:34out in the universe and how how they you
41:37know we we're these little particles
41:39that ping around and bounce off of each
41:41other and that but we're connected
41:43through these fields of of force that
41:46that yeah
41:49>> I that's how miracles happen. It is, you
41:51know, and you would have told me this 15
41:53years ago. I was the biggest skeptic of
41:55manifestation or energy and then I
41:58realized probably 12 years ago that this
42:01is I base my whole life on it now that
42:04it's now, you know, there's so much
42:05science behind it. I mean, it's not
42:08psycho babble bull crap. There's science
42:10behind this as well that we are just
42:12we're energy and energy really never
42:15dies. It just goes from one form to the
42:17other and we can pass energy every time
42:19we communicate. you and I are passing
42:20energy on with each other and we're
42:22therefore to the [clears throat]
42:23audience when it when this is uh goes
42:25live. So it's people don't understand
42:27that they understand Wi-Fi signals and
42:30telephone signals, radio signals, but
42:32they don't realize we give off signals
42:33so often. And I think there's nothing
42:35more powerful than that now. So I went
42:37from a complete atheist on these ideas
42:39to a complete um believer of just energy
42:42being the sole it's the sole controlling
42:44force of our universe.
42:47>> Yeah. I mean, the nice thing is that
42:49it's like it doesn't require you to
42:51believe for it to be true either. It's
42:53like facts and science just are. And so
42:58you you can choose to I think leverage
43:00it and and use it and be aware of it.
43:03And that's I I think it's a beautiful
43:05thing that it is um it is my experience
43:09and certainly I feel is how I'm it's why
43:12and how I'm here. And so I'm glad I'm
43:15glad to hear Yeah. that that resonates
43:16for you and I hope that it does yeah for
43:19the listeners here too that it's it's
43:22something that's so much bigger than us
43:24and that we yeah we have free will we
43:28have choices to make and also that it's
43:32it's a beautiful thing that it's not
43:33just up to us either and that that was
43:37something that brought me great peace uh
43:39and I I want to share this on on that
43:42line of thought is that as I came to
43:45accept to my situation in in in my
43:48entrapment and as it applies to just
43:51about any other boulder that I I meet in
43:53my life today that that acceptance is
43:57where we can come back to the peace that
43:59we have in our lives that it's when we
44:01resist what is when we resist the the
44:05will of the universe when we resist the
44:07the power of the energies that are
44:08around us that that's where we create
44:10dissonance in our lives and and
44:13agitation even inflam
44:16that it it's something where when we can
44:18align ourselves with what is with what
44:21the will of the universe that's where we
44:23have peace and we come back to something
44:25that is our natural state of being.
44:30>> I I know this is a lesson I know I have
44:32to learn. I've learned it over the years
44:34more and more, but I'm still not there.
44:36the whole idea of acceptance. Um, that's
44:38been a that's always been a struggle for
44:40me is accepting things where I'm like,
44:42okay, I mean
44:46like you in that in that canyon when I
44:48first watched the the movie in whatever
44:522007 8, whenever it came out, 2010,
44:54whatever. Um, I saw I didn't see
44:58acceptance. I saw a man with an internal
45:00fight. But then when I watched it last
45:03night, so this is now 15 years later or
45:06whatever the time frame is. I' I've
45:07matured. I've thought more. I did see a
45:09man because I never really paid
45:10attention the first time to the of to
45:13you, James Franco playing you in this
45:15case, uh, doing the videos. I didn't
45:17really make that wasn't that didn't
45:18connect with me, but then it did. Uh
45:21last night I was lying in bed with my on
45:23my with my iPad watching it and um I
45:26thought this is a man right here who's
45:29just knows that this might this is the
45:31end and and I asked myself that same
45:34question that you mentioned earlier.
45:35What would I do in this case? What would
45:37I say?
45:38>> And so in order to get to that point,
45:41you almost have to have an acceptance
45:43that this is probably the end. Um and I
45:45have what if that's the case? What am I
45:47going to do? the messages you delivered
45:48to your family, to your sister, to your
45:50mom and your dad were I don't think you
45:52can go there until you had that
45:54acceptance,
45:55>> you know, cuz we always want to say,
45:56well, it might change. It might change.
45:58Well, that's good to have hope, but
45:59there are some things we just have to
46:01accept. You can you control what you can
46:03control, you influence what you can
46:05influence, and you accept what you have
46:06to accept. And if you can live life by
46:08that simple rule, it gets a lot easier.
46:10Trust me, life is still not what I would
46:13call easy, but it's a lot easier than it
46:14was 10, 15 years ago for me when I was
46:16all about what I what can I control? I
46:18don't want to accept anything. Um, but
46:19you hit the nail on the head. Um, when
46:22did you realize So, I would think
46:23though, Erin, that obviously when you
46:27broke free from the boulder, you were
46:29you felt free. Was there a moment when
46:31you knew that I'm going to live now? Was
46:34it the helicopter or was there Did you
46:36feel that way all the way out of the
46:37canyon and through the when you had to
46:39repel down and you were walking towards
46:40your truck? Was there a moment?
46:43[laughter]
46:44>> Uh, no. I was just I was just committed
46:46to the process. I I I
46:49if I knew something, it was that the
46:51odds were stacked so heavily against me
46:53that that I was not going to make it all
46:57the way home. That I was not going to
46:59have the life that that uh the
47:02possibility of that was propelling me.
47:04But there was there was a much closer to
47:07a certainty that I was not going to
47:10actually survive my escape. Uh now that
47:15said, by the time yes, the helicopter
47:18arrives, it gets me out of there. I make
47:20it to the hospital. I walk into the
47:22trauma room. The anesthesiologist shows
47:24up with this incredibly large needle
47:27that my eyes like made it look like it
47:29was a battering ram. and the morphine
47:31goes in and boom, fade to black. Uh, but
47:34when I came out of that, and what I
47:37didn't know is I've been transported to
47:39Grand Junction, Colorado from Moab,
47:41Utah, that I'd undergone 15 hours of
47:44surgery. Uh, had seven lers of saline
47:48dripped into me to replace the fluids in
47:50my body. That all of this and I come to
47:54and all I I know is that wait a I'm in
47:57pain. that means I must be alive. And
48:02that was when I knew, okay, I'm here.
48:07I might not be here for long, but I'm
48:09here. And it was the same sentiment I
48:11had like as I was escaping the canyon. I
48:15within about 45 minutes of freeing
48:19myself from the boulder, I was down at
48:20the big drop repel and I lowered myself
48:2365 feet down to uh the continuing canyon
48:26where it opened up out of the slot
48:28canyon and it was now more of a box
48:30canyon, 100 feet wide and hundreds of
48:32feet deep. Uh that that was where I took
48:36my a selfie of
48:40standing there with my amputated arm up
48:42behind my shoulder and uh looking into
48:44the camera. It was just to say I'm still
48:47here. And and so much of the way is that
48:49that's enough. It's and I know you
48:52mentioned about the role of hope and I I
48:55I
48:57think we think about hope being a good
48:59thing and yet I it also I think we have
49:02to recognize that it's the flip side of
49:04fear that it's about putting ourselves
49:07in a position of thinking about a future
49:09experience that we we are afraid of
49:11having or that we hope might having but
49:13it's still not this moment and this
49:15moment is the I'm still here and that's
49:19the declaration
49:21It's all we have. And and yes, I think
49:25the nuance that you described around
49:26acceptance and control and hope that all
49:30of that is is true. To let go of control
49:34where where we're deliluding ourselves
49:36and yet still to exert our will as we
49:38can. uh to to know that yes, acceptance
49:42of what is right now does not mean that
49:45we don't have a role to play in creating
49:47a future of what will be that could be
49:50very different than what is right now.
49:52So there's there's certainly I I think
49:56uh layers and uh and perspective to take
50:00there uh subtlety in in how we talk
50:04about it. Uh, and what I think I'm
50:07trying to get to here is this this idea
50:11that where
50:14where where I was was just staying in
50:18that moment of moving myself through uh
50:22without knowing that I was going to
50:24live, knowing that I was going to see
50:26that child. Uh, I didn't have that
50:28knowing. I just knew one more step,
50:30Erin. One more step. One more step. And
50:33then as I'm in the hospital and like I'm
50:35in pain, I must be alive. That okay, I'm
50:38alive. And there then my mom walks in
50:42the room and I I'm alive. And she holds
50:46my hand and we're crying and looking at
50:48each other and sobbing and then it's
50:50like finally through all these tears
50:52where I can say I love you, Mom. I'm
50:54sorry. I love same things that I said on
50:56the tape, but it's looking into her face
50:58and her tears crying down on me. She's
51:01squeezing my left hand so hard. I
51:03thought I was going to lose that hand,
51:04too. [laughter]
51:05And then she says, "It hadn't been a
51:07broken leg that's kept you out in the
51:09desert all this time. I swear to myself
51:10driving here that you were going to have
51:12two broken legs before I was done with
51:13you." [laughter]
51:15I'm just like, "Did I mention I love
51:16you? I'm sorry." [laughter]
51:19and just how it's like it's all just in
51:22that moment that there was never and and
51:26it was a good thing because like oh I
51:28didn't know uh but come to find out yeah
51:32I gave myself a bone infection because
51:34of the the you know unsanitary tools and
51:37conditions that I was operating in that
51:40I I almost died from that uh in the
51:44weeks following the rescue and so many
51:47surgeries and just the the whole
51:50miracles of of science and modern
51:52medicine that that it took in order for
51:54me to to survive the aftermath of my
51:58experience, not just the experience
51:59itself. And so that yeah, I guess I keep
52:03coming back to this idea that there was
52:06never a knowing. There's never a
52:07guarantee. you know who none of us know
52:09we're going to walk out the door. Um you
52:12know
52:14anything can happen and and so often so
52:17many things do happen. So that it's just
52:20to to know that it's this moment. It's
52:23the connections that we have. It's it's
52:26not necessarily a promise that there's
52:28anything more than this. And and yet we
52:30we can live within that presence and
52:33know that that's that's everything and
52:35it's enough. I I agree with you on that.
52:38I Yeah, you know, I I when I do these
52:43podcasts so often, there's I love them
52:46all and I've enjoyed every single
52:47interview. There are a few that I feel
52:50like were timed perfectly for me
52:52>> and this is one of those ones. I needed
52:54to hear this today. So, um what right
52:57now, so you've gone through this now,
52:59you have you have a 15, a 12year-old
53:01child, you have 15-y old son, 12-y old
53:02daughter. What is a win for you in life?
53:04What would you say is a thing that you
53:06say, "Okay, that's that that's a victory
53:08right now. I feel great about that."
53:12[laughter]
53:13>> I mean, especially for having kind of
53:14like a tweener teenager. It's it it's
53:18the it's the little things of like when
53:20when my daughter like comes around to my
53:23door to to give me a hug before she goes
53:25in the school building, even though like
53:26some of her friends are still outside
53:28and could see her do it. It's about my
53:32son um yeah asking me to to go and like
53:35throw around the cross with him even
53:37though yeah he could be calling his
53:39friends to set up time with them to go
53:42do it that it's I I look at it as that
53:45it it's those those winds that come
53:49along from the relationships you know
53:51the
53:53we've talked about age and about health
53:55and like I think one of the gifts that
53:57that my body is giving me right now is
53:59this maturity that to understand
54:04whereas I would have taken um you know a
54:07health challenge as something to
54:09overcome and to like just dig deeper and
54:12still go out and do everything that now
54:16it's this gift and this lesson that it's
54:18it's time to there's times to slow down
54:21that there's times to heal that that um
54:24you know it's it's finding the the
54:27victories in in something that otherwise
54:29can look like, oh, but you know, a
54:32younger version of me would have said,
54:33but that's but that's defeat. Like
54:36that's failure. That's not doing. How is
54:38not doing
54:40a way of being that's better than doing?
54:44And so there's there's a lot of wisdom
54:48like I think that that you know that can
54:51feel like a victory where oh I am
54:54growing. I'm not the same as I was uh
54:57five years ago, 15, 22 years ago. That
55:01that's that's what looks like a win in
55:04my life, you know. And of course, so
55:06much of it comes back to relationships
55:09about times even where it's with one my
55:12co-parent relationships and where I
55:15remember to deescalate rather than
55:17escalate. uh to where I elevate the
55:20value of having peace over the value of
55:24holding someone to account or getting my
55:28way or, you know, any of the other
55:30things that can feel like a defense
55:33mechanism or a success strategy until
55:35they're not until you realize the
55:37consequences of that and then you say,
55:40"Oh, no. There's something that's more
55:41important than that for me or for my
55:44kids." So yeah, there's there's a lot of
55:47things that [clears throat] look like
55:48wins [laughter] and victories that I
55:49think especially 10 years ago, I would
55:51not have said that. That's something
55:53that um yeah, I would not have heard
55:56myself say the same thing.
55:57>> I as you were talking about that, that's
55:59what I was I was thinking about where
56:01what would a win look like for you 10
56:03years ago? Because I'm the same way,
56:04Erin. My my wins I do it every morning,
56:07well, six mornings a week. I when I get
56:09up one of my I have a really weird
56:11strict morning routine for about an hour
56:13and a half. I don't veer Monday through
56:15uh Saturday and or I'm sorry uh Sunday
56:18through uh Friday. I don't do Saturdays.
56:20And one of them is I write down five
56:22things that I'm grateful for at that
56:23moment
56:25>> and uh right before I journal and I just
56:28going back if I went back the last three
56:30days of this week so far. Well, I guess
56:31yeah, guess the third day. Um one of
56:34them was my son and I hiking on Friday
56:36or Saturday and right in the middle of
56:38the of the hike I was rocking. He just
56:40turned around and gave me the biggest
56:41bear hug and I just I melt in his arms.
56:43I started tearing up. Or it was my one
56:45of them was my grandson getting up and
56:48coming uh I'm staying with my daughter
56:50right now for a couple weeks and um he
56:53him coming downstairs in the morning at
56:546:30 or 7:00 and jumping on my lap, you
56:57know, wanting to watch something on my
56:58iPad while he has his his breakfast in
57:00my arms and just, you know, curled up.
57:02And it's those little things that are
57:04wins now.
57:0510, 15, 20, maybe 20 years ago, I don't
57:08know, they may not have been, you know,
57:10my wins were like, let's get I got to
57:11get more clients. I got to get more
57:13speaking engagements. And those are all
57:14just icing on the cake. The cake is the
57:16little things that And it's like you
57:18said, and it always comes down to
57:21relationships. I would say 90% of the
57:23things I'm grateful for. Sometimes it's
57:25a warm cup of coffee in my hand or the
57:26birds singing outside. But, you know,
57:29they're all these most of them are like
57:30you would seem seemingly minor things
57:32that you might just go through life and
57:34they happen to you, but you never take
57:35note of them
57:36>> until you actually stop and think about
57:38them and show gratitude for them.
57:41>> Yeah. The little things are the big
57:42things. Yeah,
57:43>> they sure are.
57:45>> And I think whether you're a parent or
57:49Yeah. as a a spouse, a a partner, a
57:53leader that that that reflection and
57:57consideration of the importance of
57:59connection and relationship that it it
58:02boiled down to it. I even said it on the
58:04video camera as I was trapped and as I
58:06was reflecting about the meaning of life
58:08that I expressed it that it's not about
58:12what you do, Erin. It's who you are.
58:16>> It's how you relate. It's how you love.
58:18It's how you interact. And that is that
58:20is our legacy. That that is the gift of
58:23our presence to others. That that's how
58:26our consciousness is what we're here to
58:28to manifest to bring to bring out. And
58:31as I think we all um can can at least
58:36set a goal for ourselves that to to to
58:40be kind in that to to be caring, to be
58:43compassionate, to be empathetic. And
58:44that that's wow like what a gift of
58:46adversity is that it's not just that
58:48what doesn't kill you makes you stronger
58:50but it also has the capacity to make you
58:52softer so that you can connect with
58:55others through the traumas that they've
58:57had in their lives and that you can be
58:58there for one another that that that's
59:01as I've heard it said that you know
59:03that's what we're here to do is that
59:05we're all just walking each other home.
59:09>> Well I got to share this with you before
59:11we [clears throat] wrap up Erin. So
59:12right now I'm going through a fairly
59:14difficult emotional time and for the
59:17past month
59:19>> and
59:21what I would typically do in times like
59:24this um it would I've only gone through
59:26a handful of these in my 58 years of
59:29living is I would typically um feel
59:31sorry for myself for a little while. I
59:34would kind of slow I would slack off a
59:36little bit and um you know just get lost
59:40in the in the the misery um for a couple
59:43of weeks. Well, this time I decided to
59:45go the opposite approach. I said I'm
59:48going to double down on finding
59:50happiness um and seeking happiness
59:52within me. And that what that has done
59:54for me is I've worked out harder. I've
59:59eaten better. Um dramatically cut my
1:00:02alcohol down. um I have been reading
1:00:05more, journaling more, more gratitude,
1:00:07reaching out to people more and saying,
1:00:10"Okay, I I need help, you know, or I
1:00:12could use your guidance right now or and
1:00:14I really think there's a it's such a
1:00:16it's not just coincidence that I'm
1:00:17talking to you on this day." And I want
1:00:18to share with you the thing that you did
1:00:21>> that energy you sent to me today was
1:00:26you said something about I feel pain so
1:00:27I must be alive. I like that a lot. But
1:00:30the one was, "I'm still here."
1:00:34That's such a basic simple statement of
1:00:37all the worry that we might have or all
1:00:40the things we're thinking about in the
1:00:42future or, you know, mistakes we made in
1:00:44the past or even problems that we're
1:00:46facing currently in the present. I'm
1:00:49still here is such a powerful way to
1:00:52reframe the mind to focus on that one
1:00:56most beautiful thing that you have right
1:00:59at any given moment is that you're still
1:01:01here. So, thank you for that. I
1:01:03appreciate that.
1:01:05>> I really do.
1:01:06>> And that's that's enough.
1:01:10I I think my overall thesis is that yes,
1:01:12we don't get to control what happens to
1:01:14us. We get to choose how we respond.
1:01:17that when the boulders arrive, we draw
1:01:19on the strength and the power, the the
1:01:21gifts of our relationships in order to
1:01:24find our resilience to transform those
1:01:27boulders, put that effort in to make
1:01:29them into the greatest blessings that we
1:01:31could ever receive in our lives. And
1:01:34along that journey, it is enough to just
1:01:37still be here.
1:01:38>> I'm glad that resonated for you.
1:01:40>> Wow, that did.
1:01:42Well, I I I want to I'll wrap up now. I
1:01:45know you're a busy person. and you got
1:01:46to go go to lacrosse here in a little
1:01:48bit. But um he my son played lacrosse in
1:01:52high school and played um he he's not
1:01:53playing his last year of college because
1:01:55he's he's he's a he's putting a lot of
1:01:57time into his classes and graduating,
1:01:58but he played in college as well for
1:02:00three years. Um
1:02:01>> Oh, awesome.
1:02:02>> He was What did he play?
1:02:03>> He played attack, but now he played in
1:02:05college. He played midfield. He played
1:02:07he was a midi um in [clears throat] in
1:02:09college.
1:02:10>> So one of the greatest sport I coached
1:02:12it for five years. I, you know, like
1:02:14youth lacrosse,
1:02:15>> but I never played it. We didn't have
1:02:18lacrosse growing up in my small town.
1:02:19So, I never played it. I But all my my
1:02:22all three of my stepsons, my bonus sons
1:02:24played it in high school. One played it
1:02:26at the college collegiate level. Then my
1:02:28son did as well. And then when my oldest
1:02:30bonus son was high school coach for a
1:02:33couple years in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
1:02:35Uh, but family came, babies came, and
1:02:37now he's not coaching anymore. So, it's
1:02:39been a part of my life for 20ome years,
1:02:41but never never played it. Even when I
1:02:44coach it, I refuse to pick up a stick
1:02:45because there's no way I can catch that
1:02:46ball in a stick. So, [laughter]
1:02:49>> that's funny. But, yeah. Oh, I'm glad
1:02:51I'm glad to hear. I mean, I just I Yeah,
1:02:53I feel more connected with you through
1:02:55that, too. It's And it is an incredible
1:02:58game and also there's a lot of
1:02:59incredible sports. There's so many
1:03:01benefits to being a part of a team and
1:03:03to to having a passion. Like, I'm so
1:03:05happy for my son like that. That's
1:03:07something that, you know, feels like a
1:03:09win in in that regard of watching
1:03:11watching your child like develop
1:03:15to to see a passion take hold and to
1:03:17know what passion has done for me in my
1:03:19life where it's it's compelled me to the
1:03:21the greatest heights of of experience.
1:03:24And so I'm I'm I'm psyched, you know, I
1:03:27think that's that's something for any of
1:03:29us who are looking for peak experiences
1:03:31or peak performance that you know that
1:03:34it comes from having that passion and
1:03:35that motivation. Amen. Well, brother, I
1:03:38want to take the time to thank you uh
1:03:40for take the t thanks thank you for
1:03:42taking so much uh taking that experience
1:03:45you had and really you didn't just
1:03:48change your life. You've really impacted
1:03:50millions of people. You literally have
1:03:52um through the book and the movie. So,
1:03:54and the movie seemed pretty authentic
1:03:56and everything less Straoud from
1:03:57Survivor Man said it was one of the most
1:03:59authentic survival movies of all time.
1:04:01So, and
1:04:02>> yeah, well, I appreciate that. It was
1:04:04very authentic to my experience, too. I
1:04:06mean, [laughter] I I I wish I gotten to
1:04:08go skinny dipping with Kate Mara. Like,
1:04:10that did not [laughter] happen. It's
1:04:12part of my experience. But, you know,
1:04:14maybe maybe next time. I'll hold out for
1:04:16that one.
1:04:17>> Is she the one that was on um um Shitz
1:04:19Creek?
1:04:21>> Oh, no. That she was um in House of
1:04:26Cards in the first couple seasons there
1:04:29and has also done a bunch of other
1:04:30movies. Amber Chamberlain, also
1:04:34great actor, and you know, playing Megan
1:04:37and Christie, the two women that I I
1:04:39encountered early on that day in the
1:04:41canyon. And just as now I I
1:04:46take a second to say um I'm it's it's
1:04:50fun because every once in a while we get
1:04:52back in touch with each other. I've been
1:04:54in touch with them here in just the last
1:04:56week because we're starting to work on a
1:04:58documentary that uh for a streaming
1:05:00platform that'll be out in the you know
1:05:03next year or something like that uh year
1:05:06and a half and that it's pulling all the
1:05:09all the folks from the real experience
1:05:11to talk uh and tell our story of this uh
1:05:15for really the the first time. um having
1:05:18everybody together to uh yeah give this
1:05:23I think give this gift to even more
1:05:25people in the world who need it that
1:05:27when it comes across uh someone's um
1:05:32maybe maybe a time in their life where
1:05:35they're experiencing darkness and to
1:05:37shine a beacon uh to remind people that
1:05:41we we are connected that we are so much
1:05:43more than the than that darkness that
1:05:47there's something that's shining in us
1:05:48and that that's that's the resilience
1:05:51and the love and the the power that we
1:05:54have to to keep on with our with our
1:05:57being here. So, I I hope that it can do
1:06:02a a great deal of work still to come. Um
1:06:05you know, I I've long known that this
1:06:07was not just for me or for my family,
1:06:10but that this happened for all of us as
1:06:12a reminder of what we're capable of.
1:06:15>> Amen. Thank you, brother. I appreciate
1:06:18you.
1:06:19>> You have been [clears throat] an amazing
1:06:20guest.
1:06:21>> I really do. This has been amazing for
1:06:23me and I know the audience is going to
1:06:25connect. I know we're going to talk for
1:06:26a few minutes after we're done
1:06:27recording. Um, but again, Erin, thank
1:06:29you for being such such an inspiring
1:06:31guest actually on the Bamboo Lab
1:06:33podcast.
1:06:34>> Yeah, thank you, Brad. Thank you for
1:06:36having me.
1:06:36>> Of course, it's my honor. Folks, um, I
1:06:40just want to say I know this is an
1:06:41episode that's going to resonate so much
1:06:42for so so many. This is exactly what the
1:06:44Bamboo Lab podcast is about. Probably
1:06:46the most uh I would say um symbolic when
1:06:50I was looking to start this podcast
1:06:52three and a half years ago. This is
1:06:53exactly the type of message I wanted
1:06:54people to hear. So please, I'm going to
1:06:56ask you to please rate and review us. Uh
1:06:58please share this episode with three to
1:06:59five people. But more than anything, in
1:07:02the next week or two before I I talk to
1:07:04you all again, please get out there and
1:07:06strive to give your best in everything
1:07:09you do. Uh, please show love and respect
1:07:12to others and please show it back to
1:07:13yourself and please live with purpose
1:07:15and intention. I appreciate every single
1:07:18one of you listening today. Until next
1:07:21time.

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This page contains the full transcript of Ep. 154- Aron Ralston’s Amazing Story: “The Boulder Didn’t Take my Arm, it Gave me Everything Else” by Bamboo Lab Podcast With Brian Bosley, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 12,040 words across 1,637 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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