"Life with out risk is impossible."

WEBVTT - This file has cues.

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Hey, how's it going?
If you're new here. Welcome.

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Something shifted is about
identity after interruption.

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It's about who we become after a
life quake hits.

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And the stories we tell ourselves.
When everything changes.

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And I think you're gonna like it
here.

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My name is Shawn,
and this is something shifted.

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Today's story belongs to Harry.
I felt in my mind that 100% of these

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children would die if we tried this.
The idea of anesthetized someone,

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rendering them unconscious and
putting them underwater for a

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three hour journey in water that
had literally zero visibility,

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high flow, and a very tight and
restrictive cave.

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How how could you expect someone
to survive? That's next.

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Right after this.
If you're one of those people

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that believe. Rest is a luxury.
We can't be friends.

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Real change is exhausting.
And even when your mind is ready,

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your body has kept the score and
can't keep up without proper

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recovery.
So I've started taking solos.

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Magnesium glycine eight.
It helps with muscle energy,

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nervous system support and I'm
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their full range of supplements

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for healthy aging on Solo Soleil.

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I know something true about
every listener of this show.

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You're a survivor.
Every day you've had on this giant

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rock hurtling through space.
You've survived it.

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You've encountered risk every single
day. Sometimes you've seen it coming.

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Sometimes you haven't.
But however you responded,

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it kept you alive.
And here you are a survivor.

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As a South African,
you may well know that just

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being on the roads isn't safe.
You probably don't think about it

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much, which is honestly a good thing,
because if you stop to really look at

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the odds, you might never leave the
house. Living is risky business.

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I'm not a brave person by any
stretch.

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That's Richard Harris or Harry
as he goes by.

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Even if you don't know his name,
you'll know a part of his

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remarkable story.
For people from across the world.

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I have been waiting for this
particular day when we can say

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that 13 people from the Wild Boar
Academy football team have been

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safely evacuated from the Tandoor
Cave complex in Qinghai Province,

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northern Thailand.
12 boys and their football coach

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who have been trapped inside the
cave system.

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Harry was instrumental in the rescue
mission that saved those 12 boys and

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their soccer coach trapped inside the
Tum Luang cave in northern Thailand.

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Harry has skills,
a very particular set of skills

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built over a very long career.
In 2018, he was an experienced

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anesthesiologist and a trained
cave diver.

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Two things that under most
circumstances, you'd never need

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to be at the same time.
And then a fun day out turned

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into a crisis in Thailand.
So why would someone central to

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one of the most celebrated rescue
missions in modern history

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insists that they're not brave?
Well, if the risk is is personal,

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then I'm extraordinarily
cautious and and careful in my

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planning for for the exploration
dives that we've done, some of

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which have been very high risk.
I've spent a long time putting

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every mitigation in place to reach
the point where I feel that the

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risks are now acceptable to me,
even though I'm, you know,

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my eyes are open enough to realize
that they are still Significant.

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You know,
I've got a wife and three children.

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I certainly have not got a death
wish.

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And I am not a brave person by
any stretch.

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I have no wish to to court death.
But when it has come to taking risks

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on behalf of my patients, which I
essentially viewed these boys as,

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um, I feel that I am a bit bolder.
Um, not in a careless or callous way.

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When you work in medicine,
especially anesthesiology,

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you have to be comfortable with risk.
You know, this is part of my job.

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This is part of what I do for living,
is to look after people when they

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are potentially about to take
their last breath, and having to

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intervene in those cases to give
them an anaesthetic, intubate them,

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do certain procedures on them.
You know,

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those interventions are very high
risk in themselves in those settings.

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And so you have to be comfortable
with the fact that the the

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intervention you're about to inflict
on your patient may actually be the

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thing that is their final, uh, event.
It might be the thing that actually

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kills them, even though it's been
done as a life saving intervention.

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And so if you're not comfortable
with that, you don't tend to

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work in that space in medicine
for very long or not at all.

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So I think having done that for a
long time in strange environments and

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in different countries has given me
the ability to put that kind of risk

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aside and just get on with the job.
The experience in the Thai caves gave

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Harry a different perspective on
what it takes to live a good life on

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this risky space rock called Earth.
But before he found himself in

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northern Thailand, risking his own
life to save 13 strangers before he

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found himself confronting life and
death decisions in an operating room,

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Harry had to save his own life.
Something you should know about

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Harry and his particular set of
skills is that once, when he was 15,

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he found himself stranded at sea,
facing terrible odds.

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Harry had just completed a diving
course, and they were diving a

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shipwreck on a summer afternoon in
February off the coast of Adelaide.

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Harry, three new divers and their
dive instructor, who was in his

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late 20s, were out on a boat.
The water was rough when we went out.

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Possibly too rough to to make it
a sensible decision to go out,

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but regardless, we did.
This band of inexperienced divers

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were battling rough waves,
trying to go along with the waves

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when the next wave hit, charging
them in the back of the next,

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burying the nose of the boat and
flipping it over, dumping all of

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them in the rough waters.
We managed to right the boat so that.

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So that it floated the right way up
in the water. But it was swamped.

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Everything goes wrong.
The engine wouldn't start there.

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Flares and radio were water damaged
and useless, and they made the

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rookie mistake of throwing the
anchor over the edge of the boat

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to stop them from drifting out,
but hadn't secured it to the boat,

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so the anchor simply disappeared
into the ocean.

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All they had were wetsuits and
life jackets.

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Here's Harry recounting the story
from his book, the Art of risk.

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We wouldn't drown, but that was
the extent of our good luck.

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All we could do was cling to the
boat and wait as darkness fell.

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The seas got rougher and the
temperature started to drop.

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I remember Sam, my friend,
who was a little less naive than me,

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looking at the situation,
the waves, the gathering gloom,

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the upturned boat and then turning
to me and stated that nobody was

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coming out to rescue us that night.
A is getting dark and b it's

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bloody rough out here and it's
going to get worse.

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There are no boats that are going to
be able to come out here and find us.

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This reality was unacceptable to
15 year old Harry.

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He was adamant that his parents
would sound the alarm and help

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would soon be on its way.
As it turns out, we were both right.

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My mum was on the phone to the
police, but nobody was coming to save

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us. Well, not that night anyway.
Once the reality did sink in,

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it got dark and I realized,
okay, my mate is right now and

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no one's coming out.
Then I did feel like I stepped up

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a little bit, and my friend and I
tried to help a lot with morale,

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you know, cracking jokes and singing
songs and trying to get the girls,

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um, you know, keep,
keep them cheered up and so forth.

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This rapidly became a lesson in
keeping your wits about you and

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taking calculated risks.
The skipper stepped up and emptied

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out the fuel cans, latching them onto
the boat to improve buoyancy, and

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they spent the night drifting in the
dark in great white shark territory.

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Hungry and very, very cold until
a local fisherman found them

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around 730 the next morning.

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At a young age, Harry learned that a
good dose of realism is necessary

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to survive. We all do it right.
We stack the odds in our favor.

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We're. Seatbelts.
Check the tire pressure.

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Maybe stay off the roads on New
Year's Eve.

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But we know deep down that there
is no living without risk.

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And in 2018,
when Harry got the call to join

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the rescue dive team in Thailand,
he knew he would need to be very

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realistic about the risks involved.
The dive through to the where

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the boys were is about three
hours duration,

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and it was a difficult cave dive.
Not the worst I've ever done,

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but, uh, not without some danger.
Normally you wouldn't dive into

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an actively flooding cave like
like this one.

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So we were very much aware of the
hazards as we were moving through the

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cave, but I was relieved to find that
we could get through to the children

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okay, without any major troubles.
My friend Craig, Alan and myself

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swam in there the first day we
were on site for two reasons.

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Firstly, to make sure that we were
safe in the cave, to make sure that,

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you know, we could safely handle
ourselves to get the 2.5km to

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where these boys were.
But secondly, for me to look at the

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boys and the environment they were
in and make some assessments both

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on the suitability or health of
the children for an anaesthetic,

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but also to see, you know,
what the survivability of of

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staying in that environment was.
Harry was there to assess the

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risk and possibility of a
seemingly impossible mission.

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The international divers and rescue
workers had weighed up all of the

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possible ways of getting the soccer
team out of that cave, and, well,

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there were no options but to swim
them out the way they went in.

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The boys were aged 11 to 17 and at
this point malnourished and weak.

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And so the hypothetical idea,
in order to get them out of the cave,

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they would need to be rendered
unconscious for a three hour

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underwater swim, with divers
needing to readmit Mr. Ketamine at

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intervals throughout the dive in a
flooded cave in zero visibility.

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Yeah, that sounds extremely risky.
Yeah, I, I pretty much laughed

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and said, that's a crazy idea
and can't possibly be done.

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Rick Stanton, the British diver
who made the suggestion to me I

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know he's not crazy.
I know he's a very practical and

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very tough guy, and I realized that
things must be pretty desperate for

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him to raise an idea like that.
And once I'd been on the ground

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there in Thailand for a short time,
I realized that he was

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absolutely right.
There was no other plan in place.

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However, I felt that I had had
more information at my fingertips.

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Being a cave diver and an
anaesthetist who's worked a little

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bit in difficult environmental
situations with patients,

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but also having even practiced
similar kind of rescues in our

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in our training for such events.
As someone who worked in cave rescue,

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to the point where I'd even pretended
myself to be unconscious and worn

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similar equipment to what the boys
were supposed to be dressed in,

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and I found that we just couldn't
keep enough water out of the mask.

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Let's just recap some of the details.
The boys and their coach had been

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exploring the caves when the monsoons
hit, and they got stranded inside the

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cave for nine days before a team of
international divers reached them.

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By the time Harry met up with them,
they'd had some food and a little bit

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of comfort in the form of space,
blankets and medicine,

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but only for a few days.
Four divers from the Thai Navy

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Seal Regiment had stayed with
the children,

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including a medic and a naval doctor.
Harry made the three hour swim

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into the cave and surfaced into
chamber nine.

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I remember the moment just before
I surfaced in the final chamber,

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chamber nine, which I knew would
reveal these boys, and I saw this

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sort of shimmering of the water
above me, reflected in my light.

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And I just I had my first sort of
moment of, of some anxiety thinking,

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wow, this is this is it.
You know,

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this whole thing is about to change
from a hypothetical adventure to

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actually meeting these kids.
And I was greatly relieved, actually,

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when I found these kids to be
actually in pretty good shape,

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they were all walking and talking
and their morale seemed excellent.

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They'd all lost a few kilos and
they were only small to start with.

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But although they were thin,
I was reassured by their by the

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the sight of them.
Yeah, a few of them did have

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chest infections and I could
hear them coughing.

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Um, some of them had some skin
infections and things.

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But of concern I noticed that the
environment was pretty unpleasant.

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Obviously they'd been going to
the toilet in there.

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The smell was overwhelming and
there wasn't really anywhere to

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go and hide to do that.
So, you know, it's only a matter

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of time before, you know,
infections became a real problem.

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The reality was that staying in
the cave would most certainly

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result in death.
The British rescue team had

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measured that the oxygen levels
in the cave were deteriorating

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and heading below 15%.
And on top of that, meteorologists

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had advised that the monsoon would
return in 3 to 5 days, bringing

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with it more rain, more water,
which would ultimately suspend all

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diving activities in the cave.
The idea of anesthetize ING someone,

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rendering them unconscious and
putting them under water for a

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three hour journey in water that
had literally zero visibility

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and high flow, and a very tight
and restrictive cave.

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How could you expect someone to
survive?

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I mean, in the operating theater or
even out in the field when you're

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giving someone an anaesthetic,
whether it's from a because of a car

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crash or an illness or what have you.
At least you have the benefit of

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modern monitoring.
You know, a good assistant and

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illumination, uh, you know,
to to monitor someone underwater in

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the dark. Only by feel and sound.
You know, it doesn't sound like

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a recipe for success.
I think this might be the

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definition of being between a
rock and a hard place.

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Option A is almost certain death and
option B is almost certain death.

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So Harry had swum to the cave
and assessed the risk.

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Now he needed to make a very
difficult decision during that

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three hour swim in the dark,
back to the outside world.

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I sort of gave them my assurance
we'd be back the next day and headed

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back out of the cave and got out at
about 8 or 9:00 that that evening.

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That was that was difficult, I think.
Swimming back out of the cave with my

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thoughts, thinking that I had perhaps
over promised and over committed,

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and was very likely to under
deliver now, and having actually

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met these kids and realized how
extraordinary they were.

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You know, it did very much
influenced my decision.

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Once Harry surfaced on the other
side, it was time to turn

00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:54.640
hypotheticals into plans.
The American Air Force chaired the

00:16:54.640 --> 00:16:58.400
meetings, helping to coordinate the
team of international divers and the

00:16:58.400 --> 00:17:02.360
Thai government make a decision.
But there were only two options

00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:06.600
on the table.
Option A leave the kids and their

00:17:06.600 --> 00:17:13.680
coach in the cave. Or option B?
Mission impossible. Of course.

00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:17.600
At some point I all eyes fell upon
me and I was asked my opinion

00:17:17.600 --> 00:17:22.520
about what did I think the
chances of this were succeeding.

00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:27.280
Harry knew he was in Thailand to
assess risks and make life or

00:17:27.280 --> 00:17:30.160
death decisions.
He had known it the moment he

00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:33.840
left Australia.
What he hadn't known, what none of

00:17:33.840 --> 00:17:37.560
the briefings or the logistics had
prepared him for, was the courage and

00:17:37.560 --> 00:17:42.840
resilience he would find huddled
together in that flooded cave.

00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:48.400
Would the children survive if
they were anesthetized and swum

00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:52.800
out by divers.
We do know historically that some

00:17:52.800 --> 00:17:57.000
people will not survive situations,
and they will perish before their

00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:00.440
substrate runs out, their oxygen
or their food or their water.

00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:03.280
And the classic example is the
lifeboat, you know,

00:18:03.320 --> 00:18:06.600
people cast adrift from their
yacht when it sinks.

00:18:06.600 --> 00:18:10.360
And there's half a dozen people
in that lifeboat, and some people

00:18:10.360 --> 00:18:14.960
seem to give up and perish before.
Biological factors, perhaps,

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.520
would really come into play.
So what is it that makes some people

00:18:18.520 --> 00:18:21.560
survivors and some people not?
And apparently you can almost

00:18:21.560 --> 00:18:25.440
predict the people in the lifeboat
who will fall into each category

00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:29.000
by the way they behave early on,
you know, the survivors of the

00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:33.400
people who might start to take
stock or inventory and, you know,

00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:37.880
see, make a plan for signaling a
passing boat or how how to catch

00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:42.960
water when it starts to rain or,
um, you know, take, uh, take stock

00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:46.410
of way to catch fish, whereas
the people who may not survive.

00:18:46.450 --> 00:18:49.770
Might be those people who immediately
go into that negative mindset and

00:18:49.810 --> 00:18:54.010
woe is me and we're all going to
die and start saying that out loud.

00:18:54.210 --> 00:18:57.570
So there's something
psychological about survival as

00:18:57.570 --> 00:19:03.090
well as as physical.
In total, the boys spent 17 days

00:19:03.090 --> 00:19:07.450
in that Thai cave.
They were damp most of the time,

00:19:07.730 --> 00:19:12.490
cold all of the time.
No food and only water in the

00:19:12.490 --> 00:19:15.650
cave to drink.
And in the beginning,

00:19:15.850 --> 00:19:18.890
they didn't even know if anyone
was looking for them.

00:19:19.610 --> 00:19:21.850
You know,
I do wonder whether some kids would

00:19:21.850 --> 00:19:25.410
lower morale or a lesser will to
live might not have survived that.

00:19:25.410 --> 00:19:28.610
And I think there's a number of
reasons behind their survival.

00:19:28.610 --> 00:19:33.010
And part of that is the fact that,
you know, these are tough country

00:19:33.010 --> 00:19:36.290
kids who, you know, were used to
a bit of hardship in life.

00:19:36.290 --> 00:19:39.690
Some of them were refugees from
Myanmar who perhaps had faced

00:19:39.690 --> 00:19:43.370
some adversity in their life.
They had an extraordinary man in

00:19:43.450 --> 00:19:46.090
the 25 year old coach who was
present with them,

00:19:46.090 --> 00:19:50.650
who was very important at maintaining
morale and keeping them busy both

00:19:50.650 --> 00:19:55.010
physically and with their minds,
thinking about how to manage their

00:19:55.010 --> 00:19:59.050
resources in the cave, play games,
and even to dig a tunnel towards

00:19:59.050 --> 00:20:03.170
the exit, which was, you know,
obviously a futile exercise a

00:20:03.170 --> 00:20:06.290
kilometer below ground.
But still, it just all those little

00:20:06.290 --> 00:20:10.250
things gave them hope and a reason to
to think they were not going to die.

00:20:10.250 --> 00:20:14.490
When really looking at it from a
practical perspective,

00:20:14.530 --> 00:20:17.650
there was zero chance that anyone
was ever going to find them,

00:20:17.650 --> 00:20:22.450
let alone rescue them.
So when Harry arrived in the cave

00:20:22.450 --> 00:20:26.930
for the first time to assess how
impossible the impossible mission

00:20:26.930 --> 00:20:32.170
truly was, he was blown away by
the team's resilience and courage.

00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:35.650
Harry then explained to the naval
doctor who'd been with the boys for

00:20:35.650 --> 00:20:39.810
a couple of days, a bullet point
rundown of Mission Impossible,

00:20:39.810 --> 00:20:45.690
which had been written out by a Thai
doctor back at the surface. No.

00:20:45.690 --> 00:20:48.810
One by one they would come down
to the water, sit on my lap,

00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:51.890
receive an injection into their
thigh, which would be ketamine,

00:20:51.890 --> 00:20:55.570
the anaesthetic drug.
And then once they fell asleep,

00:20:55.570 --> 00:20:58.490
we would finish dressing them up in,
in the diving equipment,

00:20:58.490 --> 00:21:03.730
which would include a full face mask.
And then one British diver would

00:21:03.730 --> 00:21:07.450
take one boy all the way out of
the cave, and that we would hope

00:21:07.450 --> 00:21:11.170
to do for boys each day.
And then obviously we had one left

00:21:11.170 --> 00:21:14.010
over and we'd pretty much think
about that on the last day, how we

00:21:14.010 --> 00:21:18.850
were going to attack that problem.
And again, relieved to see that

00:21:18.850 --> 00:21:22.730
the boys seemed to take all that
discussion in their stride.

00:21:22.730 --> 00:21:25.890
No one freaked out or collapsed
to the ground in tears.

00:21:25.890 --> 00:21:30.090
In fact, I was worried that the
doctor hadn't really read out the

00:21:30.090 --> 00:21:33.210
message accurately because they
all just were nodding and going,

00:21:33.210 --> 00:21:38.210
yep, that all sounds fine.
That night, having surfaced from the

00:21:38.210 --> 00:21:42.100
cave sitting in their rescue meeting
in the early hours of the morning.

00:21:42.460 --> 00:21:47.060
All eyes were on Harry who
needed to make a decision.

00:21:47.180 --> 00:21:52.660
I felt in my mind that 100% of these
children would die if we tried this.

00:21:52.660 --> 00:21:57.380
Even though I was really of a
mind to give this a try.

00:21:57.740 --> 00:22:00.660
Um,
I still didn't believe it would work.

00:22:00.660 --> 00:22:04.060
And I, you know, people have asked
me, why would you even consider

00:22:04.060 --> 00:22:08.180
it if you felt that you were
essentially euthanizing the children?

00:22:08.340 --> 00:22:14.940
And it really came down to a very
pragmatic and humane approach to the

00:22:14.940 --> 00:22:18.900
problem in that, well, if they're
going to die one of two ways,

00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:23.700
isn't it better to choose the way
that is more pleasant and will

00:22:23.700 --> 00:22:28.060
return their bodies to their parents
still looking like their sons,

00:22:28.100 --> 00:22:31.820
rather than waiting for several
weeks or months to retrieve their

00:22:31.820 --> 00:22:36.580
skeletal remains from the cave.
Um, it also would mean that the

00:22:36.580 --> 00:22:39.020
Thai Navy Seals would have a
chance of coming out alive,

00:22:39.060 --> 00:22:42.180
because I was pretty sure that they
would not leave the children under

00:22:42.180 --> 00:22:45.740
any circumstances, so they would
probably perish alongside the kids.

00:22:46.460 --> 00:22:51.420
Um, so it seemed sort of easy to
justify in my mind that although

00:22:51.420 --> 00:22:54.660
the outcome would ultimately
perhaps be the same,

00:22:54.660 --> 00:23:00.220
it was the the better of two evils.
And so therefore I had to play

00:23:00.220 --> 00:23:01.300
my part in it.

00:23:06.740 --> 00:23:11.660
Through the expertise and the
meticulous risk management of

00:23:11.660 --> 00:23:15.100
the team of experts.
All 13 members of the Wild Boar

00:23:15.100 --> 00:23:18.700
Academy football team made it
out of that Thai cave safely.

00:23:19.140 --> 00:23:23.660
One Thai Navy Seal, Saman Kunan,
sadly passed away during the

00:23:23.660 --> 00:23:27.300
preparation three days before
the rescue mission started.

00:23:28.580 --> 00:23:33.300
Most of us will never be
stranded at sea and I, for one,

00:23:33.620 --> 00:23:37.820
don't venture into caves,
so that's not happening to me.

00:23:38.940 --> 00:23:43.310
Most of us lead safe,
comfortable lives and we try our

00:23:43.310 --> 00:23:46.910
best to create safe,
comfortable lives for our children.

00:23:46.910 --> 00:23:50.670
But Harry's been sitting with a
question for a long time now.

00:23:51.670 --> 00:23:57.830
What might we be losing in the safety
and comfort of our modern lives?

00:23:58.430 --> 00:24:02.310
The longer I spend on this planet,
the more I feel that our modern lives

00:24:02.310 --> 00:24:08.430
are too safe for our well-being.
Obviously, that doesn't apply to

00:24:08.470 --> 00:24:12.950
everywhere in the world, but if
you are listening to this podcast,

00:24:13.150 --> 00:24:18.710
chances are you have access to
electricity, internet and technology,

00:24:19.270 --> 00:24:23.230
and the chances are you're not
trying to survive in a war zone.

00:24:23.230 --> 00:24:28.950
And Harry is not saying that trauma
with a capital T is good for you,

00:24:29.150 --> 00:24:36.110
but when you become comfortable in a
cushy lifestyle, small inconveniences

00:24:36.310 --> 00:24:41.230
may start to feel like danger.
The essential wild part of us is

00:24:41.230 --> 00:24:44.270
atrophying.
Depression and anxiety are

00:24:44.270 --> 00:24:47.270
endemic in our society,
including in our children.

00:24:47.310 --> 00:24:50.390
The jury is out on why this is.
And I believe it's actually

00:24:50.390 --> 00:24:54.070
important for the human condition
to still be exposed to some risk

00:24:54.070 --> 00:24:58.350
and inoculation against hardship to
make us stronger and more resilient.

00:24:58.710 --> 00:25:02.270
That, for me, is the big benefit
of risk taking activities.

00:25:02.270 --> 00:25:04.390
It actually encourages personal
growth.

00:25:04.430 --> 00:25:06.750
You don't have to go out of your
way to find it,

00:25:06.750 --> 00:25:10.070
but to say that you can have a
life without risk is impossible,

00:25:10.070 --> 00:25:14.430
because more people die from,
you know, cardiovascular disease

00:25:14.430 --> 00:25:18.790
or from alcohol related disease
or smoking or just from driving

00:25:18.790 --> 00:25:21.990
their car, then they die from
shark attacks or lightning

00:25:21.990 --> 00:25:26.070
strikes or falling off cliffs.
So, um, you know,

00:25:26.070 --> 00:25:29.390
just just don't engage with risk
without giving it some thought is

00:25:29.390 --> 00:25:34.150
what I would encourage people to do.
And the positive side of risk taking,

00:25:34.270 --> 00:25:38.150
you know, the health benefits and the
psychological benefits are enormous

00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:43.280
and should not be underestimated.
You know what I've gone on to

00:25:43.320 --> 00:25:49.440
think about? Well managed risk.
Um, well managed adventuring that

00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:56.040
might, uh, deal out a modicum of of
suffering and, and a requirement

00:25:56.040 --> 00:26:01.640
to endure unpleasant things which
will ultimately make us more robust

00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:05.720
and resilient for the genuine
challenges that come our way in life,

00:26:05.840 --> 00:26:09.120
whether it's, uh, you know,
relationship or or a health

00:26:09.120 --> 00:26:14.240
challenge or a career problem.
Calculated risks are needed to live a

00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:20.440
bold life. It's a decision to do so.
My friend Craig Challen is very

00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:25.080
famous for saying when he received
an exploration award, he said

00:26:25.080 --> 00:26:29.520
95% of being an explorer is just
getting off the couch and doing it.

00:26:29.560 --> 00:26:33.760
It just starts with a thought,
a thought bubble of I wonder if I

00:26:33.760 --> 00:26:37.640
could do that, and then to actually
turn that into positive action.

00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:42.240
And that's where it all begins.
Because life is risky business.

00:26:42.360 --> 00:26:47.080
There are no guarantees except
that you will encounter hardships.

00:26:47.600 --> 00:26:51.040
Your children will encounter
hardships.

00:26:51.360 --> 00:26:55.320
We cannot protect ourselves or
our loved ones completely,

00:26:55.320 --> 00:26:59.480
but we can prepare ourselves by
inoculating with a good dose of

00:26:59.480 --> 00:27:04.200
risk from time to time.
And perhaps all that takes is

00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:07.880
learning early enough to just
get on with the job.

00:27:09.040 --> 00:27:12.480
Survive this incredible adventure.
I had a great story to tell.

00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:23.280
These days.
Richard James Dunbar Harris or Harry,

00:27:23.280 --> 00:27:27.120
is a retired anesthesiologist
and serves as the Lieutenant

00:27:27.120 --> 00:27:31.120
Governor of South Australia.
And if his story stays with you

00:27:31.120 --> 00:27:36.970
and I suspect it will look out
for his books. Alfie the kind.

00:27:37.130 --> 00:27:40.010
Alfie the brave.
Against All odds,

00:27:40.010 --> 00:27:44.010
the Young Readers edition.
And of course, the art of risk

00:27:44.010 --> 00:27:51.890
that brought us together.
Go on, subscribe to something

00:27:51.890 --> 00:27:55.090
shifted on your favourite
listening platform now and never

00:27:55.090 --> 00:27:58.770
miss a human centered story.
You can find more episodes and

00:27:58.770 --> 00:28:02.490
ways to support the production of
this podcast at Something Shifted.

00:28:03.610 --> 00:28:06.330
And because you've listened all
the way to the end,

00:28:06.370 --> 00:28:10.690
we want to share something shifted
the soundtrack playlist with you.

00:28:10.730 --> 00:28:13.650
It's a compilation of songs we've
listened to while making this

00:28:13.650 --> 00:28:17.170
season of something shifted,
songs that make us feel a little less

00:28:17.170 --> 00:28:22.810
lonely and a lot more empowered.
The link is in the show notes. Enjoy!

00:28:23.410 --> 00:28:26.610
Many thanks to Rew,
my executive producer, for

00:28:26.610 --> 00:28:29.650
additional writing on this episode.
And as always,

00:28:29.650 --> 00:28:33.130
thank you for listening by.