Our final talk of 2024 was a smorgasbord of tales of extraordinary resilience, leavened with humour and the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Our panel told us how fear could both become normalised, but that a sprinkling of it in our lives would be beneficial and we should seek it out (though possibly not as extremely as in a war zone or through a shipwreck).
We gathered in the Hen & Chicken on 20th November to examine “A Life Less Ordinary- Tales of Inner Strength and Resilience”. First time Altered State moderator, Polly Morland, ably steered a conversation with shipwreck survivor Douglas Robertson, warzone anaesthetist Dr. Rachael Craven and endurance athlete and mental health advocate Dan Beaumont.
Douglas gave us some highlights from his family round the world sailing trip in 1970s (inspired by an off the cuff remark from his younger brother prompted by news of Robin Knox-Johnson’s own adventure). Two years in it took a different turn when they were rammed by orcas and had two minutes to abandon ship onto a raft (which later sank, having been nibbled by fish) and the boat’s dingy. One of the first decisions they made was that they wouldn’t eat each other – luckily a tip about how turtle blood could be drunk that Douglas had recently learnt from a book helped them with their hydration. Douglas didn’t admit to his father at the time that the book in question was a novel by Alistair Maclean.
Rachael made the decision to go from her job at the Bristol Royal Infirmary to doing what she saw as essentially the same job but in very different places with very different resources seem remarkably straightforward. She got a phone call, packed her bags, arranged cover with her colleagues, got on a flight with some holiday makers to the nearest point of entry and then dived in. As tanks approached to within fifteen minutes distance on one occasion, and knowing they would destroy the hospital and have no compunction about killing anyone they found in it, some deep breathing and the knowledge that her team were outside the operating theatre rapidly disposing of any evidence that could lead to reprisals helped her carry on saving the life in front of her.
And Dan charted his course from a nature loving child in the Lake District to endurance athlete (via alcoholism and a history of family abuse and trauma) in a way that seemed extraordinarily logical. He advocated embracing discomfort – even in such small ways as trying a new recipe - as good preparation for whatever life might throw at us. For him, being on the panel in itself was a prime example.
The common theme was that they just took whatever the situation presented to them in their stride – none of them thought of themselves as extraordinary people and all rejected the label of “brave”.
What they all readily did admit to was the central role of one common theme that helped them all through difficult periods – thinking about food. Douglas told us how he dreamt of a fruit salad, how describing it in detail to his father on the raft helped them both through the following day. Rachael said that much talk in danger zones revolved around the first drink that would be ordered when reaching a bar after her tour. And Dan agreed, that having quit his alcohol addiction, its place had been filled by extreme exercise, the adrenalin and sugar needed for energy.
Photo: The Robertson Family on their raft.
But supermarkets were not necessarily a place of solace – both Douglas and Rachael recounted how on return from their adventures, they could find the choice suddenly being offered to them overwhelming and at the same time banal – how to concentrate on different brands of cereal when you had been fighting possible death only days before.
The Toolbox at this event was perhaps the most homogenised of our talks – almost a single message that we should all get out there and have less fear.
More links:
Douglas's book 'The Last Voyage of the Lucette'
Médicins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) UK
Our podcast with talk highlights will appear in due course on our website. Our playlist for the night featured:
Heroes – David Bowie
I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock of Seagulls
Teach Your Children – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Keep on Keeping On – Redskins
I’ll Stand By You – Pretenders
Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush
Night Nurse – Gregory Isaccs
Give A Little Bit – Supertramp
Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey
I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
Walking on Sunshine – Katrina and the Waves
The Wake of the Medusa – The Pogues
No More Heroes – The Stranglers
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