Thoughts on the Book "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage"

I just finished the book, Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage.

Shackleton and his crew become trapped in the Antarctic Ice where they faces cold that froze down to their souls as well as daily life or death scenarios.

It's also the year 1915.

Even through all this discomfort - the author is deliberate to point out that the crew was generally in good spirits and could even be described as having fun.

Mark Twight, alpinist and strength coach who trained the cast of the movie 300 has a quote I’ve always loved: 

It doesn't have to be fun to be fun.

I was around the age of 10 or 11 when I started to recognize that short term discomfort often lead to a much more desirable after-state. For me - this stood out most clearly in the realm of health and fitness. If I made good decisions and took action, I continued to improve even though on a short-term basis things weren’t always necessarily “going up and to the right”.

Another quote for you -

Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.

If you’ve ever done a yoga class you will vividly remember the bliss you arrive at when you get to the final pose of Shavasana.

Shavasana is literally lying on your back on the floor and it feels like nirvana after the previous 55 minutes of effort and focus. In fact - it only feels good because of all the effort that went into getting to that final pose.

True hell is when the person you are meets the person you could have been.

I almost didn’t include this quote as I wanted to make sure that it was interpreted correctly.

For me - it’s about having the courage to fail over and over and over again and still maintain relentless forward progress.

The pathological interpretation of this is the idea that you should be rich, run 3 businesses, own 5 homes, volunteer at the soup kitchen, be president of the PTA and HOA (and myriad of other acronyms) while also maintaining a family life. Good luck!

It’s not that any of these things are necessarily bad in and of themselves - it’s that the idea that you should do everything you’re possibly capable of is the real path to hell.

As I’ve gotten older, I’m much more able to focus on the process.

I paradoxically see the finitude of time while simultaneously recognizing that there is plenty of time.

I hate the feeling of “walking off the field” knowing that I was fully capable of more.

It’s not a self-flagellation type of attitude. It’s more about being able to have an honest conversation with myself about what I learned.

In 2016 - I attempted to climb the 3,000 foot vertical granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. My partner and I got about halfway up the wall before we decided to retreat.

There was definitely a day or two of ‘feeling bummed’, but that quickly passed and I simply started training and learning for an attempt the following year.

Age has taught me patience because the reality is there is nowhere I have to be except here and now.

Like Shackleton’s crew I’m better able to maintain an orientation on the direction I want to head while also having the patience to enjoy the present.

There is no future in which I will arrive so I better learn to enjoy the process of time.

I believe that the magic of the Shackleton Crew's survival was their ability to have a huge goal, but maintain their focus in the present.

Like the crew - you can learn to get comfortable with being uncomfortable…and maybe even have fun along the way.

I think that oftentimes when we want to make a change in our lives we become so fixated on the goal as a "destination" to reach that we completely ignore the process.

If you’re able to instead become obsessed with the process then the “goal” becomes the only logical outcome.

It just requires patience.

 Much love!
-Dan