Outside Podcast

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a technique that would allow us to vanquish fear and beat back stress? There just might be. In his latest book, The Wedge, bestselling author Scott Carney explains that when humans face challenging situations, our automatic responses tend to make us feel terrible. But the good news is that there are a number of simple methods we can learn to take control of our reactions to stimulus—whether it’s a circling shark or a scary news headline. Over the past few years, Carney traveled all over the planet, seeking out people who understand what he calls the wedge—a technique that enables us to adapt our bodies and our minds to be more resilient in the face of just about anything. In this episode, Outside editor Chrisopher Keyes asks Carney: What exactly is the wedge? And how can we learn it right now?

This episode of the Outside Podcast is brought to you by Visit Florida, one of the country’s great adventure destinations. Have you met a manatee? Airboated in the Everglades? Snorkeled the coral reef? Plan your next Florida adventure at visitflorida.com/outside

John John Florence has remarkable physical talents, but his greatest asset as an athlete might be his enduring positive attitude. The 29-year-old is often his happiest when things go sideways and he’s forced to adapt. This explains why, after suffering a major knee injury earlier this year during a competition, the two-time world champion surfer decided to spend his rehab sailing from his home in Hawaii to Fiji, a 3,000-mile open-ocean crossing that was loaded with unpredictable weather, high stress, and some truly scary moments. We connected with Florence at the end of his voyage to find out how he’s always able to handle whatever comes his way.

When we head into wild places, we accept a certain amount of risk. Often, we don’t think much about it, because we’re excited to be in an extraordinary place. But then something happens, and we are forced to reckon with the potential costs of our quest for adventure. So it went for Kyle Dickman, whose life had been defined by a strong exploratory spirit until he was bitten by a rattlesnake in a remote section of Yosemite National Park during a trip with his wife and infant son. In this harrowing episode from our archives, Dickman recounts his desperate survival tale and the lingering questions he struggled with in the aftermath.

This episode is brought to you by Stillhouse, the official spirit of adventure. Stillhouse’s award-winning spirits come in unbreakable stainless steel cans, so they can go places where glass can’t. Check out all their offerings at stillhouse.com.

Serious surfers train themselves to be ready for difficult moments: a brutal wipeout, being held down underwater by waves, losing a board and being forced swim a mile to shore. Then there are the kinds of experiences that nobody is really prepared for, like getting pushed out to sea by winds or currents and set adrift where nobody can see you. To get through that scenario alive, you need extraordinary fortitude. In this episode, we revisit one of the most surprising tales we’ve ever told on the Outside Podcast. We imagined what it might take to survive being alone for days on a surfboard in the open water—and then found someone who endured exactly that.

This episode was brought to you by Whoop, the fitness tracker that gets you training smarter by giving you feedback on every moment of your day. Learn more about how Whoop can help you reach your potential by training and recovering smarter at join.whoop.com.

The longer we’re stuck at home, sheltering in place, the greater our hunger for tales of far-flung journeys. For this week’s episode, we’re offering one of our favorite adventure stories from our archives, about a daring crew of twentysomethings who, back in 1970, had a crazy idea to canoe remote rivers though the Amazon Basin. Their half-baked plan was to hunt, fish, and forage for food until it wasn’t fun anymore. They had no jungle experience and few supplies beyond a machete and a small rifle. Not surprisingly, they ran into all sorts of trouble—including a hungry jaguar who chased them up a tree.