Episode #71: David Richman on How Cycling 5,000 Miles Helped Him Process Grief and Inspire Others.

The Discomfort Practice

In this episode, I’m excited to speak to David Richman. David is an entrepreneur, author, public speaker, endurance athlete, and philanthropist who brings the lessons learned in his life to enrich and inspire others. He pushed out of his comfort zone as a sedentary, overweight smoker stuck in an abusive and unhealthy marriage to seek true satisfaction in his life. That meant quitting an addiction to focusing on what others wanted out of him, and go full-throttle for what he wanted for himself.

What happened as a result is inspiring. In his first book, Winning In The Middle Of The Pack, David focused on how to get more out of ourselves than we ever imagined. More recently, he wrote Cycle Of Lives, an Amazon bestseller, in which he shares the stories of people overcoming cancer. He first started to form the idea for the book in 2007, when his sister was in the last few weeks of her battle with brain cancer. So, he set out on a nearly 5000 miles solo bike ride across the United States, in which in just six weeks, he visited most of the participants for the book, which chronicles 15 people's unique emotional journeys with cancer as caregivers, patients, loved ones, doctors, etc. He went through the various traumas in their lives as they told him their stories, and how that affected their experience of life and of cancer. He also explores in the book issues that are truly human, and often uncomfortable to talk about like suicide, abandonment, loss, survivor guilt, abuse, fertility issues, and the way people deal with trauma. 100% of the book's net proceeds have gone to cancer-related charities picked directly by those whose stories are in the book. It's a beautiful ethos from start to finish, and it goes without saying that it's inspirational, insightful, and evocative.

So, come join me in this wonderful conversation about life, loss, and the profound meaning to be found in transformational, uncomfortable journeys.

Key Points Discussed:

• David’s very first endurance event that has affected him emotionally, physically, mentally, psychologically, in his most waking and aware moments, and also subconsciously (05:58)
• Doing things you don’t know the answer to (11:25)
• Getting enough experience in that realm of uncomfortableness to learn with absolute certainty when it's okay to quit (12:14)
• David's current discomfort practice - the Ironman (17:41)
• Lessons David learned on his 5000-mile bike ride from California to Florida, and then to New York for his book Cycle Of Lives (26:16)
• A story about Joshua through his medical journey (31:46)
• Why David has 15 stories in his book (25:59)
• How the stories affected David personally (39:06)
• Are you afraid of living? (42:40)
• Experiences bring deeper and more profound meaning to trite quotes (47:32)
• Taking the discomfort experience and making it beautiful for others to learn from (51:47)
• Forming connections with people when we or they are going through difficult times to make the journey better (54:03)
• What gives you hope for the future (58:18)
• Take that step to reach out and connect with that person you know who is going through a really difficult time (1:00:00)

Resources Mentioned:

• Cycle Of Lives, by David Richman
• Winning In The Middle Of The Pack, by David Richman

Connect with David:

• David Richman's website
• David on Twitter
• David on LinkedIn
• David on Facebook
• David on Instagram

Connect with Betsy:

• Betsy on Instagram
• Betsy on Twitter
• Betsy on Linkedin

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