Meet Rick Ridgeway

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rick Ridgeway. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Rick, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I’ve been an outdoor athlete since I was a teen-ager. I’ve rafted rivers, climbed mountains, explored jungles, and sailed oceans. I’m in my mid-70s, and twice I’ve been in situations where I was sure I was dead, and in fact the ones I was with did die.

Recently I published a memoir called Life Lived Wild, and sitting down to write it, I added up I’ve spent five years living in small tents pitched in remote places, living close to wild nature where I got into my bones the understanding that all life depends on death, including my own. That the minute I was born, the clock starting ticking. That like all of us, there is an unmarked day on our Calendar when we will no longer be alive.

Philosophers over the millennia have recognized the value of integrating into our daily lives the deep awareness that we are here on this earth for a limited time. Integrating your mortality into your daily round was central to the Greek and Roman Stoics. The Catholics called it Momento Mori—remembering your death.

Living with my mortality is the central source of my resilience. My wife died of cancer five years ago. I have only been married once, and we were approaching our 40th anniversary. I did not turn away from the pain of losing her. I embraced it because the American idea of closure is misplaced. The last thing any of us should do is turn away from death. Death of our loved ones, or of ourselves.

The best way to learn to live with death is to live with nature. Because living with nature is living with life and understanding the circle of life is understanding the source of all resilience.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’ve published seven books about my adventures, and the most recent, Life Lived Wild, is a memoir that tells my adventures, but more importantly, about what I’ve learned from them, and how I’ve used those learning to live my life.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I picked a lane with my comments on resilience, so I’ll leave it at that.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

I took some time to write the piece on resilience, so I’m going to rest blank and leave it to you guys to use that piece, if you like. Thanks!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rickridgeway.com
• Instagram: rickridgeway

Image Credits

Photo by Jimmy Chin (with permission)