Alex Hutchinson
on Endurance and the Explorer’s Gene
Do you think you have the explorer's gene?
It's not a question about climbing Everest! It's about that inner itch to try new experiences, the one we're all born with, the one that boosts our lives when we dare to walk the unbeaten path.
Alex Hutchinson breaks the myth that, in our hyper-digital world, the age of exploration is dead: "Exploration can permeate every aspect of our lives if we embrace it." He knows closely the force of exploring as a source of meaning, but also the fascinating terrain of the mind, body, and the incredibly elastic limits of human performance.
Alex is a speaker, author, science journalist and writer of Sweat Science in Outside magazine. But before all that, he was something else: a quantum computing researcher and long-distance runner competing for Canada’s national team. An unusual path, or maybe exactly the kind you'd expect from someone who has spent his life studying why we seek the unknown.
His first book, Endure, started as an inquiry about running and became an analysis of the human condition. The closer he looked at elite athletes, the more he saw the rest of us: ordinary people finding a way to get comfortable with suffering, learning to push past pain: "Endurance is the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to stop!" He doesn't see it as a physical gift reserved for the exceptional, but more of a practice: "We get better at handling pain with repeated exposure. It's a skill that improves with exercise, but it never becomes easy. Pushing yourself will always hurt!" Discomfort is not a signal to stop. On the contrary, it's a place to stay a little longer.
To Alex, most limits are an illusory product of the mind: "Whether it's writing a book or studying for an exam, you have to learn to be aware of your internal monologue and make sure it's not holding you back." He calls the mind "the new frontier of endurance." Learning to notice negative self-talk changes everything!
If Endure was about how we push limits, The Explorer's Gene is a provocative investigation of the 'why': "Off the beaten path, following unmarked trails, we are wired to explore. The search for the unknown is a primal urge that has shaped the history of our species." Choosing to do something difficult looks irrational from the outside. But Alex reframes it: we do hard things to find out whether we can!
The Free Energy Principle is something he loves: "Our brains are wired to minimize surprise. The most reliable way to do that is to stay curious!" To keep learning what's out there. "That's ultimately why humans ended up spreading to every habitable point on the globe, and also why we can't help wondering what's over the horizon." Curiosity isn't a personality trait. It's our oldest survival strategy!
Read Alex's answers for Inspirators and unleash your inner explorer!
Thank you, Alex, for being an Enduring Explorer!
#INSPIRATORS QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Alex Hutchinson
Title: Science Journalist
Website: www.alexhutchinson.net
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhutchinsonyyz/
Country of origin: Canada
Country you currently live in: Canada
Your definition of Regeneration: The key for me is the idea that tomorrow can be not just different from today, but better.
A challenge you are currently navigating in your work: I’m still trying to figure out how to be a journalist in the age of social media. The rules (and revenue models!) keep changing, and the ongoing challenge is to adapt so that I can keep telling the stories that are important to me.
Main driver that keeps you going: Curiosity. It’s a privilege to have a job that involves learning new things most days, and as long as that remains true, I’ll continue to enjoy it.
An ancestral teaching or Indigenous worldview that changed how you see life: As a kid, my view of nature was that it was something to be conquered, or at least survived, by humans. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come around to the view that we’re part of nature rather than apart from it.
A human or more-than-human Inspirator who shaped who you are today: My dad, who was an ethicist whose work focused on how people with different perspectives and belief systems can get along.
The trait you are most proud of in yourself: At my best, I genuinely want for others the same things that I want for myself.
The trait you most value in others: Empathy.
Passions & little things that bring you joy: Rivers. Mountains. Cheese.
A meaningful place to start for those at the beginning of the regeneration journey:
Start local, thinking about your life and your community. What could be different? What would be better?
An honest piece of advice for young people who lose hope: Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. In other words, just do the best you can!
Must-read books that had a great impact on you:
· On Trails by Robert Moor
· Walden by Henry David Thoreau
· Doctor Criminale by Malcolm Bradbury.
Movies or documentaries you love: The Princess Bride, When We Were Kings, High Noon.
Websites or podcasts you visit frequently: globeandmail.com, nytimes.com, theatlantic.com, letsrun.com
Music that makes you (and your heart) sing: Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Cannonball Adderley, Art Blakey.
Places you travelled to that left a mark on you: The Snake River in Yukon, the South Coast of Tasmania, the mountains of Papua New Guinea.
Global Regenerative Voices we should follow: I’m a big fan of the work of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservancy of Canada; I’m sure there are equivalents wherever you are.
Events or gatherings we should attend for inspiration: Local grassroots community events.
Reasons to feel optimistic about our future: There’s a cliché in science, sometimes known as “Planck’s Principle,” saying that science advances one funeral at a time! In other words, new generations embrace ideas that previous ones were unable to grasp. I think the same applies to attitudes about sustainability.
Reasons to feel pessimistic about our future: We’re generally much better at short-term thinking than long-term planning.
Regenerative Leadership values much needed today: Optimism. Determination. Pragmatism.
The Inspirator(s) you are endorsing for a future edition:
Kai Chan, a professor at the University of British Columbia
The quote that inspires you:
From J.S. Woodsworth, the blessing that my father would read before big family meals:
“We are thankful for these and all the good things of life. We recognize that they are a part of our common heritage and come to us through the efforts of our brothers and sisters the world over. What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all. To this end, may we take our share in the world’s work and the world’s struggles.”
Your quote that will inspire us:
