Darcy is the author of the book, The Amazon Woman and the co-owner of the Whitewater Kayaking business Smallworldadventures.com
How did you get into Whitewater Kayaking and what do you love about it?
A college friend invited her to skip the fall semester and go kayaking in Nepal. She was stoked about the adventure and traveling internationally. By going kayaking in Nepal, she was able to get away from the big tourist areas and find remote places to explore and she truly enjoyed that style of expedition traveling and which made her fall in love with kayaking. That's the style of kayaking that has kept Darcy loving whitewater kayaking. She enjoys getting as far off the beaten path as possible and challenging herself while seeing new places.
How do you see the big challenges and overcome the obstacles that appear in the big adventures that you take on?
The way she has learned to overcome it is by embracing the challenges. Going into these trips with the mindset with the attitude that things are going to wrong. You can hope everything goes well, but the reality is that there are definitely unexpected things that will go wrong. She really believes the stoic philosophy shared in the book, The Obstacle is The Way by Ryan Holiday. She thinks of this phrase often when she finds herself faced with expedition challenges.
How did the Amazon trip come about and what was your motivation to join Midge on the trip?
The trip came about in an unlikely way by David Midgley, "Midge" a brilliant programmer from London who was having a midlife crisis and thought he was going to waste his life away sitting behind a computer writing code. During this time he started thinking that if he could do one big adventure in his life, he could die a happy man. While he was searching for his adventure, he came across an interesting stat that more people had walked on the moon than descended the Amazon river from source to sea. Everyone who had gone down the river had hiked around the white water, or did it on a raft, or only did certain sections. He decided he wanted to be the first person to whitewater kayak the Amazon river. He reached out to SWA to train him to turn him into an expert whitewater kayaker. After a decade of training, Midge invited Don and Darcy to join him on the trip.
Could you share a bit more about the Amazon river trip? What were some of the challenges you had to overcome on the trip and how long did it take?
Learn more about the physical, mental, and emotional challenges the group overcame during the 148-day adventure on the show
What message do you have for anyone that is feeling external societal pressures and think that the big goals are unachievable for them?
When Darcy was younger, she drew a lot of motivation from anger. She would be mad when people told her that she couldn't do something, she wanted to prove them wrong. When she realized that other people are watching her, and that she is inspiring others, she now feels that she draws inspiration from the idea that her actions are inspiring others.
Links:
Website https://darcygaechter.com/
Order the book, Amazon Woman https://darcygaechter.com/amazon-woman
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