I've been watching the latest season of the Netflix series Alone. The prize is $500,000 USD for the person who can remain alone in the Canadian wilderness the longest. I'm watching one man named Biko, as he struggles with starvation, and the serious likelihood that he must soon "tap out" due to weight loss and hunger, or be forced to come out by the medical team who check in on participants from time to time. Biko is going to be a father soon, to a pair of twin girls. He's got huge responsibility looming. And Biko has no job and no career to return to - just responsibility. Just a new life all about the little baby girls. Biko's days of "self" are done - at least for the next twenty years. Biko needs to win this contest of will, and skill, and strength. But I don't think he will win. I can hear it in his words as he describes the importance of good health above all else. That's the talk which all of those who tap out start to use just before they quit. I think Biko will quit. I hope he doesn't - but I expect he will.
And then what? What life comes next for Biko. A hard life to be sure - a life just like the rest of us. But what will be harder still if Biko quits is the thoughts which will haunt him of what life might have been like if he hadn't quit, and if he'd won the content and brought home the half-million dollar payday. A haunting thought for the days ahead.
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.