Achieving your goals with Turia Pitt

0:02 A listener production. Welcome to season three of Crappy to Happy. I'm cast done and on behalf of Tiff and I. I want to thank you so much for your support. Over the last twelve months, Crappy to Happy has been downloaded millions of times. It was handpicked by Apple to be. Listed in their Best Podcast of twenty eighteen list, which warms my heart. And most importantly, every week we get. Messages from you telling us how much you've enjoyed and appreciated. All the topics that we've brought you so far. I know that you're all pumped to get stuck into a whole lot of new episodes, and right now you're probably wondering, Bud, where's Tiff. Tiff Hall has obviously been my co host up until now, but TIF has recently been very busy working on an exciting new project which you will no doubt be hearing about soon if you haven't already, and her schedule has meant that she has been unable to record any more episodes of the show.

1:01 See here's what I decided to do in TIFF's absence. I decided that I wanted to bring you the most interesting, inspiring and intelligent people who are all able in various ways to help you continue moving along the path from crappy to happy. In upcoming episodes, I will be bringing you conversations with the likes of Christina Carlson, who the founder of kicki K Stores about the importance of dreaming big and finding your why, Tara and Bromfort, the founder of the Body Image movement and director of the Embraced documentary. We talked about the importance of learning to love the skin you're in, and Jamilla Risby about how to be more confident at work, and so many more amazing people. I know you are going to be motivated, inspired and informed by what they have to share. To kick off this season, I am so excited to share with you a conversation I had with none other than Churia pit Churia obviously, is most well known for being caught in a grass fire when she was competing in an ultra marathon back in twenty eleven. She sustained burns to sixty five percent of her body, and you may not be aware that she actually died on the operating table and was revived. She not only defied the odds with her recovery, but She's gone on to set and achieved some incredibly ambitious goals. She is now a motivational speaker, an author, humanitarian, success coach, wife, and of course, mother to one year old Huck of Eye. I spoke to Taria about the mindset strategies that she used to recover from her injuries and why she believes in setting massive goals. I know you are going to love this conversation, Tria. Thank you

2:33 so much for coming in to talk to me today. Thank you so much for having me. You are most commonly known for being caught in an ultra marathon grass fire and sustaining burns to sixty five percent of your body. This show is called Crappy to Happy, and I can't think of too many things that are really get. Much crappier than that. So what I thought I would like to ask you, first of all, was if you can go back to when that happened, when you first woke up and realized the extent of your injuries, what was the first thing that went through your mind. Yeah, I guess that's kind of a hard question to answer because I don't really have one definitive moment where I was fully cognizant of the extent of my injuries and also the amount of rehabilitation and the amount of work that I'd have to put in to my recovery.

3:28 So I guess that might have been my saving grace at the same time, because I wasn't. Really too aware of how badly I was burnt. I think one of the first one of the first things that I was asked to do was I'd been in a kama for a month and my physio came into the room one morning and he said, Okay, my name is Frank, I'm a physio, and I'm here to help you learn how to stand again. And he picked he pulled me up, and I was screaming with agony, and I was on the edge of the bed and he said, okay, why don't you think now we're going to stand? And I stood up, and I just I was leaning against him. I wasn't supporting any of my own weight, and I was sobbing and I was crying.

4:14 And it wasn't just because of the payment, was because I guess that was the moment where I realized just how long my road to recovery was because I couldn't even stand up by myself. You know, I'd been burnt running in an ultra marathon and now I couldn't even walk, I couldn't even run. So I realized at that point I couldn't just focus on what my life used to look like, because if I did that, what would have happened. I would have been demoralized. You know, when we're here, we want to get to there, but there is so far away. It's really easy for us to feel disheartened and overwhelmed and demoralized. So you know a lot of the time we just give up before we even start.

4:55 And so what I would do at the beginning of the day, I would say to myself, I'd set it really small goals. So today I'm going to walk to the door of my hospital room, or today I'm going to walk ten steps down the hallway. So I broke it down into really manageable and really easily digestible steps. Yeah. And I've actually just been reading your book, Unmasked. I know it's not your only book, but I think it's the most recent one at this point. Yeah, yep, yes, And I have to say, by the way, fantastically written. You are a masterful storyteller. I know that people are interested in your story, but you have a real talent for writing. I would recommend anybody read it. Ah, thank you, You're most welcome. And in the book, you talked about very early on in your recovery deciding that you were going to get back and you were going to complete an Ironman triathlon, which is one of the most grueling endurance events in the world. And I'm just really curious about what was it that inspired you to set such a big goal.

6:01 Yeah, that's a good question. I think the trap that a lot of us fall into is we played a little too safe with goals that we set. And I think the only way that we become we become more of what we already are, and that we go beyond what our current capabilities are, is to set a really massive, really audacious goal. And for me that was Ironman, because I was told that I'd never be able to run again, and yet I decided to do this crazy iron Man, which is a you know, four klumeter swim, one hundred and eighty klumbitter bike ride, and then a whole marathon at the end of it. So I think if I'd never set that. Goal of doing an iron man, I never would have been fit enough to do an iron man, Like, does that make sense? So I think when people say to me, you know, I'm going to sign up for a marathon when I'm fit enough. That's the sort of things they say to me in my School of Champions, or you know, I'm going to do this when I'm fitter, or I've lost weight, or I've got more money or a house.

7:01 I think they do it backwards. I think, you know, the first thing you do is set a goal. You find a really crystal clear and compelling reason for wanting to do that goal, and then that makes it easier for you to do the work to get you there. Yeah, And I know that also you had other smaller goals on the way, like, for example, somebody one of the doctors challenged you to climb to the top of the stairs. Do you want to talk about that, just briefly, about getting to the top of the stairs? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. So that was after I'd learned how to stand up and walk again, and I used to do one flight of the stairs every single day, and I was really proud of myself because I thought that that's a pretty good achievement. And I told one of my surgeons and he said to me all that. He said, so you should be doing all of them, and I thought, you know what, righty, I will do all of them. I did the stairs every single day for about six months.

7:52 And it doesn't mean I got better at them every day, you know, because improvements not always linear. But the main thing. Is that I was consistent and I applied myself, and by the end of the staying that hospital, I was able to do every single one of those two hundred and thirty four stairs up to the brands in it. And I think that plays into what I was saying about goal setting. You know, you have the goal, you have your reason for why you want to achieve it. So my reason for wanting to do that was I wanted to prove my surgeon wrong. Yeah, and then you've also got to put in the work consistently, absolutely. And that that makes sense, Yes, it does. So you set the big goal, but then you take the small actions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Can we just pick up on that he told me that I couldn't do it. It occurs to me that this is something that has always been within you. If somebody tells you that you can't do something, you are more determined to go ahead and prove them wrong.

8:44 Yeah. If someone tells me I can't do something, it's like waving a red flag at a ball like. But I guess I'm lucky in that I've recognized that in myself and I've used that to be able to motivate me, because I think we can all be motivated to do anything we want. You know, I don't know. I don't know. If you're a mum, yeah I am, yep. Yeah. So you know, as a parent, you would do absolutely anything in the world for your kid, you know. And I think if I said to you, would you be able to do an ultra marathon if I gave. You five dollars? You no? Okay? Now what if I took your kids away and I said you're never going to see them again until you do an ultra marathon?

9:29 Yeah? Absolutely, there we go. So we can all get incentive, we can all get leverage, we can all be motivated into doing something. We just need to really work out what that point is for ourselves. And I guess I'm I'm blessed and that when people tell me that something can't be done, I find that a really motivating factor. I did glean that from reading your book. Yeah. What I also. Wondered about that though, is and I know there will be people who listen or people who hear your story and just assume that this quality or this drive, this motivation to overcome challenges is something that you're just born with.

10:10 What do you have to say to those people who say, well, that's all well and good for her, but I'm just not wired that way. I guess you know, like how you, Saint Bolt is the fastest man in the world over one hundred meters and not all of us have U Saint Balt's DNA or genetics, so probably you know, if you trained, you probably wouldn't be able to run as fast as you. Saint Balt. Having said that, if you got a running coach, if you did training every day, if you analyzed your speed and you take off and how fast you're going, and you change your shoes and you joined a running group, I can bet you a million dollars that after a year you'd be a better runner.

10:51 Absolutely. So I think the same principle applies when you're talking about your mindset or when you're talking about whether or not you can overcome challenges. We can do it. It's just about how much practice you've had it doing it, how much how much work you're doing on improving in mindset. Yeah, Tria, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that everyone's going to be excellent at it straight away. No, just like not everyone's going to be an excellent runner straight away. But everybody's got the potential to grow. Everyone's got yeah, just like everyone's got potential to be a better simmer, or a better parent or a better colleague. I just want to say also that when people hear your story or when people you know, people use words like inspiring and motivating and all of.

11:33 That to describe you. I've actually, before you came in here to talk to me, I met a few people who have met you and have known you, and the word that most often is used to describe you from those people is funny. They say that you have you have the best sense of humor, and I'm just I would just be really, I don't know that we always see that side of you publicly, and I'm wondering, like, how important has that been for you to maintain your sense of humor in such the face of such aversity. I think it's. Important for anyone. Like if you're having a bad day and you can have a laugh about it. You instantly feel better. Yeah. Yeah, And I think the more you can inject humor into your every day and not take yourself so seriously, you know, because I think life's for living. It's not something that always has to be taken so serious, like we all do. We all have a tendency to take ourselves and our problems and our issues so seriously. But I also think there's a lot of benefit in just cutting all of that away and just constantly trying to find that the good in the situation or the funny in the situation. I'm not saying it's always possible, and that doesn't mean that you're not going to have shit days, but I think there's a real skill in being able to see the funny side in situations. And I had a really funny mum growing up who was always doing that with us kids. And she would do that with me in the hospital, you know, imitate the doctors in funny voices. She'd make me laugh every single day. And

13:06 I think I'm really grateful to my mum for giving that to me. But do you feel also pressure given your situation and given the feel that you're in, do you feel that pressure to always be positive? I mean you said before everybody has shitty days, right, So yeah, do you feel like I don't. Really think I'm a positive person. To be honest, really, I think, yeah, I think I'm a realist. Like I know, if I want to get over there, I can look at things through the negative lens and that's going to make me feel really shit, or I could look at things through the positive lens. That's going to make me feel good and more empowered and therefore more likely to get to the destination that I want to get to. And I also know that if I just put in the work and I do the yards and I do the time, anything's possible. So I don't go through life, you know, saying affirmations or using manches or anything like that. If they work for people, I think that's great, good for them. They don't work for me. But yeah, I would consider myself a realist.

14:14 I think I find it really interesting to you that for all that you've been through and the positive attitude that you really have maintained and the way that you have turned this tragic, tragic event into around and used it as the impetus to improve your life and the lives of other people. Is really positive. I find that interesting that you don't consider yourself. Sorry, I've just fully cut you off there. Maybe it's that I don't consider it like you know, with my ability to overcome challenges. I don't think positive positivity is and ingrained, innate attribute that we have. Like I think we've got this really binary view of the world. We think, well, you're either that or you aren't. You're athletical or you're not.

14:59 You're smart, you're not. You're funny or you're not. You're positive or you're not. You're resilient or you're not. And I don't think I think that view is quite constrained. I don't think the world really works like that. So I wouldn't consider myself a super positive person. But I consistently make the choice to see circumstances in my life as a positive thing because that helps me grow and that helps me get to where I eventually want to go. I guess you. Sorry. I guarant see if you wake up in the. Morning and you say to yourself, what are all the shit things that happened to me yesterday, and you go through there in your head and you think about them, I can guarantee you're gonna wake up and you're gonna feel really crap about yourself.

15:44 But if you wake up from the morning from a. Place of gratitude and really reflect on everything in your life that you're grateful for, whether that's your kids, your partner, your job, your health, your well being, whatever, and you come from a place of gratitude, going to be better or worse? Yeah, obviously better. There we go. So it's not rocket science, no, you know, it's COmON sense. And what you're saying, what I'm hearing you're saying about all of this is that everything's a choice that we basically we make our decisions about where we put our energy, where we direct our thoughts, everything. Yeah, exactly, Tria.

16:27 In your book, when you did achieve your goal, we should mention that you did achieve your goal of completing the iron Man. Congratulations. And then you also were invited to the Hawaiian Iron Men, which is the World Championships, which is next level grueling, right, And in one part of that race, during the bike ride, you what people may not know about you since your accident is you don't have the capacity to cool yourself. You can't sweat, and so when you overheat, you actually need to cool down physically. Right, to pour water on yourself. Yep. Correct. And so during that bike ride, in riding through the middle of the lava fields, you knew that you were getting too hot and you knew that you needed to cool down, and there was no water available.

17:09 Yes, yes, I do. I do remember that point in my life. Yes, and I was. I mean, the fact that you went on and completed that race is just another sign of your tenacity. But the fact is, I was thinking as I was reading that, why you came so close to dying? You did die. Why is it that compels you to put yourself in these situations where you might die again? Like? What's that about? Yeah? I don't think I was in danger of dying in the Iron. Man, Okay, Like, good to know. It wasn't like, you know, a life on death situation.

17:50 With each pedal stroke, I was hovering on the brink. It wasn't quite like that. You know, there was medical supervision, there was as stations and everything. But I guess it comes back to having that really, really compelling reason for why you want to do something. Like I said to you before. You know, if I said I was going to take your kids away unless you did an ultra marathon, would you be able to do it? And you said yes. So for me, the reason why I wanted to do an iron Man is after my accident. You know, doctor said, you won't be able to run again, you won't better have that crazy physical life you used to have, but you know, on the upside, you might be able to drive again. You know, you might get a job, that sort of stuff. And I thought that was such bullshit.

18:32 You know, that I'd had an accident and now all of a sudden, everyone of the expectations of me were suddenly plummeted, and I found that really infuriating. So I decided I wanted to do an iron Man because I wanted to be fitter, faster, and stronger than I was in the Ultra marathon where I was catastrophically injured. And that's a super compelling reason for wanting to do something, and that was what got me out of bed in the mornings. That's what kept me going through my longer training ride, and that's what that's part of what kept me going in the Iron Man itself. So just having that, you know, you know, like a new year's resolution, Like you know, people say, oh, yeah, next year, I want to lose weight. But what does that? What does that even mean to them? You know, like how much emotion is connected to it? Why do they want to lose weight?

19:21 What's it about? How much weight do they want to lose? And it's almost like we let ourselves down before we even begin, and then we feel bad about ourselves because we haven't achieved it when it was just something that we never even gave that much thought to. So in School of Champions, I really try and unpack all of that psychology behind goal setting. You know, not only setting a goal, but you know, making sure it's the right goal for you. Do you want to do a marathon because you like running or you just think you should do it because all of your mates like running? You know, that's some of the stuff I talk about the reason for why you. Want to do it. That's so super important. That's what's going to keep me going when times get tough, because on your way to achieve an audacious goal, times are definitely going to get tough, you know, there's a section on breaking your barriers, writing down your fears and then finding a way to overcome each and every one of them. So, like you know what you were saying about the water, that was one of my biggest fears in iron men, that I can't cool myself down. So if I get hot, you know, I don't sweat, that just means I keep getting hotter and hotter and hotter.

20:31 So I thought, well, maybe that means I can't do an iron man. Maybe I shouldn't do it. But then I thought about it a little more carefully and I was like, no, if I wear a heart rate monitor, I'll be able to keep an eye on my heart rate and if my heart rates spikes, I'll know then that I need to back off the pace a little bit. So there's a lot of thought that needs to go in when you're setting a goal, and I feel that it's a step that a lot of people miss and then they feel bad when they shouldn't feel bad. It's just because I've never really set a goal using the right steps. And not anticipating those obstacles before they happen and working out how you do exactly. You know, write it down, what's your fear. It's like, you know, I don't have ten fingers, so I can't ride a bike. That's a pretty big fear. Yeah, you know I can't break How am I going to put on my wet suit? How am I going to call myself down? What if I get really cold? Because I can't warm myself up either? So what if I get really cold during four kilometers of thing which is two hours immerse in the water?

21:33 Like? Wow, there's all of those things. What I thought about them all before the race? You know, you don't just rock up on the day and hope for the vest. No, but you know we can. We can use anything as an excuse. You know, I could have said, well, I don't have ten fingers, so then a four I can't ride a bike, which means I can't do the Iron Man, so yeah, I won't about to do it. Or I can't regulate my body temperature, so then then you know I can't really run anymore. It's like I don't have time to do that, or I don't have the money to do that. We can always find a way to make things happen if we're willing to adjust our lives and prioritize things differently, and that's some of the hard truths I guess I serve in the School of Champions.

22:16 I want to talk about School of Champions. Yeah, can you just tell us a bit more about that. This is a program that you run. It's online. Is this correct? That's correct? Yes? And do you want to tell us about that? It's an online program. It covers my seven steps steps to goal setting success. And through the steps, you know, I help people unpack what kind of stuff they actually like, you know, because a lot of people don't even really know what sort of stuff they're interested in. And then you know, what could be the right goal for them, Why would they want to achieve that goal? What are all their barriers to achieving that potential goal? Then we talk about their. Willpower, their habits, creating the right support team of people around them as well. It goes over seven weeks, but obviously some girls will take longer than seven weeks to achieve.

23:06 But what I hope I do is, or what I feel I do, is I provide a really solid framework for them to work from. And it's been really awesome. The shit that people have done in the school has been crazy. A lady quit a job, to start a blueberry farm just going really well. People who aren't athletic at all sign up for marathons and smash it. You know. People change jobs, they change countries, they move careers, they sign up for all these sorts of crazy events. So it's actually been really, actually really inspiring for me, to be honest, because it's it makes me feel like the work that I do not only does it work, but it also makes a different difference to people.

23:51 Everything that you're saying is so relevant to our listeners. These are topics that we have, you know, touched on before in other episodes, but and you really pull it all together. And I think that your School of Champions, honestly would be something that they would all be really interested in. What's just one thing that you can give people to take away. What's something that they could implement straight away if they're, you know, really wanting to start to put some of this into practice in their own life. Yeah, I guess one of the simplest and easiest things that they could do is to start using the word Yet. So when I was a kid, I remember doing really bad on a mass test and I came home and I said to my mom I'm really crap at mass, I can't do it. And she said to mentary, she said, you're crapit maths now and you can't do it yet.

24:38 And just by using that three letter word, what does that do for us? It reminds us that our situation isn't permanent, and that also gives us hope. And hope is a really awesome feeling to take with you as you progress into the future. Yeah, I love that. That's really that growth mindset. Yeah, thing, isn't it. Well, I'll give you I'll give you another one. This is one that I learned since having a little baby. My little son's fourteen months old now, but when I first had him, you know, as you probably know, Okay, it's quite overwhelming at the start, and I found myself I was always saying, I have to go do this, you know, hucke of eyes crying. I have to go pick him up. I have to go wash his clothes, I have to go get his food organized.

25:23 I have to do this. I have to clean the house, I have to do that. And I was telling myself, I have to do all of these things, and it made me feel like I was resenting my beautiful, perfect baby boy. And so then instead of saying I have to, I decided to say I get to I get to go pick up pucke of eye, I get to go feed hucketbye. And I get to be here and be around and watch him grow up. And just by changing just that one word, that shifted the focus from one of obligation to one of gratitude. I love that. I love that. Yeah, And how easy is that, I know if I have to remind myself of that one as well?

26:05 Like I have to go to work now, I get to go to work. Yeah, yeah, exactly, And like even just when you when you say that, you notice your whole physiology, your whole body actually changes. Yes. What's your take on having a morning routine? Are you four morning routines or or no? Yeah, I'm definitely a former morning routines. And I think, you know, either you run the morning or the morning will run you. And I think the morning it's it's such a sacred time. You know, you're at home and you're with your family, and it's the first thing that people do. Oh, actually, let me let me rephrase. What's the first thing you do in the morning? Generally, the first thing I do is have coffee. Okay, coffee, Well, that's what I do as well. But for a lot of people, the first thing they do when they're in bed is they reach over and they grab their What are they I don't do it, Well, you're a legend then, but they grab their phone. They starts going through seeing the text messages and mail and inbox and alerts and everything that's coming overnight. And then what does that do for them? That already puts them on the back foot for the day, because They're already in that state of mind, like I've got to do all of this shit for everyone else before I've even addressed what it is that I need for this day. Yeah, so the first thing I do in the morning is I don't look at my phone. I make a coffee.

27:25 A Harkbye always wakes me up, so he's on my head. I put him down the floor with some toys. I make a coffee, I come back, I sit down, I watch him play, and I do my gratitude practice, which is where I think of three things in my life that I'm really grateful for. So this morning it was from my brother to Ricky, who came over early to come for a surf with me. It was from my mom who came over to look after hark of Eye while we went for a surf. And the last thing was my colleague. He's doing a lot of work in setting up School of Champions at the moment. So the smaller the things the better, and the simpler the things are better. But you know, because you can't always be going on a six month drawn around Europe as much as we'd like to and just really hiding in on what it is that you're grateful for, and for me, starting my day from a place of gratitude always means that the rest of my day goes extremely well.

28:20 Yeah, and was this number four coming here not to the podcast? Oh yeah, no it was number one. But like you know, I thought it's willing I have to go do this podcast and then I was like, no, you get to, Like it's an awesome opportunity. You're in a cool position where people in Australia actually want to hear. What you have to say. And bonus, you get to pick up a new fridge because your fridge has been beeping incessantly for no ship the last six months, Like every time you open the. Door at beeps, so it has been a good day. I've kicked all the boxes, you say, yes, Trier.

29:02 One thing that really occurred to me in learning about your story is that you went from being seriously highly competent, capable woman, ultra fit. You know, obviously you just started a new job. You're a mining engineer, you know, double degree world at your feet, and then you really went to being reliant on other people for as you said, every little thing, like you couldn't even stand up on your own. So I'm interested in, for a start, how that was for you psychologically to have to become so reliant on other people and being that vulnerable, And also what have you learned I guess generally about the importance of help and support and asking for help.

29:42 I guess at the start, I found it infuriating, you know, to be completely incapacitated and not even being able to wipe your own ass like that. That was. It was infuriating for me, and especially being someone who'd always prided themselves so much on being so self sufficient and so independent. But the thing I found is, like, we have it in our heads that people are going to wind helping us to do things. Do you ever feel like that, like you don't want to ask them because you don't want to impose that wind you're going to be imposing. But people actually love helping, you know, Like when you get asked to do something for someone, I'm sure you're always more than happy to yeah, yes, unless it's unless it's helping move move. I don't help, I don't I don't help.

30:28 We're generally happy to offer assistance if people need it, for sure. Yeah, because it makes us feel good. Like if you're in the shopping center and an old lady is trying to get something from the top shelf, you'll get it out for a handed to her, and that actually makes that that actually adds to your day, you know, because you feel like a top human. So that's what I really found on my journey is that people actually love helping and the people like feeling useful as well, you know. So people want to know that they can help, and they also want to know what they can. Help you with. Advice for people who you know are either going through adversity or maybe they've got someone close to them who's going through adversity. So if you've got someone you know who's going through a tough time and you don't really know what to say. I would suggest offering to help, but being really specific about it. So I wouldn't suggest sending a text message saying, oh, you know, let me know if there's anything I can do, because then that puts it on the person who's going through adversity, and it's you know, they're not going to even respond with really anything. So I think if you said, you know, I'm doing grocery shopping on Friday, I'm going to be coming by your house. I can grab you some milk and some eggs and some bread. Is there anything else you need?

31:44 Yeah? I love that Yeah, because a person will be like, oh yeah, tomatoes and some steak would be awesome, thank you. Yeah specific being really being really specific, or you know, I'm making some food for you. I know you're vegetarian. A kidney means okay, you know, because it's implied in the message that you're or the communication that you're doing it for them anyway, and it's going to happen. And then you're also asking them to input their Yeah, it's help their preference. Yes, yeah, it's helpful to them. So you're not saying, hey, let me know if there's anything I can do. Yes, I really think I love that you don't.

32:25 Really you know, if you're going through a tough time when someone says that to you and you're going to say, yeah, you can make me a kidney pie, thank you so much. Yes. And can I say also that I think when people say do you want me to do something? And I mean even on a day to day level, like if people say can I do something? Me having to think about what you can do is just another job for me. It's another thing for me to think about. Its thinking exactly, yeah, exactly. But I also want to put it on, you know, on the person that needs to support or needs to help. You can't get annoyed with people for not helping if you if you haven't asked them specifically for what it is.

33:06 That you need help with. So you got to speak out and you've got to be really specific and really clear about what it is that you need. So you can't say, oh, I really need help at the moment you say, look, I'm trying to get into this graphic design school in New York. It's a pretty big deal. I really want someone to sit down with me for three hours to review my designs. I trust you because you're awesome with fashion and putting together looks. Are you able to come over? How we pick out which are the options are the best? And I'll make your dinner and that's perfect. You can't just say I really need help because you're not being very specific about what it is that you need help with.

33:47 And do you so this is something that you implement now in your life. If you need help, you ask for it. Yeah. So I said to mum, can you come over early in the morning because my brother and I were going for a surf. Yeah. So I didn't say I didn't get annoy at her because she's not helping out enough. I didn't expect her to read my mind. I didn't say to my brother, na, I've got a baby. Now things have changed. I can't just go surfing whenever I want to, like I asked. If my mom had said no, I would have just said to my brother mate, I can't do it today. But when michaels back from work this harve I will go then. Yeah. Yeah, and I think everything's figuring outable for sure.

34:29 Yeah. And this, all of this really applies to people who have set a goal and they're looking you know, working to achieve it and just knowing that they need to be able to ask for help when they need it. Yeah, for sure. And I think no one, no one does anything by themselves, you know. So I think the more we can get used to asking for help and see that people don't actually mind, and if people do in mind, they normally just make an excuse and then you say, Okay, well they don't want to help me with that, That's totally cool. Tree. The other thing that I have learned about you is that early on, even before this accident, you were obviously a person who had a very strong social conscious. You were doing everything that you could to help, traveling overseas, volunteering, and that has certainly not changed since the accident. I'm really interested to find out what are the causes that you particularly support now.

35:19 Yeah, So just to backtrack a bit, when I was at Evening, I got involved in all sorts of different charities and I was you know, I did the Forty Hour Famine when I was ten, and then I did a cycle around Cambodia for Child Fun, which was with one of my best friends, christ And Bridges, and that's also one of Dave, the producers of this show he's good mate. And then I went away with one charity to build houses for people in one Goalia, and that trip really struck me because where we were in Mongolia, the local people, well, they didn't actually want our help, Like we were a bunch of Union students trying to build houses. We didn't know what we were doing, and they were like, no, no, no, we've got this. We just want to do our own houses, our own way. And I guess that really resonated with me after my accident because I had a lot of requests coming through to be an ambassador for this, or an ambassador for that, or an ambassador for this, and I thought I could really just focus all of my energy on the one charity and make a massive difference. And the charity of my choice is Interplast. I found out about these guys through my surgeon because he volunteers for them every year, and Interplasts they provide surgery to people who really needed in developing countries.

36:37 So let's say kids who've. Got lip or cleft palate, women who've had acid thrown on them, burn survivors, people who've had amputations, pretty much everything and anything that can be fixed or mediated with surgery. That's what Interplast does, and. I'm really happy to say I've helped raise over a million dollars for that charity. Now, I think giving back it's really a tenement of happiness, you know, because it's so easy to get caught up in all of our problems and what's happening in our world, and I think all of us, myself included, we can become a bit self absorbed. You know.

37:17 It's all about what's happening to us, and it's all about the world that's going directly around us. But I think when you step outside that and help someone else who's probably not as fortunate as you, it really makes you appreciate what you've got in your life. Yeah, Churia, thank you so much for joining us today. This has just been a fantastic conversation from my perspective, and I know one hundred percent that our listeners will get so much out of this as well. Yeah, I really appreciate your time today as well. I had a great chat, very conversational. What an incredible woman. And one thing I found really interesting during that conversation with Juria is that she doesn't consider her self to be a naturally positive person instead, she sees being positive as the most sensible option if she wants to live a happier life, and of course, choosing to be positive is a choice that we can all make, regardless of our circumstances, regardless of our temperament.

38:16 And if you're interested in. Digging a little bit deeper into the benefits of injecting more positivity into your life and some strategies for doing that, I would strongly recommend that you go and check out the episode called Think Happy Thoughts, and of course make sure if you want to get involved in Turia's School of Champions that you check that out at Churierpit dot com. That's t r ia PI doublet dot com. We love hearing from you, so if you love this show, please give it a rating and a review on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts, or get in touch with me personally hello at castone dot com. I also have some exciting news. The Crappy a Happy Book is now available to be ordered.

38:57 Link is in the show notes, or you can come to my website. Cast don dot com. In the next episode, we'll be talking to Christina Carlson, who is the founder and creative director of kicki K. Happy to Happy is presented by Cast dun produced by Davis Vilenski, Audio production by Darcy Thompson. Listener