bear grylls
The Legendary Survivalist Talks adventure and Family Matters with DGR
When I got the opportunity to speak to famed survivalist, former soldier, TV star, and all-around interesting gent Bear Grylls, of course I jumped at the chance. After all, he’s a noted outdoorsman, we’re an outdoor-oriented site, and that’s that, connection made.
Fortunately, that was not the only connection that we’d share. I knew our conversation would cover things like wilderness adventure, experiences shared with celebrities of all stripes on his National Geographic show Running Wild with Bear Grylls, and that we’d likely geek out on gear some, too.
What I was pleasantly surprised by was how much of my chat with Bear centered on family — this being Dad Gear Review and all, I was only too happy to hear how much the outdoors and the wilderness means to Bear Grylls not just as a man, but as a dad. And what’s more, he made it clear that he has only ever supported his kids’ interests, not tried to fabricate them, an approach we wholeheartedly support.
So sure, it was fun to hear Bear talk about gallivanting about in the wild with Russell Brand, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bradley Allen, and many other interesting high-profile folks, it was bracing hearing him describe bracing Arctic Ocean gales in an open boat, and it was revealing to hear him call his Brompton folding bike an absolute favorite piece of gear, but it was most rewarding to talk to him about his experiences as a family man. (And also, for the record, “gallivanting” may not be doing some of the Running Wild ordeals justice; the Wyoming winter outing he and Bradley Allen shared didn’t sound all that easy!)
Our conversation turned toward the family of it all based on a question I asked after we had discussed bikes, packable jackets, and other fine gear.
How do you balance fatherhood with your time spent on expeditions in production?
“I think one of the reasons that I really fought hard in the early years of my TV career to own and produce and create our TV shows post Man vs. Wild — you know all the TV shows now we own and create, from You vs.Wild to Running Wild to this new one I’ve got called I Survived — I fought to own those because it gives us freedom with the family, and I think I learned early on to keep family first.”
“My work is my work, and in my early days on TV I got the balance way too wrong. I had a young family, I didn’t know the industry, everyone was asking favors all the time — ‘Just one more episode here! One more there! Some more press here!’ — and I was just always like ‘OK, sure, if that’s what we’ve got to do.’ And then I got savvy fast. I realized no, I had to own this all and do it on my own terms. I learned you need to carve out [time] and protect that family time and treat work as work and live by a family first motto.”
“And you know, sometimes you have to drift over the line a little bit. You obviously have to do some of those favors and dig deep to balance it, those times come, but if you’ve got clear priorities for you and your team to work to, then you’re not over the line too often and you keep that family protected. Y’know, your boys or your kids are only young once, and I’m really proud I have been there. And the closeness still continues, even as teenagers — and our eldest is 20 now — and I still prioritize that first. I still try to be disciplined with that. You know, we could all be, say, five percent more wealthy or famous or successful, if those are aspirations for people. But for me I’ve always found a bigger motivation is to keep the family closer, tight, happy. So I can sacrifice the five percent of work and success or whatever it is to keep family first. And work comes and goes; sometimes it’s great, sometimes you fail, and it’s like: that’s fine, but it’s not the be all, end all of life. Your family is going to be there long after your work. So that’s how I’ve tried to do it.”
Are your kids outdoorsy themselves? How have you helped to foster a love for nature in your own family?
“First of all, you’ve always got to encourage your kids to follow their own path and find their thing. That was my dad’s approach with me, just saying, y’know, follow your heart. Find what you really love and go for that. And it doesn’t matter if it’s what everyone else is doing, be courageous to follow your own path and follow your own heart. I’ve always tried to live that; that’s what led me to the military, that’s what led me to the world of adventure, and I think we’re just parenting now in the same way.”
“I try to set example after example, I live it myself, then encourage them to go their own way. And our boys are all really different. Our youngest is sport-obsessed in a way that neither my wife or me is, but we go along with him. He’s just qualified for this under-14 Wimbledon tennis thing, and that came out of the blue, but we just encourage him and say ‘Go for it!’ Our middle one is very unsporty but loves the military, loves that and really wants to join the army or the navy, he’s trying to figure that out at the moment, and he loves a lot of outdoor things, loves hunting, that sort of stuff. And then our eldest one has been a real ‘path less trodden guy.’ He’s really into his art, he paints, he sells in galleries all around the world, and he really wanted to be financially independent from us as soon as he could. And he’s doing really well as a painter and he also loves the extreme sports. He’s been the one that growing up I’ve shared a lot of this stuff with. We BASE jump and paraglide and do a lot of that stuff together, so that’s been a really great privilege in my life to share.”
“And then my whole family loves the sea. They’ve been brought up on this little island here, right off the Welsh coast, and they’re all good in boats, on the water. We’re all off the grid here, we’re good outdoors, really nature has been a big part of all of their lives growing up.”
“You keep it simple, you don’t have to have massive outings. Adventure is a state of mind. You can live mini adventures every day.”
“I mean, there are big ones, too. I took my whole family back to Everest this year, and that was a special moment, being at the base camp there with them, yeah there are adventures like that with family, too.”
What is your best advice for people who want to get out there and have their own adventure but who may not have much experience in the wild?
“Well, I mean it when I say adventure is a state of mind. It’s true in everything, in how we approach our relationships, our goals, our aspirations, our business, our families. There’s adventure to be found everywhere — physical adventure even, I mean. Even in cities. It’s so easy to research things now, you can find adventure and you don’t need to go halfway around the world to do it. There may be amazing forests or mountains or rivers or lakes right close to you, even in big cities.That’s why the Scouts are so great; there are people from all walks of life, even from the middle of cities, that get to experience nature adventure because of the Scouts, and I love seeing that in my role as Chief Scout to these 57 millions Scouts around the world.”
“So, you gotta research it a bit, you’ve got to check it out, to plan a bit, you’ve got to be determined to make things happen, but you can start with a campout in your backyard, it starts with a state of mind. Then finding a good buddy to do things with, and then growing those boundaries a bit. Find local parks, find local campouts, then push those boundaries a bit with an overnight. You just build up, and it’s so much easier nowadays than before the internet. Now, it’s just like you look and you can plan this stuff. Adventure starts in your head and your heart, and that can really have meaning, because after that it’s just on you to get after it. Plan it, go do it.”
All images c/o National Geographic