
445 - The Most Dangerous Day of My Arctic Journey and What It Taught Me About Satisfaction and Happiness
From The Strenuous Life Podcast with Stephan Kesting by Stephan Kesting
March 19, 2026 · 21 min · Episode 447
About this episode
Stephan Kesting shares his experiences and lessons learned from a challenging Arctic journey.
In today's episode of The Strenuous Life Podcast , I share the story of dealing with storms, giant tides, and the ever-present threat of polar bears on the remote Hudson Bay coast at the mouth of the Thlewiaza River in Nunavut, Canada and what I learned about physical, mental, and emotional performance in extreme circumstances. This is an excerpt from my book "Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic", the story of the trip in the podcast above and a damn good read, available at Amazon in phyiscal, Kindle and audibook formats: https://www.amazon.com/Perseverance-Death-Subarctic-Stephan-Kesting/dp/1639368612/ Also available at Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/perseverance-stephan-kesting/1145682384 Indigo in Canada: https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/perseverance-life-and-death-in-the-subarctic/9781639368617.html And in many independent bookstores all around the world (they can always order it in if they don't have it). Thanks so much, Stephan Kesting P.S. If you enjoyed this episode check out the beginning of this journey in episode 419 of The Strenuous Life Podcast (links below). For everything in between that episode and this one you'll have to check out the…
People in this episode
Host: Stephan Kesting
Topics covered
- Arctic journey
- satisfaction
- happiness
- extreme circumstances
- mental performance
- physical performance
- emotional performance
Keywords
- Arctic
- polar bears
- storms
- tides
- performance
- satisfaction
- happiness
- Nunavut
- Hudson Bay
- Thlewiaza River
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo
Books & works: Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic
Places: Nunavut, Hudson Bay, Thlewiaza River
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