How to Stay Positive Under Duress with Cyril Derreumaux
How do you stay positive under duress? It doesn’t matter how adventurous, fit, risk tolerant or determined you are. At some point, you will find yourself in a situation where it becomes hard to stay positive or even to find the will to keep going. It could be as simple as sitting on a cold wet chairlift, riding your bike on a long climb that feels endless or out on a hike that seems to go on forever.
Joining us in this episode to explore how we can effectively manage our mental state in the face of discomfort is Cyril Derreamaux. Cyril is a long-distance solo kayaker, adventurer and speaker.
Cyril has just completed solo kayaking, unassisted across the Atlantic Ocean on his way from the Canary Islands to Martinique. This 3000-mile journey took Cyril 71 days, 14 hours and 57 minutes.
Cyril has also paddled his custom-made kayak solo from California to Hawaii. This is a trip that took him 91 days which he completed in 2022.
Cyril is a two-time World Record Holder who has several other long-distance trips under his belt including being part of a four-member rowing team that also paddled from California to Hawaii.
Cyril is an epic speaker and is perhaps one of the most passionate guests we have had on our show and he offers some excellent advice!
Key Takeaways
How do you maintain a positive mindset in the face of adversity:
Self-Awareness: If we want to coach ourselves, we need to be able to recognize when our discomfort is becoming an anchor that is dragging us down and what is needed to push us forward.
Being the Self Critic: Requires us to ask ourselves if the pattern of behaviour that we have is good or bad. For example, is how we feel negatively impacting our performance and becoming a barrier to success?
Getting a Third-party Opinion: This means asking others for their feedback. Sometimes we need to reach outside ourselves to get an objective assessment of how we are doing. This can involve asking our friends, colleagues or even feeling out our guests.
Reframing: This involves confronting the situation in a way that helps us to change our perception from something that might be negative to something that is more positive. This can help us to adapt more effectively mentally.
Adapt and Execute: Means putting all of this into action and moving forward. Once we recognize this, we can start to take steps to manage our mental and emotional state so that we can better cope with our situation and keep us going in the direction that we need to be headed.
Guest Bio
French born, now American citizen, Cyril Derreumaux considers himself a citizen of the world. Fluent speaker of 6 languages (and counting!) Cyril is attracted to learning and discovering new cultures and places all the time.
This natural curiosity of people and places led Cyril to backpack around the world at 25 for one year. With $7,000 and a can-do attitude Cyril embarked on this life changing experience that permanently changed his outlook on life and how he wanted to live it.
A move to California following his profession in the wine business led Cyril to begin exploring the world of outrigger canoeing and kayaking and reignited a childhood passion for windsurfing and all things water related. He soon began pushing his limits further and further in ultra-endurance water events. A serendipitous find of the Great Pacific Race which advertised “you don’t need to be a rower to row an ocean” led Cyril to embark on his biggest challenge at the time, rowing in a team of 4 men from California to Hawaii which resulted in in a Guinness Record for the fastest ocean rowing crossing of a team in 39 days and again changing Cyril’s perspective on what was possible.
Always a dreamer, Cyril soon found himself thinking about his next expedition. Inspired by the stories of maverick ocean explorers, Cyril began to plan his biggest expedition to date, crossing the mid pacific on a kayak with solely human power from California to Hawaii.
Despite delays and a failed attempt, Cyril accomplished this goal in September 2022 reaching Hawaii to become the first 100% human powered kayaker to accomplish such a feat.
As a member of the famed Explorers Club Cyril continues to dream big, thinking of his next big adventure and encouraging others to do the same. Advocating to “live life to the fullest,” Cyril hopes his adventures inspire others to find their own dream and go after it.
Cyril is currently working on a book and a documentary chronicling his kayak crossing. In December of 2024, Cyril embarked on his latest big adventure where he set out to paddle across the Atlantic. His goal was to travel from the Canary Islands to Martinique, a distance of 4800 kilometres. He ended up completing this trip in just over 71 days!
Guest Links
Cyril’s website: https://www.cyrilderreumaux.com
Cyril’s trip across the Atlantic: https://www.solokayaktheatlantic.com
Support Cyril here: https://www.solokayaktheatlantic.com/donate/
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