Transcript of Álvaro Vizcaíno: 48 Hours Between Life & Death | Fear, Survival & Acceptance | Tomorrow, Today

When you have a plan, there's no plan B. That's dividing your energy. That's playing the game against you. There's no plan B with yourself.

You're simply like at the mercy. I missed everything because that's like a highway, right? And if you hit something, you're dead.

Acceptance and gratitude saved my life. Not only saved my life, I pushed the reset button.

If this actually calls your heart and if the answer is, what do I have to lose, I just go do that. And I don't care. I don't care about the implication of what I'm doing. I just do it.

I will do it again. With fear. It's not a question of, I have— I've heard. No.

Face your fears.

Fight your fears. Life starts at the end of your fears. And I say, no way.

Welcome to yet another episode of Tomorrow Today with Shaker Natarajan. It's a great honor for me to have Alvaro Bitcayeno. He's a surfer, he's a survivor, he's an entrepreneur. And he's an amazing guy. And I'm really excited to talk to you, Alvaro, because I've been reading about you. I've seen your Netflix video. What an amazing story. And I could relate to some pieces of it, but I think your story is going to be super inspirational for a lot of people, a lot of people. Um, and so I'm excited to have you on the, uh, the podcast. Um, and let's get started.

Good.

So, uh, so tell me, uh, before, before the, the life-changing event that you had, um, kind of date us back to when you were a kid.

Okay.

Uh, and, um, where you were born, um, what was your life like? Did you have any angels in your life? Because I'm sure like there was something which is protecting you right from like when you were born. Uh, and who was that and what was the whole upbringing like? You know, I just want you to kind of reflect on your early days of your life and kind of walk us through how it was and how it got shaped.

Okay. I was born in Madrid here where I studied, raised, and I mean, I had a job in the commercial department of a big company. Years passed, an apartment, friends, hobbies, but you know, Some mornings I woke up with the sensation of, okay, but what's this all about? Okay, I wake up another week, another week. And I knew I was lucky. I mean, I was happy with my life, but do you remember what happened back in 2008, '09, the crisis?

No.

So, everything was kind of difficult. Still, I had my results, but some mornings was like, what's the sense of all this? And then you just continue with your life. And time passed, and I remember that day I received a call. my friend Matías, and he asked me, hey, Álvaro, how are you doing? How is life going? And I told him, and he asked me, hey, man, why don't you come to the Canary Islands? We can start up a tech project, e-commerce for tourism. And so, back in 2009, It was the early days, no? And I thought, well, a technological company in the Canary Islands. Well, he was living in Fuerteventura, which is an island in the middle of the Atlantic Sahara. It's a desert, volcanoes, beach, touristic place. And I thought, this is crazy, man, and make company at Darweez. So that made no sense to me, but neither my mornings. So I felt, why not? I need a change. So I moved there. I moved there and Well, there's something else. I'm a surfer living in Madrid. Imagine how frustrating that was, no? I felt like a penguin in the middle of Sahara. It was crazy.

And Fuerteventura, they call it the Hawaii of the Atlantic.

Big waves.

So I say, yeah, yeah, I'm traveling for surfing. I spend all my free time searching for waves, but I can live near the ocean now. So I moved there. We work hard. We invest all our savings and much more. New life, new people. And after some time, I can say we did it. Then suddenly the numbers thriving, and one day we were like 16 people working all over the world, no? The technicians, I mean. And wow, I can say one day I had the the life of my dreams. A house with a pool, uh, company, uh, surfing every day. And that's it. Uh, that was the, the, the first change in my life.

That's the first change of your life. But like before that, uh, you know, you were born in Madrid. What are your parents like? Uh, did you have siblings growing up? Were you like close to someone? And did you feel like, you know, did you feel like something was always protecting you?

Hmm. Okay. So I have my, my parents, well, they both work in sports.

Sports.

Even my parent, my father was, uh, involved in Well, he's been in the Olympic Games and a life dedicated to sports. So he was really like a structure person. I mean, a doctor in biomechanics. He taught in the school, the university. And my mother is from Castilla, Castile in English. And in Castile, the people are kind of— there is no gray in the world. There's black or white, nothing else in the middle. You believe in one God? and life is like this, they shake hands to do a pact, not a treaty. Okay, that's it. There's no middle ground. So I say that because I grew up in that ambient. Little by little, I have to say, I discovered in the Canaries Not before. In the Canaries, it's an international place. I mean, there live like 23 nationalities in a small town where I live. So I met people from all over. I traveled a lot to India and many other places.

I see.

I discovered some other realities in there. And near the ocean, I can say I discovered my spirituality.

At the ocean?

Yeah.

Why do you say that? Did you feel calm or did you feel connected with the nature? Yesterday we had a ceremony. Like, you know, uh, the one who actually climbed the mountain, uh, Mount Everest. And, uh, she had this same thing. She was saying like, you know, when she was, uh, climbing the mountains, she could feel like one with the nature. She felt like comfortable.

That happened to me inside the water. Uh, there I feel I am part, and in this, in indivisible part of something. You cannot feel any border when you are in the water.

Yeah.

Well, this is theory. We are water, 70%, 80%, I don't know. But when you are there, there's no frontier, there's no barrier. You are the same element as the water. And somehow, I don't know why, it's how I imagine the universe now. When I meditate, I think I'm in the water because it's the sensation of being part of the same energy. There's no limit. You are, I don't know, there is not, you have no shape, you have no difference. So that's what I use when I want to feel part of something greater.

And were you into spirituality already? Or like, I mean, before you went to Canary?

Before that moment, no. I got in contact with With some ideas. I practiced Reiki and I-Star meditation and yoga and so on, but not really. It was part of my life, but not really. I wasn't focused on that, no. After my accident, something changed really. Something changed, yeah.

So, so tell me, tell me about the, the accident. Like what happened? How, like, I know you, uh, yeah. Um, life-changing event for you.

2014, September, early morning, Sunday. I was in the south of the island, Fuerteventura. I spent the night in a hotel, uh, a client, uh, And I was driving back home, beautiful day, hot, and I saw like an off-road track that gets into the dunes of the south of the island, an amazing natural park. And I said, wow, why going now back home? Look at this beautiful day. And I turned the wheels and drive, and I drove through that amazing dunes. It was an impulse. I don't know why I did that. I simply turned and discovered that part of the island. I drove for some kilometers, stopped the car on a dune, and the ocean was fantastic. And I thought, well, the surfboard is always in the back. So I grabbed the board, drank some water, and say, hey, let's try to find a way down to that beach of El Cofete. It's a wild beach of— like 10 kilometers, a mountain cliff. So you have to find the way down, well, a mountain chain and then the cliffs that, you know, there's another 12 kilometers of dunes, cliffs, and then the mountain chain and then the beach.

find the way down the cliff to get in the beach, to discover the beach. And so I did, but I missed the track. I don't know. On the last dune, instead of walking this side, I walked on the front side. And I was walking, I lost My feet. Oh, I slipped and I start sliding down, uh, the, the dune, the, like, a ramp of sand, a trap, uh, trying to grab something to stop the fall. And like 20 meters looking to the edge of that cliff now approaching and I could only stop on the edge of that cliff, hanging in the void, my fingers on the sand, losing centimeters, 50 meters, rocks down there. And then, whoa. And when I realized Man, you're going to fall down and you are dead. I'm going to fall down and you're dead. Or if you by any chance survive, you will get severely injured. And that was the reality then in a second.

No.

So it's very curious because the first moment I say, no, no, this is not happening. Negation. Then I was angry with myself. What are you doing here? You're stupid. And then fear, panic. Have you ever felt this fear when your muscles become like stiff butter?

No.

So the void was like that phantom taking me to the void and no energy and say, no, no, no, no, no. Recover, recover. Come on, stay calm. And I accept the situation very— it's kind of strange, no? Something happened, change, then you don't want this to happen, then you get angry, so that's defensive, and then because fear, and after acceptance. Okay, this is it. And now what? Now you're done. Okay. But what is curious about acceptance is you stop fighting. When you stop fighting, you have no more answers, so you are open to—

Seek new answers.

Yeah, maybe. There's always a possibility. Always. Always a possibility.

Yeah.

So that was strange because after acceptance, I remained calm, and then I heard that noise, the waves hitting the cliff down there. So something that surf has taught me is that the waves always come in sets. And the period of time between one wave and the other is exactly the same in a specific day. So I start counting the noise. 11, the noise again. Okay, again, 11. So the plan was, what if I jump on the count of 10 and maybe if I fall down like 1 second, If the wave is there covering the rocks, maybe I don't hit the rocks and I have an opportunity. That was the plan in my— but this is nature, it's not a machine. Maybe the next set—

Will not show up.

Yeah. That was the plan. I say, I start counting, 1, 2, 3, 10. No, no, no, no, next one, next one. But imagine the situation.

Yeah, you're like crawling down.

Crawling down. I say, come on, man, come on, next one. And finally he just left. I pushed myself hard, tried to offer a side, not Falling backwards, no? I don't remember the fall, but an impact and chaos under the water and surprise. Wow, I am alive. And then full of adrenaline, I guess, I tried to reach the surface. I moved my body and then I heard that— You were breathing. Crack. So painful that disconnect my mind, no? Blackout. Oh, when I came back, I was in the water. Say, oh, what happened?

So for a moment, like, yeah, out. Yeah.

And then back in. So the, the pain was horrible, no? It disconnect my mind. I mean, And then I realized something happened and I moved my feet and said, okay, I can move my feet. But I realized, so my pelvis, the hip, no, the pelvis does like this. So it was broken in 3 parts.

Ah.

So goodbye to the symmetry of my body. I broke my right hand as well. I say, okay. Still wanna— Come on, man. Swim for your life. Get out the cliffs, swim to the beach. It's like 200 meters. You can do it. You trained for this moment. No, come on. But the reality was that after like 20 meters, It was impossible. I need the body. And then it got worse. It was so painful that convulsions start. Convulsions, pain, like waves of pain. And then my body start to get compressed and starts Screaming, trying to reach the surface. No, it was more like out and in, out and in, swallowing water. And I did— well, I thought I did what was possible in this situation. I mean, I tried, but there was a moment that I understood that it wasn't possible, that you are not going to make it. To make it. No, no, no. And then the surface was there, like a meter. I'm going to die in a meter of water. But when you are inside the water, water is here waiting for you to breathe and then that's it. So I understood that if you try to move, you will need to breathe.

And so strangely I say, okay, I did something like this. I put my hand on my heart and I say, okay, I understand what is going to happen now and I accept it. Thank you for my life. Something like that. And the strangest thing happened.

Hmm.

I disappear. I disappear in the darkness, in the void. I didn't close my eyes, but I disappear. I couldn't—

Remember.

Feel my body, the water, neither thinking, nothing. I wasn't there. But, and this is really, really curious, when I got this blackout, I disappear and come back like a chicken with no head. No, boom, boom. But here, I wasn't there, but I felt myself floating in the void and the darkness.

Mm.

I could feel, not think. I could feel it, but I wasn't there. And I was inside the darkness or I don't know what. And I felt lonely and I felt the void. Absolute void. After some time, I don't know how much time, maybe a second, maybe some minutes, I simply, I could see again. I was floating on the surface.

Floating.

I was floating. I could see again. I took my head out of the water. I felt energy again, full of energy. Before, I was compressed in— yeah, like I was heavy. My body was in a collapse. And then when I woke up, I was floating and relaxed. I said, man, what had happened? Why am I here? Why am I here? So I understood, you have a chance. Come on. Come on. Instead of fighting, let go. Find a current, understand the situation, and reach the shore, but little by little. And so I did. And I could finally get to the beach. And I was crawling in that beach, so painful to crawl there, but happy to be there. You know, that moment changed my life.

But what do you think happened? How did you get to the top?

Really, my theory. Okay. So after that, you know, the guy survives. Okay. Sorry for the spoiler. The guy survives at the end. And if you watch the movie, then the guy survives. Good for me. But after that, I asked the doctors, psychologists, everybody, I need to understand what happened there. Tell me. And all of them, they answered me, we don't know. We don't know. You tell me. Say, oh man, what happened there? I've been there in that moment through many techniques and simply by feeling the moment. And then I realize, what did you do, Álvaro, before that moment? I accept the unacceptable, which is your time is over. Not in theory, not in 40 years, now, right here, right now.

Mm-hmm.

And I accepted. I say, okay, I understand it. And after that, I remember perfectly, I say, okay, thank you for my life. It was good. Acceptance and gratitude saved my life. Not only saved my life, I pushed the reset button in the worst circumstances that you can imagine. Near death, near— well, my battery was like this and I reset the button simply by acceptance and gratitude. Somehow ceased the fight, so the energy found the way. So that was an act of Dissolving, is that a word in English?

No.

Dissolved. My personality, everything that I was supposed to think to be or whatever was dissolved with probably the energy of the universe or how we can practice or take part of that energy.

Like acceptance.

Acceptance, pure instant moment here, now, no future, no past, no nothing, no you, nobody. So when you do that, you are part of everything somehow. I don't know because where that energy come from? I was finished. I surrender. Many people, when they ask me for my experience, they want to hear the story of a hero and I fought and no, I surrender. I tried. I tried to my last breath. I fought. I know that. But in the last moment, I simply surrender. I say, okay, it's okay, thank you. So there was no resistance somehow. I don't know. Well, it's an explanation.

You never know.

I don't know really. It's my explanation.

So I actually had a a near-death incident, not as crazy as yours.

Okay.

Not as crazy as yours, but like it was— so this was 2004, November. I actually went to Maryland. for a training. And I used to work for Coca-Cola, like, you know, in North Carolina. And, um, the bot— it was one of the biggest bottlers. I used to work for them, and they, they sent me for a software training.

To where?

To, uh, Maryland for a software training.

Okay, okay.

So, and, uh, and I was coming back and it was 3:30 in the afternoon. And, uh, it's a 5-lane highway.

Okay.

And it was raining.

Mm-hmm.

And basically like there's this interstate that you have, like 395, which is like close to Washington, DC. You, you know, I hit a puddle of water.

Mm-hmm.

And the car hydroplanes.

All right. Right? Yeah.

Yeah. And I'm in the, and I'm in the leftmost lane. And my car starts hydroplaning.

Oh.

Okay. And so it swirls, it swirls, it swirls, goes like, you know.

Yeah.

And then I can see the truck coming, I can see the, uh, uh, a Mustang coming, and I'm just holding, and I know I can't do anything because it's hydroplaning. You cannot brake, you cannot do anything. And I just was sitting and watching everything like a movie in front of my eyes. And then I closed my eyes and the car stops in the brake lane, oncoming traffic. So it just like is the brake lane. I just go stop in the brake lane.

Uh-huh.

Miss everything by milliseconds and I go stop.

Wow. Wow!

And I don't know what happened. I seriously till date don't know what happened. I, like, to your point, you're not in your control. You cannot control, you cannot, like, you cannot do anything. Like, if I try to go too hard and whatever, try to change something, I don't know if I'm going to hit anything. And neither you have control on your vehicle. You're simply, like, at the mercy.

Sure.

And so I swirled and swirled and swirled, and then I go and stop. I missed everything because that's like a highway, right? Like, and everything like comes at like 60 miles an hour, 75 miles an hour, 70 miles an hour. And if you hit something, you're dead.

Yeah, sure.

And like, it's head-on.

Sure. Wow.

Right? So I was like, I was shocked, but it was not as crazy as your story.

Do you think that was Just luck or something else?

I felt that someone was watching me. Something was watching for me.

Okay.

Because in my life, I came very close to near-death experiences many times. Like, this is not the only time I had. So, you know, there were 3 prior that I like, you know, that I had while I was in India. There's one after that, like, you know, when I was— when me and my wife were almost dead. But like that moment, I like— that was the strongest memory. Like the other one, like we had the instinct to survive, but this one is like etched in my memory. Like something was watching me. It was like, I don't know what it was.

Do you feel that in that moment or is it an afterwards explanation?

It's an afterwards explanation. You, in that moment, you don't know anything. You don't feel anything. It's like you're helpless.

Yeah.

Right? You're just saying like, you know, like, I don't know what's gonna happen. I just, I just give up.

Hmm. Yeah. Good. Um, it's very curious because, you know, when, when you tell a story like that, everybody tends to answer or give an explanation. based on their beliefs.

Yeah.

And it's very curious because it happens to me every time. I tell the story and then somebody comes, God was watching after you. I say, okay. Next person, lucky, you are lucky, man. You're lucky bastard.

Okay, thank you.

No, no, no, you chose the best option. He did it. I don't know.

Everyone has an answer.

But you know what's curious? The guy that rescued me, I asked them, they are professional.

So you were there for 48 hours, right?

I was there in the— yeah, yeah, yeah. After some time, I mean, I asked the people, what do you think happened there back in the water? What happened in me or to me? They say, hey, Álvaro, we don't know, but you live in the water, you surf, you've seen people drown. I say, yes. How did they die?

Fighting. Fighting.

And I say, well, this is like in life. You drown, you fight in the excess of intensity and the problems, you try to overcome them, but sometimes they are bigger than you. Somehow, no? So it's your decision when it's time to fight and when it's time to surrender, to accept and say, okay, I cannot change this, and dedicate your energy in a different way to that. I don't know. I don't know. So, well, let me tell you something.

What did the guys tell you? Like, you just said, like, you know, you just, you didn't, you stopped fighting and that's how you came up.

Yeah, yeah, they tell me, of course, you relax. When you relax, that was your option. Because if you try to do this last movement, trying to reach the surface, Yeah. You breathe water, you are inside the water, you need oxygen, so your instinct is to breathe, and that would have been your last one. So what I see really that inside that void and darkness, I saw myself what really I have inside me? I just saw void and loneliness.

Hmm.

And I came to that conclusion years after, after this search. And I said, man, and it was so painful because In the best moment of my life, good money, amazing life, girlfriend, a house, surfing.

Surfing.

Surfing with many friends around. And the summary of my life is that you feel lonely and Empty. That was so painful to discover. So it's not about that, Álvaro, because I realized, okay, I was surfing and then I was thinking, always thinking in a bigger wave. I was obsessed. We got this company, then we rent a hotel. Then I say, no, no, I want to rent 2 hotels. Then my girlfriend was beautiful, nice, and say, but you know, she could be better. That was the reality. That was the reality. I was an idiot. And then from that moment when I realized that, it took me time to discover that, to touch that painful reality who normally nobody wants to see deep enough to really understand who you are and who you have inside. There's something that is your appearance or the story that you tell to yourself, but then is the reality. And you know what's curious? In that moment, with no filters, I discovered that in that moment of truth, of nothing, of void, of, man, this is you. I think religion, I think philosophy has tried to show this In many ways, no?

The Christians, they say the final judgment is not an old man coming from clouds saying, you've been a bad person, blah, blah, blah. No necessary. You will do it to yourself in your last second. I know because I experienced that. It was my last second of my life, I mean. And that judgment is true. And all our system of beliefs is based on people that has touched to that moment, and they are trying to explain us Man, there is only one reality and it's inside you. It's what you really feel, not what you think about life or about your experience, your relation with life. It's what you really feel.

Hmm.

So of course, You can touch that moment with a near-death experience, deep meditation, or probably through practiced wisdom, or I don't know how to call it, but in my experience, that's true. And that changed my perspective. Okay, if this is true, what are you going to do now? to fill that void, to don't feel alone, alone.

Hmm.

And the fear of that moment or of not coming back to that moment has shown me the way. So I understood somehow there is true primary forces in life related to humans. So how can we discover the universe through those 2 forces, which mean emotions, the basic ones, love and fear. We are talking about love, it's an energy of acceptance, of gratitude, of discovery, of proximity, whatever. And then fear, problem, avoidance, rejection, blah, blah, blah. But then I understood, no, no, no, no. This is the problem. We are trying to split who we are into—

2 halves.

In 2 halves, or love, or you are in fear. No, no, no, no, no, man. You are fear. Fear showed me the way. My reality was here in fear. Man, solve this, the loneliness, and this is based in fear. Then this is the clue. And the only way to integrate that is not splitting, deciding which side you are. No, no. Do the only action that can integrate who you really are is putting that together. Love your fear. Love your fear. That's the opportunity. That's integration. I discover my opportunity through that. I don't know, idea and then the practice. That's it, man. Uh, so, well, maybe I'm talking too much.

No, it's, no, it's like, it's a great, it's a great, uh, it's a great way, uh, to think about. So you talked about like negotiating with fear.

Yeah.

So what does that mean?

Yeah, it's a negotiation. Fear is a master, it's not an enemy. It's part of your energy, it's basic, it's functional. You fear what is important to you. Something that is not important, you're not going to fear it. Listen. Of course, it can freeze you, it can block you, your energy. So that's why I call this a negotiation. Once you hear their argument, say, oh, okay. You normally try to defend yourself. No, no, no, no. So you show your character, your ideas, your beliefs, and all that. Say, man, this is a negotiation. It's a win-win. Okay, I hear you, but I'm scared of doing this, what you propose. So what if I just—

Negotiate with it.

Negotiate. Okay, just this step. just the next one. I discovered this through that moment. I mean, let me tell you the story because I was there in that beach and I spent 2 days and 2 nights.

But how did you survive for 2 days and 2 nights with all the pain and all the—

Well, I was happy to be—

Alive.

Alive on the beach, beach holidays, finally. But broken bones, raw meat, bleeding hemorrhage under a boiling hot Early September, no wind, like almost 30 degrees Celsius. I drank too much—

Water.

Seawater. So that means that you get dehydrated and bleeding and that was awful, the situation. And that was early morning. I mean, when I reached the shore, it was maybe, I don't know, like 10:30 in the morning. So the whole day. But I was there, well, something has to happen. I mean, I'm alive, man. I passed through a lot. Somebody will come. And then time passed and who's going to come? I don't know. A tourist? What tourist? You are in the middle of nowhere, man. The entrance to this beach is— 9 kilometers away. And from this side is 12 kilometers cliffs. Nobody was going to To come here, man. Okay, a boat. There is no navigation, no ports around. Oh man, why don't you— why do you surf? Don't you play golf? No, no, it's like— And then regrets. Okay, okay, something has to happen. But time passed and then the night Whoa. And the tides, the water, the waves pushing me to the rocks, and that was super painful. And yeah, it was cold, freezing cold, and I was weak, shaking, horrible night. And then another day, Hot, thirsty as hell. I was so thirsty that I start— well, I saw a guy fishing on the top of the cliff perfectly, a guy with, you know, I don't know what's his name in English.

Yeah. And I start yelling to him, hey man, help me out please. These fuckers, you're not helping me. Come on. And after some minutes, I understood, oh man, I am hallucinating. That was an hallucination. I was talking with nobody.

Hmm.

I was super weak. So I said aloud, and I remember that moment, okay, You know that if I don't drink today, tomorrow I'll be dead. So I start crawling all around trying to find something. It's, well, an isolated place, so nobody cleaned that place, no? So the tides bring things. So there was garbage there. I was seeking for something. And late evening, the sun was there, man, no, the night again. And I couldn't really continue crawling with that idea, you know, that if I don't drink today, I'm dead. And last ray of sun between 2 rocks, I saw a bottle. I was there, I said, a bottle is probably empty, or—

You grabbed the bottle.

I grabbed the bottle, a small one like this one. I grabbed the bottle, I opened it, I said, it's probably It's going to be seawater. And then, oh, it's water.

So you got water too. Man, like God keeps giving you because you keep surrendering.

So I remember I was laying on that beach. I couldn't sit because It was so painful, no? But I remember a stone here looking to the horizon, the sunset, happy, drinking the water, say, man, I have an angel, a guard angel. And I can promise you, I promise that as I am here, that as I said that, a feather, white feather fall down from the cliff in front of my eyes. I can promise that. I start laughing and screaming and say, no, is this a joke? Of course, in that place, there's plenty of birds.

Birds, yeah.

You know, they have their nest over there. And this, every time I tell this, the water story, it's crazy because everybody, some people say, wow, you have an angel. Looking after you. But you know what? After this, when I was in the hospital, in the newspapers there was the story. There was a man was found after 2, 3 days in this situation and thanks to a bottle of water, he's alive. And then the day after, I was with my friends in the hospital. And then a guy came in, a man. I couldn't see the guy, but he opened the door a little bit and my friend Anna was there and started talking with the guy. Ah, is this the guy from newspaper?

Yeah.

No, I came here to say that I was fishing in that area. It's a very complicated place, and the waves there, and there's only a couple of weeks that you can go there easily. And I climbed down the cliff and I was fishing with a harpoon, which is forbidden there. So then the man was talking. And I got a nest where I put the fish, And I got 2 bottles of water. And, uh, one— there was a moment when I went back to the surface and I realized that the wave took one of the bottles of water.

My gardenia. It's curious.

So it's curious that there is only 2 weeks in the year that you can probably go there because the waves and the place is difficult, no? And some days before, the guy was there.

But anywhere.

I was in the beach and then the 3rd morning I realized Nobody's coming, Álvaro. And if you want to live, you have to get back in the ocean and swim 10 kilometers. So the conversation was—

How do I do that?

Obvious.

Yeah.

You almost drowned in 200 meters, man, 2 days ago. In your situation, impossible. It's a one-way ticket. In an hour, 2 hours in the water, in your situation, hypothermia. And I was, yeah, yeah, but you know, I feel I can do it. I was super weak, no? And in this weakness, half— I remember that early morning, I was half sleeping, half awake, I don't know. And there was like a vision. I could see myself saved. And this was my point of view. I was laying on bed, I mean, in hospital, looking to my body, my legs on bandages, and there were my friends and I could feel myself in that image. That was kind of a crazy vision of myself safe, finally safe. Surrounded by my people.

Your friends.

My friends carrying me, full of love, safety finally. And I was proud. I felt that sensation. I was proud. We were celebrating, man, you are alive. You did the impossible. You swam 10 kilometers. I could feel that. I said, man. And there was something else in the moment. There was a glass of Aquarius. With ice. I was crazy about drinking because I drank the bottle in minutes. I was thinking and I was there drinking, safe. I said, if I can feel that moment so clear, that's a reality. For me, I can do it. So of course, as soon as I start crawling to the water, when you are in this level, a wave only this big is big for you. And imagine a wave, and I still couldn't use my body, only one hand. So I got in the ocean with difficulties and the reality was, man, I'm so scared. I'm so scared of doing this. But then I start this negotiation, okay, just try to Swim, just focus on the next one, just the next one. Okay, just the next meter. I know you are scared, Álvaro, but just the next meter, come on.

The next wave, try to pass the next one, just the next step. And I somehow say to my fear, okay, I'm not going to pretend that you are not here. Come by my side. I want to hear your arguments. I don't want to say, no, no, I'm not scared, because in the worst moment when you are in the middle of the ocean, dark blue, you will come—

Get me.

To get me. So I prefer to have you here to my side. I can talk to you while you are I don't know, under the light. So I did that. Okay, I'm so scared, but I'm going the next one, the next one, the next one. And of course, when I turned and I saw the beach saying, oh no, come on, come back, come back. In that moment, I started, you know, I became again Heavier. I mean, sinking under the water. Fear. And then, okay, okay, I continue. I have a plan. I know where I go. Come on, Álvaro. Now I say no Plan B. When you have a plan, there's no Plan B. That's dividing your energy. That's playing the game against you. There's no Plan B with yourself.

You made the decision to do it.

Yeah. So stick to the plan. This has amazing performance implications. When I tell this part to professional, sport professionals, they say, oh man, that's true. When you are in the moment and then, oh, maybe I'm going to fail, or I'm not running, then this plan B in your mind—

Yeah, starts coming in.

Yeah. So that's it. Here and now, this is my decision and I have a vision of myself. The thing is you cannot trust your head. I mean, your mind. You cannot because it will throw you problems and all the arguments, you are not going to make it. Come on, it's impossible. Then I kind of say, okay, stop thinking. And I was living in my vision. I just concentrated on that vision where I'm in hospital surrounded by my friends. And I was living in there. If I can feel myself in that situation, there's no time. I will get to there, but now feel that you are already there. Come on. I am there. I am there. I know why I'm doing this. So I could feel that safety already there. You are safe now. You are in good company now. Come on. You are proud. Feel proud, Álvaro. At least you try. I told you before that I was going to explain this moment, and this is very, very important for me. In that moment, that loneliness that I felt and that void, Disappear somehow. That was the clue. I discovered it many years after. I mean, if you are in the best company that you can imagine, that you can pretend in your life, which is yourself, And that ends the void.

You need nothing else. I mean, you are in good company now with yourself. You feel proud of yourself, of your actions right here, right now, no time. I feel safe with you, and I promise I will be here. No plan B with you and me. Then there is no fear. That's the integration I was talking about. Of course, in that moment, it was not like that. I mean, I discovered this through my actions. It took me years to discover, oh man, that was the moment, the real moment where you discovered your planet, no void, no loneliness anymore, is when you say simply, whatever happened, I'm going to be here with you. I'm going to be here for you. No matter the result, the outcome, right here, right now, I am proud of you. That's it. And I—

Keep swimming.

I continue swimming For too long. And then of course I knew it was impossible. I knew it, but I said, it doesn't matter. I'm going to try. And there was a moment where I saw a little point in the— some kilometers in the I mean, of course, I was swimming parallel to the beach, no? But then this point, this something was deep in the ocean. So, oh man, it's a boat.

Hmm?

A boat. And then maybe you want that to be a boat, but it's only in your imagination. Maybe there's nothing. I said, I know. Okay, but you know it's impossible, 10 kilometers. But that's not 10 kilometers, it's maybe just 1 kilometer. Come on, let's take a look.

Let's take a look.

But maybe there is nothing and you are hallucinating again. You are super weak, Álvaro. Yeah, but man, you know it's impossible. Okay, let's take a look. But that implied swimming across, into the ocean. get far away from the shore, safety. So I start swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming. Yeah, there's— it is a boat, maybe. Swimming, swimming, swimming. And after some time, I realize it is real. It's real. It was a small boat, a Zodiac, no?

Oh.

It's a boat. And I continue and continue. And when I tried to yell, to scream, hey, I had no voice. I had no energy. I couldn't even whistle. I was so concentrated on the only action that I could afford, That was moving this arm, that I became the action. And I was so concentrated that my destination, my vision, myself, everything was only this action. So then when I realized, man, put your energy in your lungs to scream, I had to do it mentally. So I say, this is like when you're playing video games and you have the energy, this is full. I had one last bar of energy. Say, okay, now put it in your lungs. I start, hey, hey, hey. And I continue a little bit. And then the boat moved, not to my position, but to the other side. No, no, man. And I'm in the middle of nowhere now.

No.

But then I saw the boat stop and took somebody out of the water, a diver, and then turned to my position. I said, oh, they saw me. They are coming. And they came with the guys with the eyes like— How the heck did you do this? What are you doing here? What are you doing here? And I told them the basic info. I am Álvaro. I've been here for 3 days. You can ask for me in Corralejo, the place where I live. That's where my people is and so on. And the guy said, okay. And I think I have the hip or something broken because I cannot move.

Okay, okay.

The guys took me on board and they said to me, don't worry, we are policemen.

Ah.

We are in our day off. We are fishing here, diving, but we know what to do. So they called the helicopter. You know, the emergency number goes through satellites, so no, you know, No 3G, no— they call, they answer immediately. Okay, they are coming. And when I heard that, you are safe now, hypothermia, shaking and disappear again, but weakness, total weakness. No, I am safe. My body surrender. And then the helicopter came and took me to this hospital. And when I was in the hospital after, well, the first day was a transition, but the second day I was there looking to my body in bandages surrounded by my friends.

The same image.

Celebrating, man, you did it. Wow. I was safe, surrounded, loved, proud, exactly like in my vision. And you know what? The door opened and the nurse came in and asked me, hey, Álvaro, what do you want to drink?

Hmm.

I say, Aquarius with ice, please. Uh, and that was it. Yeah. Now, now it is as in my vision.

Hmm.

That was it.

Hmm. Wow. Wow. I don't know. I don't know how you did that. So what happened after that in the sense, what was your state of mind? After that. Like, for me, when that incident happened, uh, I cannot put my finger to it at that moment, but like something— there are 2 incidents that changed my mind, like changed my personality completely. The first one was this incident where I swore. The second one, I had to unplug my father, uh, because he was in a vegetative state. And then, um, but I did not cry because like, you know, my, my mom, I didn't want her to feel like, um, the pain. Like, you know, I didn't want her to like, I, I wanted to show myself as very strong to her at that day. And that was a very painful experience and I, you know, I, I talk quite a bit about it. Then I came back to United States, um, with no money.

Hmm.

And, uh, because I was gone for 2 months, I did not have a place. And I pick up all the stuff which was left in the garage of the place I was living, put it in my car, and I was driving and I was crying because I— that's the day I just broke down. I was crying and I was driving from Charlotte. I did not know which direction I was driving. I was just driving. And then finally I stopped in a rest area. And then I look around, like people are sleeping in the car and the, and the trucks, because all the, the, the truckers, they stop on the interstate.

Yeah. Yeah.

And so I said, okay, like, I'm gonna sleep here. What do I have to lose? But prior to that, I used to have this chronic episode of fear. Like, I used to get choked. Like, you know, if it is a— if it's a very big exam, like, I would be writing, writing, writing, as though I'm writing like a scripture. Huh?

Right?

I would never finish the exam. I still get those dreams sometimes when I'm stressed.

Okay.

But I keep writing, writing, writing, writing, writing. And I used to have this sense of like a lot of pressure that used to build up, that used to choke me because I, of the place I came from, I, I grew up in slums in India. So for me, like the fear of failure was like huge. Like if I fail, like, you know, something bad is going to happen. I never can escape that reality in my life. So that used to drive that fear. And so that day and these 2 incidents, when I look back in my life, that changed my personality completely. I kept saying, no, what am I have to lose in my life? Whenever there's a big problem, I ask the same question. What do I have to lose?

Yeah.

One, 2. What do I have to lose?

Yeah.

And if, if this actually calls your heart, and if the answer is, what do I have to lose? I just go do that. And I don't care. I don't care about the implication of what I'm doing. I just do. And somehow something gets figured out.

Yep.

You just overcome that basic, like the thing that was dragging you down. You just know how to like, whenever it shows up, you know how to kill it.

Sure.

So what happened in your case? Like, what was that shift? What was prior and what was after?

Okay. Um, I came back to my life. I was happy to be alive. Well, after—

Maybe you got a better girlfriend?

No. Yeah. No, after one month, I mean, laying on bed, but I was happy. Like, wow.

Yeah.

Then after some time, my grandma died and then I came back to Madrid in a wheelchair and I don't know why, Something changed. What has happened, man? When people ask me, I say, no, I was there. I just sleep and this happened to me. I was there laying on a beach and I swim and that's it. And people, what? Come on. That's it? What? No, an accident. And for some time I was there. Do you have nightmares? No, no. That happened. That was it. And then after, yeah, what happened then? I start feeling uncomfortable, like I need answers. I need answers.

Mm-hmm.

Then somebody called me and say, hey man, you know, they're asking this person like a teacher and coaching and so on. Say, what is that? And then I start studying everything. I get involved in psychology, transpersonal psychology. Then I study to be a psychologist and then a coach and then what? I need answers, answers. I said, what happened in that moment in the water? I need the answer. And of course there was no answers, but I tried to find them through knowledge. And one day, somehow I understood, okay, simply as I told you, this is my explanation, acceptance, gratitude, and what was inside me. And that's the process. Everyone has a process. And you have to have a vision for your life, and then there's a process of evolution. And I don't know, somehow I say, it would be good to share this with others. And little by little, I don't know, I was in a dinner with friends and somebody asked me, hey, Álvaro, tell the story. Well, I tell the story, but then in the table next to us, there was a guy who came and said, hey, man, I just listened to a part.

Can you tell me, please?

No, no.

It's not a game. I say the basic, I'm not going to tell all the story. No, come on, please, please. He grabbed me by the hand, took me to a garden. Please, please. He was so Intense, I say, okay, then maybe he needs to listen because of his process. He was a movie director. Director.

From Netflix.

So the story ends up in Netflix in a movie. So the movie Solo, take a look. Solo means alone in Spanish. And after that, then, well, I started talking in public and working with people and groups. And through that, I discovered a lot.

What are the odds that guy who's actually from Netflix is sitting in the next table?

I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, it's my story, but every time I tell the story, I think it's a great life story. I mean, it's full of possibilities. So as we start, I tell the story and then it comes a person. You have a guardian. Now God is looking after you. Oh, now you are lucky. No, no, it's your attitude. No, no, no, life is because a result of your actions. Man, there's 10 people, 10 opinions. There's 10 beliefs. This is what is good about my story. It's not a closed story, it's open. So what's your choice? Because your choice about my story is the choice about your story. It's how you explain your life. And it's good. It's good. I mean, I love to work with people now. I mean, normally they hire me, companies and so, but I work with students as well.

Why don't you set up a foundation?

A foundation? Could be a good option, yeah.

Why don't you? Because I think Um, a lot of kids, like, you know, need that, uh, life lessons about resiliency because, um, they feel protected and they, they're not as, they don't know, right? Like, you know, they don't have all the experience.

Yeah, sure.

And, and teaching a kid.

I do it as a volunteer every time, uh, When I can, I go to schools, high schools. I prefer teenagers, like 16s, 17s, when they are totally—

All over, yeah.

Yeah. They are lost. That's the moment when I like to talk with them. You listen to me, I didn't— my life had no sense. But thanks to that, thanks to all my fears, my fear was, okay, my life has no sense. I fear speaking in public a lot. I remember in the university it was a nightmare. The heights, I mean, so these 3 fears in my life, Took me, I mean, I faced a great height and through this experience, I found the sense of my life. And now I talk in public about the sense of life. So don't worry, kids, don't worry. You don't have to have the inspiration now. The motivation, the idea of what are you going to do with your life, but you have something, fear about life. This is your material. You can do a lot with that energy. You can transform, integrate that energy. How can we— So Not probable, I don't find the word in English. Unprobable?

Impossible.

Impossible for a person like me dedicating my life to speak in public about the sense of life. If you tell me when I was 17, I would laugh like, what? No, I hate people, I think. I hate speaking in public and life is a mess. That would be my answer when I was 17. But life is full of possibilities. You are full of possibilities and it's hidden in the place where you least expect it.

So there are different types of fear. There's, you got like fear of like losing your esteem, self-esteem, because, uh, you, you, you think that like, you know, someone is gonna judge you. You have fear of losing financials. You have fear of basically losing your life.

Right.

You have fear of, uh, you know, something personal, like, you know, someone is gonna leave you. So there are different types of fear.

Sure.

Is, is, is it, how do you process each one of those? Like, is it like the same way? Like, you know, just accept it, love it, and harness it? Or is it like you have to have a different application to that?

Uh, fear has a message for you. You have chosen that fear. So it has a message for you. It's important for you. It's not— well, there are universal fears, of course, but your primary fear maybe is not the same as your neighbor. So if you have chosen somehow that one, this is the way for you to evolve. listening to the arguments on what is hidden there for you. It's not a question of not having fear. No, then you will be dead. I have fear.

What is your fear?

Depending on the day, on the situation, I have every fear. I mean, it's normal. If you tell me, are you afraid of Ending up on the street with no money, the rejection of society. Of course, of course. Do you fear somebody laughing at you, telling you are an idiot telling that story? And I said, of course. But I accept it. I say, okay, yeah, I will do it with fear. I will do it with fear. It's not a question of, I've heard, face your fears, fight your fears, life starts at the end of your fears. And I say, no way. Face your fear, fight your fears is okay, you will have it always on your fear. And yeah, and then you will focus in the problem.

No.

Man, okay, your fear. Okay, come next to me. We'll listen to your arguments. Of course, you are important, but I need you next to me as an advisor, and then I will take my decisions. The greatest the fear, then the little the decision. Okay, just the next step. You see, with fear. That's it. It's a program. There's no other way. There's no other way. Do it with fear. Don't wait until you—

Don't figure out the answer.

Yeah. That's what I said. No, no, no.

So radical acceptance is the—

Acceptance is the most acceptance. Acceptance is transformative. Acceptance and gratitude. Thanks to my fear, you showed me the way.

What is the difference between acceptance and surrender?

Well, when you accept, you simply understand and leave it be, let it be. When you surrender, you are taking an action of not doing.

Which one did you do? Did you accept or did you surrender when you were inside the water?

This is very curious because sometimes I thought you should have fought back last time. But I knew that I would be there. Surrendering was taking no action, but choosing an action who kept my energy. So here in life, there is bigger forces. You understand that in surfing. There's an enormous force of nature. that throws a wave and you choose to be there, you are not going to stop and say, okay, stop here. I need to find my position. No, it's adaptation. And when the wave catches you and you are in the water, relax because it will release you. The long it takes, you don't know it. Equally in life, I mean, there's bigger forces. You can do nothing about politics, economic crisis, wars, and what the competence do or the others do. Accept it. Is that a surrender? Well, no, it's keeping your energy—

Inward.

And focus in what is important in your life, what you can do. We waste energy on things that are not under our control.

So business, how should they process fear?

The fear in business?

Yeah. Fear of, so there is fear of survival and there is fear of like, Like in the business context? If I'm an entrepreneur, I'm surely like, I'm afraid.

Yeah. Well, my balance is I have successes in the past and many failures. So I don't know, I'm not the best one to say what you have to do. I mean, I made mistakes and I Get to the point, but I'm so— what can I say? It's like everyone has to find out the way, the conviction to continue with an idea. I'm nobody to tell what should you do. If you are convinced, if that is your vision, if you can feel that's a reality, the future doesn't exist. If you are convinced here and now and you live in that reality, then it will become a reality. Even the greatest company men can tell you, no, no, this is not the way. No, this will be a failure. If you are convinced, somehow you will make it. That's what I can tell.

So what is the role of intent? Intent.

To intend.

Intent.

Intent. Can you develop that?

So you have to set your intention on something.

Okay. To set an intention. All right.

All right. And then that will manifest.

Yeah.

So you have to have conviction to get there, which is what you were trying to explain.

So I live in the ocean, in the Canaries, and I use the sea, the ocean, as a metaphor. When you start sailing and you want to reach a port, a destination, you know it's there, but you cannot see it, is that you get to this uncertain sea that life is with no guarantees. Something will happen, storms, calm seas, but your intention is to reach that port, that destination. So you have to live In that destination, that's your reality. How will you feel when you reach there? Because you go for a reason. You will be someone when you get there. And during the sailing, you will adapt the sails to the circumstances. strong winds, and you will adapt the rumbo. In Spanish, rumbo. In English, it's— rumbo. Okay. The direction you will adapt in your GPS, no? Okay. But now the current, the waves— That's adaptation through the process. But when you get to the place, you have been somebody in this process, dynamic, in constant adaptation, learning from circumstances, deciding where you focus your energy. And we mostly think, well, when I get there, when I get the outcome of Arriving to the place, then I will be there, then the person that I want to be.

I will feel proud because I did it. I will be happy with the friends that I'm visiting. No, feel it now during the cruise. Feel proud of your decisions right here, right now. Feel the joy of being In love, in company, right here, right now. That's the key for success. Don't wait. Time is a trap. The destination is not a place, is not an outcome, is here and now. Instead of focusing on the outcome, become the kind of person that get The outcome, here and now. By feeling, it's not another idea. The mind is a trap, but feeling, this is— the mind, it lives in time. This lives in present. And what's the language of the body? Emotions. Here and now. Hear to that emotion, feel it. That is your GPS.

Got it.

That is how you, uh, set that intention. That's the resume, the summary.

Rapid-fire questions for you. Fantastic. The one moment you were most certain you're not gonna survive. What was that one moment?

Who? In that situation, I mean.

The most important, the most certain.

Under the water, under the water, under the water.

The thing that kept you moving when you, uh, when everything said stop.

I cannot say. Um.

Intent? Vision?

Maybe. Now I would say that in that moment, I don't know, but now I know it was that. Yeah.

Fear is friend or enemy?

It's a friend.

Friend. What the cliff took from you that you haven't got back?

Girlfriend?

As well. As well?

Well, the cliff, no. It took me, yeah, the uncertainty.

Uncertainty.

Yeah.

The best wave you ever rode?

The best wave?

Wave.

Ever surfed? Wow, many, but I remember one, yeah. I can still feel that moment. Big, long, powerful. And I was there that moment.

The ocean in one word.

Wow. Universe.

What surfing teaches that nothing else can.

Adaptation.

Most common fear you encounter in a coaching room?

Hmm, fear, fear of future.

The best thing a client ever said to you after a session?

That was inspiring, Alvaro.

What do you wish more leaders understood about limits?

No limit. There are no limits.

The moment since that, the moment since the cliff that, uh, that has frightened you the most. What was the moment after the cliff that frightened you the most? Hmm.

When, when I understood what I had inside.

Netflix or the book, which captures your story better?

The book.

The book. The most important thing the cliff taught you?

There is only always a way.

Always a way. A wave, a cliff, or a blank page, which one is most frightening?

The beach. I had more time. To be scared. Good.

Well, Alvaro, this was fantastic. Phenomenal. I loved it.

Thank you.

I was like, oh my God, like, this is like going to be a sensational hit.

I think it's going to be sensational.