Passion Struck with John R. Miles - Hari Budha Magar on Defy Your Limits to Conquer Your Everest EP 419

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

https://passionstruck.com/passion-struck-book/ - Order a copy of my new book, "Passion Struck: Twelve Powerful Principles to Unlock Your Purpose and Ignite Your Most Intentional Life," today! Picked by the Next Big Idea Club as a must-read for 2024  and winner of the Best Business Minds book award. In this episode, we dive into the incredible journey of resilience and determination with Harry Budha Magar, a man who turned adversity into triumph by becoming the world's first double-above-the-knee amputee to conquer Mount Everest. From his childhood in Nepal to his time serving with the Gurkhas and the life-changing event of losing both his legs to an IED in Afghanistan, Harry's story is a testament to overcoming the odds. Full show notes and resources can be found here: https://passionstruck.com/hari-budha-magar-on-defy-limits-conquer-everest/  Sponsors Brought to you by The Perfect Jean. Ditch your khakis and get The Perfect Jean 15% off with the code [PASSIONSTRUCK15] at https://theperfectjean.nyc/passionstruck15   #theperfectjeanpod Brought to you by Cozy Earth. Cozy Earth provided an exclusive offer for my listeners. 35% off site-wide when you use the code “PASSIONSTRUCK” at https://cozyearth.com/ This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/PASSIONSTRUCK, and get on your way to being your best self. This episode is brought to you By Constant Contact:  Helping the Small Stand Tall. Just go to Constant Contact dot com right now. So get going, and start GROWING your business today with a free trial at Constant Contact dot com. --► For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to: https://passionstruck.com/deals/ Hari Budha Magar On Defying Odds to Conquer the Everest Throughout the episode, Hari emphasizes the power of intentionality and the importance of adapting to challenges. He highlights the significance of dreaming big, taking action, and maintaining momentum to achieve one's goals. Hari's story serves as a beacon of hope, showcasing the transformative power of perseverance and the ability to overcome limitations. All things Hari Budha Magar: https://www.haribudhamagar.com/  Catch More of Passion Struck My solo episode on Why We All Crave To Matter: Exploring The Power Of Mattering: https://passionstruck.com/exploring-the-power-of-mattering/ Catch my episode with Oksana Masters On How The Hard Parts Lead To Triumph. Listen to my interview with Staff Sergeant Travis Mills On How You Bounce Back And Rise Above Adversity. Catch my episode with Colin O’Brady On How A 12-Hour Walk Can Transform Your Life. Listen to my interview with Jen Bricker-Bauer On Everything Is Possible Catch my interview with Jenn Drummond On The 7 Secrets To Realizing Your Life Dream Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter or Instagram handle so we can thank you personally! How to Connect with John Connect with John on Twitter at @John_RMiles and on Instagram at @john_R_Miles. Subscribe to our main YouTube Channel Here: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnRMiles Subscribe to our YouTube Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@passionstruckclips Want to uncover your profound sense of Mattering? I provide my master class on five simple steps to achieving it. Want to hear my best interviews? Check out my starter packs on intentional behavior change, women at the top of their game, longevity and well-being, and overcoming adversity. Learn more about John: https://johnrmiles.com/ 

Coming up next on Passionstruck. I was rescued in 17 minutes and my friends who did an amazing job to pass me up and called Heli on time. I think those Heli were going to another, I think, things, but I think I was more seriously injured. So I think it was a divert. This is why I think I was picked up so quickly. Anyone who's listening to those pedro call signs, I don't know who they were, but I appreciated for helping me out and keeping me safe and bringing me to the best and saving my life.

Welcome to Passionstruck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles. And on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turned their wisdom into practical advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become

the best version of yourself. If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long form interviews the rest of the week with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become passion-struck. Hello friends, and welcome back to episode 419 of Passion-struck, the number one alternative health podcast.

A heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you whoruck, the number one alternative health podcast. A heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you who return to the show every week, eager to listen, learn, and discover. New ways to live better, be better, and make a meaningful impact in the world. I am so excited to announce that my new book Passionstruck is now available and you can find it at Amazon or on the Passionstruck website. If you're new to the show, thank you so much for being here, or you simply want to introduce this to a friend or a family member and we so appreciate it when you do that. We have Episode Starter Packs, which are collections of our fans' favorite episodes that we organize in the convenient playlist that give any new listener a great way to

get acclimated to everything we do here on the show. Either go to Spotify or PassionStruck.com to get started. In case you missed it earlier this week, I interviewed Jamie Kern-Lima, who is an American entrepreneur, creator of a billion-dollarema, who is an American entrepreneur, creator of a billion-dollar success story, philanthropist, culture shifter, and highly sought-after keynote speaker. Jamie is the New York Times best-selling author of Believe It! How to Go From Underestimated to Unstoppable.

And in our interview, we discussed her latest book, Worthy. How to Believe You Are Enough and Transform Your Life. To say thank you for your ratings and reviews, if you loved today's episode or Jamie's, we would appreciate you giving it a five star review and sharing it with your friends and families. I know we and our guests love to see comments from our listeners. Today we're embarking on an extraordinary journey of resilience, determination and human spirit. My guest, Harry Buddha Magar, a man who has turned adversity into triumph in a way that challenges our perceptions of possibility. From the remote farming fields of Nepal, the battlefields of Afghanistan, and then to the

soaring heights of Mount Everest, Harry's life is a testament to overcoming the odds. In 2010, his life took a dramatic turn when he lost both his legs above the knee to an IED. Yet, what could have been the end of a journey was only a transformational beginning. Today, Harry stands not just as the world's first double above the knee amputee to conquer Everest, but as a beacon of hope and a symbol of what can be achieved when we refuse to be defined by our circumstances. In this conversation, we'll uncover the layers of Harry's life. We'll explore his transition from a young boy in Nepal, fascinated by the Himalayas, to a respected Gurkha soldier, will dive into the harrowing day of the explosion in the

subsequent battle, through the depths of despair, to the pinnacle of one of humanity's greatest physical challenges. Through Harry's eyes, we'll see how embracing our vulnerabilities and the very elements that seem to limit us can lead to transcending boundaries and realizing our ideal self. So join us on this journey of courage, transformation, and the indomitable will to surpass the imaginable. Thank you for choosing Passionstruck and choosing me to be your host and guide on your journey to creating an intentional life. Now, let that journey begin.

I am absolutely thrilled and honored to have Harry Budamagar on PassionStruck. Welcome, Harry. Hello, John. Thank you for having me. I'm talking to you today in England, but I understand you originally grew up in Nepal. And I thought that might be a good starting point to understand what your childhood was like, and how did it shape your aspirations? Yes, I was born and raised in Nepal up to age of 19. My childhood

was completely different. I'm not sure your listeners, but it's completely different than how my children are growing in the UK at the moment. So simply, I was born in Kauzed. I went to barefoot to school about working about 45 minutes each way and I learned on wooden plank with a tzaki stone we didn't have any pain and paper yeah I was married at age of 11 I was forced to married and I fell a few times in school and but I was the first one to pass high school from my village. So yeah, that's how and life in Nepal Many people still in those remote part of Nepal we follow our parents dream than our dream So I followed my dad's dream. He always wanted to join the army and he couldn't

At that time he was just one son and my granddad didn't allow him to join. He always wanted us. We were three brothers, I'm the oldest one. And also we need to see to believe it as well. A dream doesn't come something in your head and we follow that. And to some of my senior school mates who joined the Gurkhas.

So I just followed them. I tried and at the age of 19, I joined the Buddhist army and came up to the UK. And after that, it's a different life than living in Nepal. Yes, but I want to go back to it because I think I heard you say that you walk to school barefoot. And when you think of Nepal, you don't think of beaches or level land. You think about mountains. So I imagine it's very cold and snowy. Yeah, it was like so.

I was born at 2,700 meters. So in the winter, about a couple of months, especially northern part of the mountains and hills, it was snow. Where I grew up was slightly down, slightly warmer. It was about, I think, about 2,000 meters that I grew up was slightly down slightly warmer. It was about I think about 2000 meters that I think I grew up and from there Was I have to cross three rivers to get to the school my village was slightly up and went to go down and went along the river and Past the rivers and that we didn't have any say commercial bridge so the bridges

were made of the like a wooden plank. You know that you go somewhere in the forest you take one tree down and on one side you just chop it to make it flat so it can be able to walk and we don't also make it smooth because if it is smooth, then it slips. Yeah, yeah. So you can make it roughly flat so that it doesn't slip. And yeah, we cross that one. And then to have an arranged marriage when you were only 11 years old, I can't imagine at that young age, what was going through your mind? Was it normal to get married that young in the village that you grew up in?

Or was this something that was unusual? It was, some ways, it's in remote villages, it happens. Even now, they get married young. We have also called so that you and me are friends. And if I got a daughter and if you got a son, we'll let them married together. So this is the things that happen. And I don't think that our parents had a bad intention on us. But I think they thought that was the best thing for us. It didn't happen that way. But at that time, so simply, I think many places around the world that we don't have a choice.

Like say, maybe children in Gaza, children in Ukraine, children in many places around the world where the conflicts are. We are simply in the middle and we don't have much choice. We go to school, we may not be able to return at home, back home. People may be working in their farms and they're never able to get back. That's how it is. And my life, I think, was similar. My dad gave me a choice that you leave your school or get married. And at that time, I realized that only way coming out of the poverty, coming out of those conflicts, coming out of those conditions that we were in, and also getting opportunity is only way is education.

So I had not shown chance if I wanted to go to school. So, okay. Yeah, I said, I don't want to get married, but simply you don't have choice and I didn't have choice. I'm third generation military. My grandfather was the US Army Airborne Division. My father was in the Marine Corps. He went force recon and I'm a Navy veteran, but listeners of the show might not be familiar with Gurkhas who've been serving with the Royal British Army

now for a very long time, including special forces. Can you tell us a little bit more about the Gurkhas and what made them so famous? Yeah, initially, you know that the British were in India. So they colonized India and they went up to the mountains. So Nepal is just north of India. And they went up the mountains and we fought with the British together and later they thought that it's maybe not

worth fighting with us. And also, you know, that how clever they were and they ruled the world. They made an agreement that give us some of the land that they took it, took it and instead of we'll join with them and fight with them around the world. So we are serving in the Gurkhas since 1850. So it's over 209 years, I think this year. Yes, I understand that the Gurkhas have been involved with every single conflict that Great Britain was in all around the world. And it's my understanding that you spent 15 years with the Gurkhas.

Can you share some of the highlights and the challenges that you faced while serving with the Gurkhas and maybe some of the locations you were deployed in? I joined in 1999, at days of 19, and came to the UK. They're like British normal British armies. They, their basic training is two months and Gurkha's basic training is nine months. So after completing nine months, I went to regiment called first battalion, the Royal Gurkha Rifles. In short, we call it one RGR.

And in the morning, we came to the regiment at 10 o'clock and at four o'clock in the afternoon, we came to the regiment at 10 o'clock. And at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, we flew to Kenya. So that was my first experience with my regiment. Yeah, I served in Africa. I saw five continents around the world, mainly for training, exercise, and some of them mainly peacekeeping force like Bosnia, Kosovo. Finally, 2010, I was injured in Afghanistan when I was serving. Harry, it sounds like you and I were in some of the same spots.

I was in Serbia, Croatia, Iraq myself, but I never did make it to Afghanistan. By the way, I was in Iraq. I got injured. So I was from Afghanistan. I was flown to Balad in Iraq and stayed there all night. So I can't say I haven't been. Hey, Harry, can you lead us through some of the events leading up to and including the

explosion that happened and how it impacted your life in a profound way? We just had been to Afghanistan and after a few weeks, we went to a place called PV2, so patrol base 2 in Helmand province and once we went our job was to on that day we had a food patrol so our job was to go and familiarize with the area. Another one was to take two engineers to survey all damaged oil so that later they can go and repair so the local people can have a water. So that was our mission. It was our mission to give the security to them and we're on the way and we passed a couple of compounds and some irrigation ditches and we're working side of the puppy field. And we were in single file. We were 20 in the squad.

I was 10. We were all in single file. Nine people passed. And when I went and just went bang and I left the most sense, you know, blink of eye. When my father was serving in Cambodia, he was actually a breacher. And he said when they went on their different patrols, he was always the first person in line. I always ask him, why did you end up doing that? And did you ever have fear while you were out there?

And he told me, almost nonchalantly, that when you're in that position, you've got a job to do and the rest of the team is relying on you. So you can't really think about what might happen to you or other aspects, you just have to go out there and perform your duty. But for you, it seemed like everything was just a routine day. And then all of a sudden this just happened. Yeah, honestly, we trained very long time before we go there and we are,

people must prepare. And I think anyone who has been to the service, they know what is the, what happens before we win. We go to the world, We get ready, train for the scenario, go there. And we train very long before we win. The aim was to go there, do a good job, keeping safe everyone and come back home. Life doesn't go as always as a plan. And sometimes it takes completely opposite turn than we expected.

And yeah, we're just to do the hour job. And who thought that I never thought that I would, you normally expect first guy to hit back those counter insurgency. And this kind of oppression is not enemies, not just only the front, they are in the side, they are at the back, and they are everywhere. You don't know your enemies. So the hardest thing is you don't know your enemies. They look just normal civilians, and actually they are there. Sometimes they are there to harm you. But simply we need to do what we need to do. And if I wasn't there,

then someone would have been there. And if I wasn't injured, and I think I'm lucky to survive and came back, but we couldn't turn many of our friends back home. And much of the operations in Afghanistan are in some pretty remote locations. However, I understand that you weren't in one of those. You were closer to your base camp. Can you give some context for the listeners on where this happened and other things like and how far away you were from that base? Because I'm thinking of the logistics to get you out of there in order to save your life.

Yes, when I was injured, it was about three, four o'clock in the afternoon. It wasn't that far away from the patrol base, but it's about maybe about within the two kilometers because the explosion went. You can hear it to the best. So people at the best, they heard it. So it wasn't that far away. And when I got injured, I was just only one hot who was hot and we didn't have to fight at that time. And the guys cleared a helipad, and I was rescued by your guys. You know, they were called pedrocalsines, so they rescued. So two heli came, and one came to the scene, went up, and just gave a cover,

and another one came down, and they picked me up. And I was completely conscious till I get onto the heli and your guys gave me a mask and start cutting my combat dress then I was passed away and I woke up next morning in the combustion British space in Afghanistan and I was rescued in 17 minutes and my friends who did a managing job to patch me up and call the heli on time. I think those heli were going to some another, I think, things, but I think I was more seriously injured. So I think it was a dive out that this is why I think I was picked up so quickly.

And anyone that was listening to those pedocral signs, and I don't know who they were but I appreciated for helping me out and keeping me safe and bringing me to Bess and saving my life and anyone of you know that it was 17th April 2010 in nearby PV2 area in Narissa district and about three, four o'clock, I think in the afternoon. Anyone that calls on that got involved, please keep in touch and I would love to say personally, thank you to you.

I am hopeful that possibly someone who hears this will know one of those helicopter pilots and will be able to make an introduction for you. And I remember I had my own traumatic brain injury and I remember as I was coming out of the hospital, I had to come to terms with the extent of the injuries that I had. What was that like for you to realize the full impact of what was happening to your body and how severely it had been damaged? One I was completely conscious.

So the first thing I noticed was it was ringing my right ear and I had a radio on the left and I looked down and my right leg wasn't there straight away. My left leg was there. It was dangling and only bone and skins. So injured my right arm. Did you see that? So I couldn't able to move my right arm.

And the first thing was as we train, is there any enemies that firing, are we safe? And those are those things. Second thing was am I gonna survive? And after about five minutes, the guy said that Helene bound in 10 minutes. And I thought that I was going to survive. And also the situation was quite not that harsh. No one is shooting at us. So the guys came and started batting me up. And the hardest, at that time, and once Helene came, then I thought that I was going to survive.

And the first thing, another thing I thought was to my boys, because I was second in command in my multiple, and I was most senior garka. We had a very young platoon commander. I was just thinking that, you know, we just got into the new area, and what would happen to the chicks without their mom. You know, that is the things that they was thinking.

And even when I would jump into my helicopter, I had my platoon commander was there and I was telling Saab to come after the boys. That was how I was shouting him out. And Saab is a sir in Nepali language. So, sir, please look after the boys. Because this is how in a battlefield, no one has come to help us out.

Only people who help us is our friends and our colleagues and those are the people who can save us. So we need to look after each other. And if we look after subordinates and they look after us and also same ways if our commanders look after us then we look after them. This is how it is. It's a body system. It's a team. We're not fighting there all on our own. It's not like one ban hero things in the battlefield.

I'd say it's a whole teamwork. Harry, did you ever have feelings of shame or of failure, post injury? And if so, how did that impact you? Yes, that is the thing that I realized that when I woke up in Kambasan, so from my chest down, it was covered by white blanket. And I remember that I didn't have a right leg, but I had left leg. And is it still there? And when I sit still down like this, and it looks like there's not any,

I know it's covered covered they look the same and I didn't have a courage to open the blanket and have a look at and when I woke up my commanding officer and Gorkham is Gorkham is that I is a rank in the regiment in the Gorkhas they were standing next to me each other and I really felt a same lying in the front of them. My job was to go there, do the best I can, and make it safe to the guys, but also do the job, make proud to our squad, our regiments, and come back home safe, which is I couldn't able to do that. I failed, I couldn't able to help. himself, which is I couldn't able to do that. I failed. I couldn't able to help. Yeah, I was a same lying in the front of them. And honestly, I thought that I let down my team, my regiment, and whole girkers and the British side. And my commanding officer said, okay,

we don't know what we will look after them. But I did not really believe that. I was still worrying. I came back to UK in still about two months, and I was still worrying about what was going on in the ground. So my mind was all the time in the ground, in Afghanistan. And my military liaison officer used to tell me that, don't worry about yourself. They will be fine.

Just worry about yourself, how to recover and how to move forward. But this is how we are. So we always think of those, the friends and colleagues and how they are doing. And yeah, I felt brutally let down my team at the time. A lot of people face different types of adversity, whether that's big T trauma or small T trauma. Obviously, you've had to face something that very few people ever have to go through. It's impacted you physically and it's impacted you mentally as well. You lost both your legs, along with many other complications and injuries. What was the recovery process like for you? And how did you give yourself the inner fortitude

to make you want to recover? Because so many people might have given up at that point, given the state that you found yourself in. What kept you going, and what are some of the initial steps that you took? I think my biggest problem was my perception. The way I grew up in Nepal, the way I saw how disabled people

were treated back in Nepal and how they perceived. So I perceived myself that way as well. So that was the biggest thing to overcome. I thought that I couldn't do anything. I couldn't able to walk. I thought that I have to sit on the chair rest of my life. I'm pretty much useless. And I'm going to live as a burden of the earth. And maybe I've done something wrong in my previous life so maybe I'm having this. So that was really really and very simple things that I couldn't able to do. Go to toilet myself just making tea myself and going on a wheelchair you can go everywhere and you can go and play around with your children and play football with my children. Even on chair I I couldn't get onto wheelchair

from the floor as well. I had to rely, it was everything with someone else. And that was really hard, but slowly. And you know, a couple of times, so I stayed about a month in hospital. Then after that, once I discharged, I was sent to rehabilitation center. And at rehabilitation center, we only

allowed to stay four weeks there. Then we're sent to home for another four weeks and go back. And I did that process nearly three and a half years. And when you go to the rehabilitation center, you meet similar people like yourself. You still have good time, you try to recover, you work harder. But when you come back home, you have nothing to do simply. You don't have a job, you don't have not much to look for. So mostly I was just drinking alcohol to just control my pain and

emotions and I was just frustrated myself sometimes with my family sometimes just is just doing pretty much nothing. So that point I found very difficult and I was drinking so much and when I didn't drink I just my hands were shaky my mind started getting foggy. In the UK, the ceilings are quite low. I was imagining that like the ceilings like in Nepal and Kudafian and just in the many people who would take on their lives hanging themselves. But I also found that it's very difficult to do that when you are on a wheelchair. Also, I realized that on the UK, the train bridges are protected.

They have got a bar, a wall and bar on the side to protect from people from jumping. So yeah, I was thinking all of them, and I couldn't drive at that time. And I was just thinking to take, if I could drive, take a car and just go on your own and just finish up yourself. And that was really tough.

And later some ways I could look at my families, especially my son was two and a half years old when I got injured. And looking at his face, if I die, it's in the past story, but my family will suffer from that because of me. So I didn't want to, okay, one day I decided that, okay, I'm gonna live my life.

I have to live for my family. Then it was pretty much magical moment that what could we be able to do? Then after that I went to skydiving. I had two feelings at the time. One was I never done the parasit. So I wanted to experience that. Second one was I was a bit suicidal more.

If something goes wrong then in half my body is gone, if another half goes, that's in my story. But when we landed safely on the ground I realized that you can do things even you don't have legs. Then I had little confidence then my aim was to what can I do physically after losing both legs. And I tried all the sports and adventure and I could able to do everything. It's just different way of doing the things than later after that, I could be able to climb the mountain. Well, we're going to get to climbing that mountain here in a second. But before we do, I had another question for you.

I have several amputee friends and colleagues who have residual pain following their injury. Have you ever experienced that? And if so, how did you deal with it? Yeah, yeah. Because you don't have legs, but it's still your mind says that you have still legs. So that's a very weird thing. And I think I still remember that on my hospital bed, you know, I thought that I had a leg

and it would get up and I nearly fell down on the bed. I fell down a couple of times at home on the couch because my mind still says I have leg. But another thing I never heard about that phantom pain, but after losing legs, leg, you know, phantom pain was really, really bad. You know, you have so much pain. It's like you got a pinion, needles on your feet. But when you find it, you can't find it. What is that? You can't find it. You feel that itching in your ankle and on your toes. And you don't have a toes. It's a very weird feeling. But the pain is also sometimes still I do have sometimes, if I do very hard exercise, still I do have. It just comes for while, sweating, pain, it's like that. And just have a pin and needles on your feet. Yeah, it's very weird, weird pain, but slowly,

you just went away. As I said, still I do have, still have sometimes, but yeah. I'm not that bad as I get up on the bed feeling that I have legs. I dreamed many times after losing my leg, I was just running around chasing the Taliban. You see some of my dreams, I'm still running around normally, it's a bit weird, but when you wake up, it's a bit weird, but that's how life is. One thing I did want to talk to you about is your consumption of alcohol. And I think many people who have to deal with their inner demons end up becoming, and I

think so many of us, when we're trying to deal with our inner demons, end up becoming addicted to one thing or another. It could be alcohol, it could be drugs, it could be work, it could be sex. How did you relieve yourself of that need that you had to drink to overcome the demons that you were facing? I think it's a coping mechanism, isn't it? So we cope in different ways. And I think it's very easy when you are feeling bad. It is very easy to take a glass of bottle of whiskey and pour in a glass and drink it. That's one way you can cope it, but it's a short period of time when that helps. Also, taking a drug or even taking a life yourself. But I think as a hard way we do is,

it's also the sustainable. It's useful, much more useful. Say just going out and doing something, waking up early on time or staying late in the evening, doing something is hard. Like doing the exercise, going to the gym, going to the swim or doing some kind of outdoor activities is hard.

Like in the cold, it's rain, sometimes too hot, whatever it is. But that is, I think, the best way to do it. And once I, you know, my aim after the skydiving was what can I do physically after losing both legs? So because of I had some kind of, I want to test myself that what can I do physically because I didn't know at the time that how powerful is the mind. So my aim was to try to do the other things and kind of compensated the way I was drinking. And I could be able to focus. And when we challenge ourselves, then we start finding the opportunities.

We start seeing the hope. We start seeing the things that are good for us. And simply that's how I covered. And some ways where I am now is because I used those sports and the adventure as a therapy. I didn't take it as a therapy at that time but I feel it was therapy and the sports and adventure has massive power in it. I'm not sure what what adventure training like US Armed Forces but in UK let's say, if you go for overseas exercise, training for six weeks,

one week is called R&R. So R&R is not really a centric company, but more about how you go and do some adventure stops in civilian clothes, say kayaking, or hiking, or mountain biking, or skydiving or horse riding or kayaking or something to do it. But I think without that, I think I wouldn't be here. I think those sports and adventure give us a confidence.

And so that I think in the, if I had a power, I would give a people a confidence. I think if we have confidence, we can able to do anything else. Even let's say you like someone and you want to go and talk, you need confidence. You got some idea, business plan, and you wanna go and share with someone, you need a confidence for that.

Or you wanna go and do some adventures, you need a confidence for that. So anything we do in life is confidence and confidence doesn't come with a magic wand, abra ki dabra, kitchen, here you go and rule the wall or go to climb the mountain, everything is not like that. It comes from very little things like a just jumping on a wheelchair from the floor, it's a sense of achievement. I achieved something. If you feel good, you go to the kitchen yourself and make a tea yourself. You feel good. Go to the toilet yourself and yeah, if you feel good, then you can drive yourself.

It's better. Then later you start working on the prosthetic legs. And building confidence takes time and it comes with the challenge. When you challenge. When we challenge ourselves we create opportunity for ourselves but also create opportunity for others. Challenge gives us experience and experience gives us confidence and simply confidence is I think everything in the life. And do it hard way sometimes you know and that lasts for a long period of

time. If we just do it very short way, we take on drugs and you might feel well for a while, but in a long time, it doesn't really help. I'm so glad that you pointed that out, because one of the things I talk about on the show all the time is that we have choices that we get to make every single day. And when you think about it, we have 60,000 to 90,000 different decisions that we make in any single day. And every single day is an opportunity. Start making choices that challenge the way that you're living your life. And I try to educate people that this power of micro choices that we get to make in our lives can help you transform your life and take it into a positive direction. Because you didn't get into the situation that you're in currently in one fell swoop. And so you're not going to break out of it by doing one huge movement. It's going to take a series of micro steps to get you on the path to recovery. And I think what you just

said about building confidence, because the more challenges that you start putting in front of yourself, when you start accomplishing them, you're going to reward yourself even more for doing them. And it's going to lead you further down that path. And it's going to expand in you this desire to want to achieve more, to be more, to become more, which becomes this overwhelming confidence that just grows over time. So I think what you just said is a fantastic example of that. And also, I think it's when we think about choice is we are privileged to live in a free world where we can choose the things. We can choose children, we can choose what subject they want to study.

We can choose what job we want to do. We can choose how we want to live our life. We have so many choices. And if we choose the right choices, then our life becomes positive. And in Nepali, we say that if you are good and you see everything is good, everything turns into good. So, I think that's really important. And I think we all have negative feelings.

And that negative feelings is our mind. If we put, let's say, wall around our mind with a filtration of that. And if we are positive, then all positive things observed in our mind. So that wall lets in to observe that positive. If we are negative, then the positive things doesn't penetrate in our mind. And the negative things penetrate in our mind. We see everything in the world is negative, it's bad. So I think being positive and that positiveness is again confidence and sense of achievement and sense of living without values and without self. And I think for me hardest thing was to accept that I don't have legs and I have to live

the rest of my life without legs. That was hard things. And once you accept it, then it becomes easier. I'm sure there might be some listeners today who are struggling to find their path, or perhaps they feel like they're a spectator in their own life. And when all this happened to you, I imagine that you were probably looking at your life a completely different way than you do today. You were probably that spectator looking at yourself and now you've undergone this transformational change to rebuild your life from scratch. What would you tell someone

else who might be listening today if they were in this exact same position? They're trying to find their purpose in life or what steps they can take to rebuild it. How do you find that problem that only you were called to solve? How do you get yourself back on track of crafting the life that you want? I think I have got one kind of principle that I use. Whatever happens, it happens for the reason. And if you are positive, even someone throws you at mud, you become a flower. You start blooming. I never thought that I would be here. I would be doing this thing. I never thought about that.

But one thing I had was I had something positive in my mind. I think I have achieved more than what I imagined to achieve when I was young. I never achieved this thing. I never achieved even joining the British Army because it's very tough. Over 12,000 applicants I got into 230. I never thought that, but when we try something, it just happens. I tried to become British Army and I became. I tried to climb Everest and I climbed. If you don't try, you don't know your limits. You don't know what we can be able to achieve. You can also see that I had a very good career in the Army.

After losing my legs, I lost both of my legs. I lost my career. I lost my job because I couldn't walk anymore in the Army. And still I'm fine. And whatever happens, we'll be fine as long as we are positive. And have a right mindset. Harry, thank you for that. You talked about the importance of actions and how they led you to where you are today. What inspired you to go from doing the action sports that you were doing to doing the mountaineering that you're doing today? I have to imagine that preparing for those initial climbs without having any legs and having to use prosthetic

legs made that extremely challenging. Yeah, I never thought that I would even working after my injury. And without that, I would be climbing Mount Everest. But I think climbing is simply, as I said, I grew up in Nepal. In Nepal, from very small side, where educated Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world and it's in Nepal. Mount Everest is pride, symbol and identity of the Nepalese people. If we say in many places in America, it says, do you know what is Nepal? Which they won't know it, but if they say, do you know the Everest?

And I think they know that. So it means something to me from very little age. But also I think is one thing is I think it's really important that it's not about what we do, it's about why we do it. It's our reason why. Anything that we do we have our own reason. It might not mean nothing to you, but it means to me. I think that is the thing. And I was always fascinated climbing mountain from my childhood. This is why my recent name is Concurian Dreams and it's my childhood dreams. I grew up looking the mountain every day. And after losing my legs when I was skiing in here in Europe and in Colorado, looking at the mountain, I was thinking of Mount Everest. And later I just

went to test myself and I tried. And yeah, finally took nearly six years to get there, but we finally achieved our dream. And yeah, there were many challenges along the way. Like I say, there's no prosthetic legs that are designed to climb the ice and snow. So we actually designed that. And the friends in America who helped me, so to do that. So this is why I have very close connection. I served with your guys and I've been helped to climb Mount Everest. So it's very close to my heart. And there was ban. They banned double amputees. So the Nepal government banned, I suppose

to climb 2018 and in the 2017 Nepal government brought the rules banning double amputees and visually impaired. So we had to go to Geneva, we had to go to Supreme Court in Nepal and overturn the rule. It took awhile. I had to raise lots of money because I'm three times slower than normal people. I need more help and support.

So simply everything I need is three times more, maybe more. And just raising fun was very hard. So first thing was nobody believed me that I could be able to climb the mountain. I had some money when I was injured and I used that to climb through mountains. And now later my family and friends start supporting me, maybe he might able to climb it and then they start supporting me, later some charities came to support me, then later the other individuals, my friends and the families and the communities and some corporates who believed me and we were able to raise all the money. But the first one I approached, I think, on 100, 99 corporates and said no,

because there was a reason behind it. They said it was an amazing story, what an inspiration, and all those things. And when it come to taking the money out from their pockets, sorry, we ran out of the marketing budget, or they make it all excuse. But behind that, there was a reason. One thing, they didn't believe that I could able to climb it. Second

thing, if something goes wrong on the mountain, they don't want to associate with me. Yeah, there are lots of lots of, but I think one thing is if we are true to ourselves and we have a right in 10 sign and at that time then someone in 100 99 won't believe you but one people always with you and will support. And I had few and once one person supporting other people will follow. Kerry, that's great advice. And I understand that when you first started this mountaineering expedition, you had to use

your own money to prove that you could actually do it, to climb peaks like Mirapique and Mount Blanc. That allowed you to have the opportunity to raise money to try to climb Mount Everest, which I think is a very important part of your story because I've talked to successful entrepreneurs who have built unicorn companies. The vast majority that I've talked to went through some period of disbelief and some of the same challenges that you faced as you were trying to attain your goal.

So a person I often talk about is Jim McKelvie, who founded the company Square with his friend Jack Dorsey. And along this journey, they faced one challenge after another insurmountable challenge because the whole banking industry was against them. They didn't want them to create this new financial system. And so the banking industry kept fighting them, and they had to fight their way through it. And there were many times that they almost wanted to give up because they were running out of money. They were running out of the stamina to keep up the

fight, but they ended up persevering. And it's interesting because when I talk to Jim, the interviews that I've done with him, he tells me that one of the biggest things that he sees for entrepreneurs who fail is that they find this problem that only they can solve, that they have this burning desire to go after. But they end up running into adversity and they give up on their dreams instead of doing what you did and making the calls and keeping after it until you finally achieved what you set out to do Yeah, many times I wanted to give up sometimes I was just thinking what excuse I could make it And give up I thought about many times

But when some people are to start helping you giving their time Money and efforts then you can't let down those people. At least you do your best to make them proud. You couldn't able to give much, but at least I could do my best to make them proud. And on the mountain also, I wanted to give up many times, but things that drove me, it's a responsibility. It's the people that who believed me that I don't want to let down that let them down. So there had to be a lot of mental and physical preparation for preparing to climb Everest. How did you self prepare for that and get yourself up to the task of the mental challenges that you were going to have to overcome

in climbing the mountain? Because whether you're able-bodied or not, I'm sure everyone who climbs Everest faces tremendous mental hurdles on their way up, where they wanna give up because it's windy and it's cold. It's grueling, you're in pain, you don't wanna keep going. I think this is where your dreams and passions in walks. If you have a dream, if you have a passion, then can make you wake up early in the morning, make you stay late in the evening, also to make

you work harder. And many of the training and principles that when I was serving helped me. So a couple of things that I was thinking. There is the, in our British Army's doctrine, there is the word called momentum. It's a principle of war. And that is not about going fast or slow, it's just keep it going. And I use that principle when I went to the mountains. I will get there if I don't stop for a long period of time and I don't give up. I will get there, in some way. So I need to prepare for that. And the other principle I use is adaptation. So the whole life is all about adaptation. We can see the history of the human religions and things like that. And we always adapt.

We take it very easily. So, if it's cold, we put the jacket on, if it's a rain, we put a raincoat on. So if we go to play the sports, we put a sports shoes on. So we do it all the time, but we don't realize it. But this is really powerful tools and principles that we can use for life. You know, when I was thinking about climbing Mount Everest, in the old days, we couldn't run fast enough to explore around the world. So we start designing the things that can take us faster. Something like a for the land, for the sea, for the air. Now we can go to the another planet.

We made that possible. We human made that possible. We adopted according to our needs. So climbing Mount Everest with no legs should be possible. This was my principle that actually I used it. Also in the business world or anything in the world that we adopt according to the time and situation and our ability to make things happen simply. So simply, like one example is when Corona popped in,

I supposed to be climbing Everest and I didn't have that time. Instead of I was in quarantine and doing the things. So that is weird. We were adapting at that time. So we always adapt. But if we use this tool right away, it's very powerful. So there's two principles that's super important for me to get to the summit of Mount Everest is adaptation. So I adopted my legs according to the time and situations and get up to the mountain.

So that's how it is. And we are very good at adapting and some we are not. But I think if we could adapt whatever way we can, we'll make anything as possible in the world. And holy human revolutions came from challenge. So let's say if a right-brothers they didn't dream of flying, we wouldn't be flying. If Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norge they Didn't dream of climbing Mount Everest. Maybe we'll be still waiting someone to climb for us. We made many impossible things possible

by the challenging outshallow. I love that. And I have my own book that just came out. And in it, I have a chapter called The Action Creator. And in it, I focused the chapter on the story of my long-term mentor, astronaut Wendy Lawrence. And her core message is you have to permit yourself to dream your dream. And when you do permit yourself to dream your dream, you gain this consistent momentum that keeps you going forward. It keeps these actions propelling you to where

you want to go. So, Harry, I love what you just said and the adaptability. So I want to step back for a second because I want to imagine you now on the apex of Everest. I can't even imagine what was going through your mind at that point. And I'm guessing that moment was such a powerful catalyst for you being in your home country of Nepal. How do you hope that your achievements, when other people who have disabilities see them,

give them the inner courage and the perception to view that anything is possible. I gave them some hope to the people who possibly read what's by touring. One thing is the government that who banned us from climbing mountains. The tourism minister was waiting at the airport to welcome and congratulate me. And the same day, I was invited at Prime Minister's office to congratulate. Same day, President was ill, so he sent his press officer

and his daughter to congratulate me in person. And I was invited by many ministries like House of Speakers to so many major political parties who invited in their office to congratulate me. I believe that some I said about why we do it. It's not about what we do it. It's about why we do it. I think climbing a mountain, I don't think so, I enjoy climbing a mountain. It's enjoyable after you climb, but every step is a struggle for me.

But why I do it is, I think it's important. And I won't have this to making awareness of disability because the way I perceived myself, because I wasted my time, one and a half, two years of my time, I just wasted my time. And if I perceived myself, because I wasted my time one and a half, two years of my time, I just wasted my time. And if I believed myself, I could pick up much quicker and use that time to make it much more meaningful and worthwhile. So my aim was to making awareness of disability.

Why it's important? Because people like myself, I don't know if I was before, is make sure you believe something that you can able to do something. I think that's important. I think people with disability, that's one awareness that we need to make. Another awareness I wanted to make was to, it's not just our problem. It's a problem of our families, our friends, our community and authorities that who look after us. If you see the disabled population, it's about 1.3 billion disabled people

live in this world. So that's about 15% of the world population. We can hide them if you want to develop the countries, develop the world, and we need to make it inclusive, they have to support us some ways. It is making us, like the government that we're going to ban us, the things that we do. And these are the things that we need to make awareness of the other people. And many people who are out there, everybody, I was completely able body until age of 31. Suddenly my life changed in that way. And many people's life will change in the future.

And for them, make sure instead of feeling sorry for themselves, believing something that they can able to do and go and achieve something that they love able to do and go and achieve something that they love to achieve. And achieve something that they have their own reason why. So my reason why is to making awareness of disability. And I'll keep this is not overnight change. It will take ages and ages and generations. It will take it to change. And the rest rest of my life I will be making awareness of disability whether through the sports and adventure, whether through the social work, whether through the business, whether through the charities, I will do that. Harry, thank you so much for sharing that

and I think that is a great way to interview. After achieving so many things that you never thought were going to be remotely possible that you have now accomplished. What are your future goals and dreams and what do you look forward to? I get asked this question quite a lot and as I said to you earlier that what's my future and simply is to making awareness of disability and inspiring other people to climb their own mountain. Whatever that is or getting a job or getting a job, or getting a better grade, or starting a business, or getting married, or going through some problems that they have. So that's my aim. And to do that, I think I'm 44 now. And I think up to age of 50, I think I can do some sports and adventure. I will be now I mean process to complete my seven summits.

So I have four summits to complete and if your audience they don't know what are the seven summits they are highest mountain in its continents. So that's what I'm trying to do for the next few years and if I get an opportunity I would like to take some more people with disability, maybe from different complex and different side, and travel from one pole to another pole, making awareness of disability, promoting climate change, because I've been in the mountain, and when you look at how fast the ice is melting, it's very scary. And whatever we have right now, it's because of our previous generation. So even we can extend the Earth's life for a while.

It would be great for our future generations. And also that we don't need to fight. If we don't need to. Yeah, we are soldiers. We fight for everything. I will fight even I don't need to. Yeah, we are soldiers. We fight for everything. I will fight even I don't have legs, but we can solve our differences in a peaceful way. We don't have to solve our differences in a violent way.

I think we have different faith. We have got different interests. We have different values. We have different culture. We are humans. And we need to make this world slightly better and safer place in the future. Beautifully said, and Harry,

it was such an honor to interview you. You're such an inspiration to so many people worldwide. It was so fantastic that I could have you on Passion Struck. And thank you so much for having me. What an amazing interview that was with Harry Budemagher. Man, he is amazing. And I wanted to thank Harry for giving us the honor of interviewing him. Links to Harry will be in the show notes at passionstruck.com.

Videos are on YouTube at our main channel at John R. Miles and our clips channel at Passionstruck Clips. Advertiser deals and discount codes are in one convenient place at passionstruck.com slash deals. You can find me on all the social platforms at John R. Miles and you can sign up for our personal development newsletter, Live Intentionally at passionstruck.com. You're about to hear a preview of the Passionstruck podcast with Charles Duhigg, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist,

New Yorker staff writer, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Habit. Charles brings his signature blend of in-depth research and captivating storytelling to his latest groundbreaking book, Super Communicators, how to unlock the secret language of connection. All of us have that person in our head. Everyone who's listening knows exactly who they'd call. That person for you is a super communicator. And odds are that you're a super communicator back to them. But there are some people who are

more consistently good at this. They're that person for everyone. They can connect with anyone. And oftentimes it's only because they're thinking a little bit more deeply about how communication works. They've paid a little bit more attention to it. And one of the things that they know to do is they know to listen closely. The fee for this show is that you share it with family or friends when you find something useful or interesting. If you know someone who could use the advice

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