192: The Good Listening To Show with Chris Grimes - Episode 192192: The Good Listening To Show with Chris Grimes - Episode 192
UK Health Radio Podcast
Chris Grimes talks with doctors Adam Baker and Charlie Fleury about extreme ocean challenges, medical burnout, and finding purpose through adventure and compassion. Their story weaves icy swims, Atlantic rowing and hospice fundraising into a wider reflection on what it means to truly live the “dash” between birth and death.
45:33•31 Oct 2026
Emergensea Duo: Ice Swims, Burnout and Truly Living the Dash
Episode Overview
- Pushing boundaries can be meaningful, but only if the goals are truly your own and not driven by others’ expectations.
- Major health crises can reshape priorities and highlight how fragile life is, prompting a more intentional approach to living.
- Career success on paper can still feel empty; it’s valid to change direction, even after years of training, if you’re unhappy.
- Small, practical rules like “control the two square metres around you” help when facing overwhelming situations.
- Acts of kindness, awe in nature and deep personal connections can provide vital motivation during long and difficult journeys.
“We aren’t scared of dying, but we’re both quite afraid of not really living.”
What drives someone to seek a life that feels fully lived rather than merely endured? This conversation on UK Health Radio’s Good Listening To Show follows married doctors Adam Baker and Charlie Fleury – the “Emergensea Duo” – as they swap hospital scrubs for ice-cold oceans and long-distance rows. Hosted by storyteller Chris Grimes, the show uses playful metaphors – a “clearing”, a symbolic tree, the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise, even a cake – to tease out the pair’s life stories.
You’ll hear how Charlie, once in a wheelchair after major pelvis surgery, found new purpose by deciding to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic as part of the Talisker Whisky Challenge. Adam shares how apparent career success in emergency medicine tipped into burnout, leading him to palliative care and a fresh focus on what really matters in the “dash” between birth and death.
Their latest challenge is particularly intense: swimming an official ice kilometre in the Arctic Circle and Antarctica, in standard costumes only – “No wetsuits, no lard, no excuses.” They describe the Arctic swim as “absolutely brutal”, talking through cold-water shock, numb limbs, the pain of re‑warming, and the mix of “happiness or hypothermia” at the finish. Alongside the adventure, there’s a strong thread of compassion.
Adam now works with Weston Hospicecare, while both raise funds for it and The Ocean Conservation Trust. They talk movingly about acts of kindness from strangers during their rows, moments of awe in nature, and a simple jungle rule that guides them: “Control the two square metres around you.” If you’re interested in resilience, meaning, and how people rebuild a life that feels worthwhile after crisis or exhaustion, this episode has plenty to chew on.
It might leave you asking: where’s your own “clearing”, and what bold step could come next?
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