October 30, 2024 • 42 mins
Christy-Faith and Timber Cleghorn discuss the challenges of homeschooling, the thrill of hunting, and the mental resilience required in isolation. She discusses the importance of community and family in humanitarian work, emphasizing the need for a growth mindset and the ability to process difficult emotions. The talk about core values in parenting, particularly in a homeschooling context.
The discussion also delves into personal revelations from the show 'Alone,' where they reflect on self-worth and the significance of existence beyond accomplishments. Additionally, Timber shares insights from his memoir, 'Memoir of a Wild Man,' detailing his life experiences and the lessons learned throughout his journey.
Become a Thrive member to gain access to homeschool training, support, and community:
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Takeaways:
- The thrill of the hunt brings a unique adrenaline rush.
- Cultivating a growth mindset is a learned skill.
- Self-worth should not be tied to accomplishments or societal expectations.
About today’s guest:
Timber Cleghorn is a humanitarian aid worker, a father of two, (soon to be three,) and a contestant on Alone: Arctic Circle. Raised off-grid and homeschooled, and with extensive experience in impoverished regions abroad, Timber has unique perspectives on modern life and holistic living.
Find Timber here:
- Website: https://timbercleghorn.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1612309262833632
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timbercleghorn/?hl=en
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Timber Cleghorn (00:00):
But when we don't have those mechanisms of
any input, music, media, justsomething to distract thoughts,
it's coming. The dam is gonnabreak. There's a freight train
coming through. You can be astrong person. You can have all
those bulwarks in place, butthat what that means is that
when they break, it's morecatastrophic.
Christy-Faith (00:15):
Welcome to the Christy Faith Show, where we
share game changing ideas withintentional parents like you.
I'm your host, Christy Faith,experienced educational adviser
and home school enthusiast.Together, we'll explore ways to
enrich and transform both yourlife and the lives of your
children.
(00:36):
As a homeschool mom who values afamily together approach and
leans towards the classical andCharlotte Mason styles, I often
struggle to bring my educationalvision to life with my kids'
diverse ages and learning needs.With all our interests and super
packed schedule, bridging thatgap between the dreamy
homeschool I want and reality, Igotta be honest. It's a
challenge. Now, yes, I knowperfection isn't the goal. But
(00:58):
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Thank you for tuning in to part2 of our captivating series with
Timber Cleghorn. This interviewwas so intriguing, we couldn't
bring ourselves to cut anythingout. Hey, you get this moose.
Now, what? What are you gonnado?
Like, I can't remember exactlyif it's been freezing yet, where
(02:03):
you could preserve it. Butanyway, tell us about because
that was like the highlight ofthe entire show.
Timber Cleghorn (02:08):
Oh, thanks. It's really cool that we could
be connected across these vastlydifferent lives. It brings us
here. We're talking about thisis really cool. That moose kill
though was it was electrifying.
Now me, I get electrified aboutany hunch. There's something in
my DNA or I don't know if it'sDNA or just my upbringing. But
when I get into a hunt, I zonein so much. I will have a level
(02:30):
of focus and dedication. Andthat's that's my favorite place
to live.
I would just live on a hunt allmy life if I could. So it's my
favorite pursuit. So when when Isee that moose out there in the
distance, I think 2 things. I'mlike, I'm grateful I've got
another shot at this becausemissing it was pretty humbling.
I missed this moose.
Most of the contestants wouldnot have missed it because
they're excellent shots withtheir bows. Me, I do spend most
(02:51):
of my time overseas. I do otherthings. I'm not practicing with
my bow all the time. Every timeI'm in the States, I'm shooting
and I'm hunting deer.
I kill a lot of deer with mybow. But for me, I stop close to
the deer. I like to kill thedeer at 10 feet away. These
other contestants, they'reexcellent shots. And so when I
miss that moose, I'm like, noone else would have done that.
It was humbling. So I see thismoose the second time. It's far
away. And I think I've got asecond shot. But I also think I
(03:11):
can't jinx this.
And I'm I'm not superstitious,but I just had this thing. If I
bring the big camera with me anddo a big production about
filming this, I'll jinx thishunt. I'll miss it again. So I
just barely filmed it. I justtook a GoPro with me, and I
pointed it at my face.
And I'm running to get to cutthe cut off the pass where this
moose is going to cross theriver and get outside of my
territory. And then I turn itthe other way. But in the end,
(03:32):
it ends up that I'm the only onewho's gotten the kill on camera
for big game. In each case,somehow they turn on the camera
afterwards or something. Andit's because it's hard to do
when you're hunting.
But when I see this moose and Iand I successfully draw it in,
I'm just out of my mind, I'mlike, I can't believe this is
this is happening. But I I letthe arrow go, and I can tell
right away that it's gonna hit.But when I shoot, I it slows
down time for me. And I can seethe arrow spinning, And I I can
(03:55):
see it moving through the air.And I can kinda trace its
trajectory.
And I'm, like, oh, it's it'sgonna hit. And then, it hits.
And they played it real time.The moose really died that
quickly. It it was real time howthey played it.
They didn't cut out any anyintermediate material with the
moose suffering. It just it runsover to a bush and falls over
dead. I was thankful because Ilike to be humane. When I saw
(04:15):
the moose go down, it was anexperience like I no other. I
can hardly relate it.
But a successful hunt from thearrow shot that you've got the
animal is it's a it's a level ofadrenaline, happiness, need,
hunter instinct. It all comestogether there, and it's like
the golden moments in life. Ifyou look back over your life and
there's whatever it is, there'sgolden moments stand out like
(04:37):
jewels. It's definitely gonna beone of those for me forever.
When that moose toppled, I waslike, Thank God.
Wow.
Christy-Faith (04:44):
How incredible. And what was it like? Is it
called field dressing? Is thathow they refer to that when you
have to cut it up, Skin it? Whatwhat is that called?
Timber Cleghorn (04:53):
Yeah. Yeah. Field dressing is basically the
first part of the process whereyou go and you take the the guts
out of the animal so that theydon't heat up the animal and
cause any spoilage in the meat.So I quickly get up there and I
field dress the moose. And thenit's down to the process of
butchering, which is basicallyskinning, quartering up all the
meat, hauling it to camp,stacking it.
(05:14):
And then the most incredible anddifficult task that I faced the
entire time of the load,preserving the meat.
Christy-Faith (05:20):
Now what was that like? There were different
techniques shown on the showwith preserving. Some people
would make little caves and hidetheir stuff in there and
critters always seem to getthat. What was the climate like
and what did you choose topreserve it? I know you made a
lot of jerky because when youwere coming on the show, my
daughter was so excited and shegoes, I'm really worried about
(05:42):
his teeth because if you recallin the latter episodes of the
show, you were mentioning howyour teeth were hurting from the
jerky.
But just quickly explain whatyou did with that moose. And
then for my daughter, let herknow how let us know how your
teeth are doing.
Timber Cleghorn (05:56):
That is so sweet. She's she's concerned
about folks. That's sweet. Theweather was a big problem.
Everybody thinks on the show ifyou kill a moose, that's the
dream.
And then you just sit there andeat. That would have taken place
if the weather had stayed coldand gotten colder like it was
supposed to. I say supposed tobecause this is the arctic. It's
supposed to be cold. Well, theday I killed that moose, it had
(06:16):
heated up to about 60 degrees byevening, and then it stayed hot
for the next week, and it justblew my mind.
So anyways, that transformed thething from a situation where
you're just made in the shadeand you sit there gobbling meat
for the next 2 months to thesituation where it nearly took
me out of the competitionbecause I had to preserve all
the meat from rotting. And itwas insanely difficult. I had to
(06:38):
work so hard that I I scarcelyate for a week. And then I
preserved to preserve a wholemoose is a lot. So basically, I
had to do 2 steps.
The first step was to make aspot to store it where animals
couldn't get it, and it would bekept cool while I created a
smoker. And then the second stepwould be smoking all the meat
because it was the only way.There's no salt. There's no way
to preserve the meat. It had toall be smoked.
(07:00):
It's the only way to preserve itwhen you're facing weather
that's warm like that. I didthose 2 steps, and they both
took a lot of energy. I barelyate. And at the end of that
process, that's I look like a Ilook like a skeleton after the
end of that process. Aftergetting the most meat that's
ever been gotten on the show, Ilook like a skeleton right after
that.
And then my task is to try toregain my shape, to try to eat
(07:20):
back up. And I just stayedskinny. But smoking the meat is
basically I built my shelter andturned it into a smoker. Took a
3 or 4 days of work to get thatdone. And then I started hanging
the meat in there on racks,slicing it all up.
This takes a long time for awhole moose because we're
talking maybe as much as £800 ofmeat that I got back to my camp
after killing this moose. And£800 of meat, that's a it's a
(07:41):
big job. So stripping it allinto strips, a foot to 18 inches
long, about a half inch thick,making racks, small sticks,
making them big racks where Icould hang on my shelf and then
keeping fires going with greenwood to generate smoke. And that
will preserve all the meat. WhenI got that done, it was day 21.
The moose was smoked, and Ilooked like a skeleton. And I
said, wow, this did not this didnot go how it's supposed to go.
(08:01):
It's supposed to be cold, themoose. The meat stays cold and
you just sit there eating itlike a king.
Christy-Faith (08:06):
The other thing, this is not on the questions I
gave you ahead. Sorry, I'm gonnathrow you a curveball. But I
have to ask you, one thing thatreally stood out to us
throughout the entire show wasthe difference in your mindset.
Are you just a naturallypositive person, or did you
intentionally focus on a growthmindset when you were out there?
Timber Cleghorn (08:28):
Thank you for asking that. I remember all my
childhood being a naturallynegative person. Like things are
always gonna turn out bad.Things are always gonna go
south. I will never make it.
That was my mindset growing up.And then, I kinda feel like as a
survival mechanism, I had toembrace a growth mindset as a
survival mechanism to be like, Iwon't be killed by this. I'm
(08:50):
going to live and to make itthrough. And since then, I've
decided like, I need tocultivate that as a skill. This
is a skill.
And you can't think that growthmindset people just always have
it naturally. I certainly am acase. I did not have it
naturally. I was like a downer,pessimist. But I thought my life
has taught me that the only wayto really get through, and being
in war zones has has reallyplayed into this.
(09:11):
You have to laugh. You have tofind fun. And you have to do
something to change yoursituation for tomorrow. Because
we make tomorrow, today. If wedon't do anything for tomorrow,
we'll wake up tomorrow and oursituation will be worse than
today.
So that's to me where the growthmindset comes in. I I said, I
have to cultivate this and I'vetried to carry that through my
life, especially on the show.
Christy-Faith (09:29):
I was curious about that because it's
something that in my homeschool,I homeschool for a lot of
reasons. But one of them is toget out of comparison grades
things like that and to fostermore of a growth mindset where
failure is expected and ratherrather than agonizing over which
decision do I make? I don'twanna make the wrong decision.
It's more a question of let'smake a decision and make it the
(09:51):
right decision and if and growfrom it. Right?
So Yeah. This really leads intomy next question which is about
the mental game on alone. Right?Everyone thinks, Timber got the
moose, he's gonna win. And thatis not always the case.
You write in your book, I'veseen extreme stress, pressure
and heartbreak expose my rawedges before but I've never
(10:15):
experienced anything like I amgoing through right now. Now
this is you referring to beingon the show because in the book
you go through a day by daywhich is really cool and really
fun. And then quote, you say,But I've never experienced
anything like I am going throughright now. Out here in complete
isolation, I find that I amfacing all of the individual
fibers that are strained andbroken. I feel everything piece
(10:40):
by piece and there's nothing tomask this effect.
There's no conversation. There'sno media, no input of any type
to help me skip over the toughparts. Tell us what that's like
being out there in this mentalgame of alone.
Timber Cleghorn (10:57):
Yeah. It's part of the journey that I didn't
expect to be so hard. We people,I was about to say men but we
just all do it. We build upsurvival mechanism, resiliency.
We have difficult and terriblememories if we've lost somebody,
if we've had trauma in our life.
We kind of can put those behinda dam as a survival mechanism.
And so when I'm talking aboutthis on alone that I'm
(11:18):
experienced all of the fibers ofmy being that are strained or
broken, I'm not talking aboutthe difficulty of surviving in
the Arctic because that reallywas I like that. That's that's
me. That's I didn't have tothink about parts of it. You
just do it.
But what I'm thinking of is theisolation is opening up all of
the things from my frompreviously in my life. And
you've seen this happen withother contestants, I'm sure. And
we contestants are justblindsided by it sometimes.
(11:39):
Like, why am I struggling withthis death that took place over
here? And it's because in ourfiber memory, I believe that in
our fiber memory, if we don'tfully process something, it
stays there forever.
And then it'll want to beprocessed if ever given the
opportunity. And so I get faceto face with that because of the
silence and isolation. I getface to face with my younger
brother who passed away not thatlong before I got off the show.
(12:00):
All the many, many deaths thathad surrounded us as we had been
doing humanitarian aid work insome of these war zones. A lot
of that terrible, terriblememories and visions come to
your mind.
And in a normal day, you wouldjust turn on some music or talk
with somebody, and you couldkeep that dam intact to hold all
those things at bay. But when wedon't have those mechanisms of
(12:21):
of any input, music, media, justsomething to distract the
thoughts, it's coming. The damis gonna break. There's a
freight train coming through.You can be a strong person.
You can have all those bulwarksin place, but that what that
means is that when they break,it's more catastrophic.
Christy-Faith (12:35):
We often can avoid dealing with the hard
things in our life withdistraction and good
distractions. I gotta groceryshop. I gotta plan the meals for
this week. I gotta do this,that, and the other. And it's
easy to just continuedistracting ourselves and not
deal with and heal from thereally hard stuff.
And so what I hear you saying isout there, it's you and the
(12:56):
wilderness and you can distractyourself to an extent and then
there's a point where you can't.
Timber Cleghorn (13:01):
That's right. You can't distract yourself
anymore. You have to get by withthoughts because I guess the
last 2 months of the show afterit snows and everything is
silent, it got so silent. Thetinnitus in my ears would almost
drive me crazy. So silent, youcould almost not even make a
sound that you could hear.
When unless the wind is blowingand then there'd be something to
experience. And thencolorlessness too. So you've got
(13:23):
nothing to go on. You're you'regoing on the things that are
inside your head and that andthat's why all these things come
up. If you're gonna dwell onthoughts, you don't have enough
strength, positive thoughts, andpositive memories to keep all
the negative ones in an isolatedbox.
They have to be fully processed.They'll come out and they'll be
processed. And the strengthcomes from not if you could keep
(13:44):
that dam intact and suppressthose. The strength comes from
if you can process them andsurvive it and be well.
Christy-Faith (13:49):
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Yeah. That makes so much sense.And for television, they're
showing us action all of thetime. And even when there's
montages of silence, it's stilla montage of silence.
I don't think we have any ideahow many hours and hours. And
also in the Arctic, thedarkness. Right?
Timber Cleghorn (17:06):
Oh, my goodness. That was a big issue
because we're closing in. At theend of the show, we're closing
in on no sunlight at all. So atthe end of the show, I think
there's 21 hours of totaldarkness and then 3 hours of
half light. Wow.
And that's that really changesthings. So you've got a you've
got a lot to go up againstthere. All that silence, all
that darkness. Oh, my goodness.It's just it's it's a monster.
Christy-Faith (17:26):
I have another question for you. It's about
your humanitarian effortsbecause you have spent a lot of
time overseas. You've worked inreally tough conditions with
your humanitarian efforts. Howdo you manage the balance
between your personal life as afather and the emotional toll of
that kind of work having yourfamily in unsafe places? What
(17:48):
insights do you take fromcommunities and in thinking
about raising your own kids?
Timber Cleghorn (17:53):
This is a growth topic right now. I'm
growing and I'm trying toapproach these very decisions in
a proactive way especially sincethe show because it revealed a
lot of things to me about aboutI think how to approach this.
Going into this humanitarianwork, I didn't have a very good
mentality. I've been steepeddeeply in accomplish, accomplish
a very a mentality all my lifeto where you accomplish or or
(18:15):
you don't deserve to exist.Going back to my childhood,
that's what it was really likethere.
So I've brought that into myadulthood. I'm also just an
active person naturally. And soheading into our humanitarian
aid work at the beginning, I didmake a lot of errors in like
what place of priority that Iwould put the family. I remember
my wife, we just moved to thisspecific country. We had a 6
(18:36):
month old baby and it was verydifficult.
We hadn't found a place to liveyet. We were, it was very
difficult And I would be like,look, I've got to go do such and
such, such. I said, it's goingto take a week and I'll be back.
And being an amazing woman likeshe is, she handled business.
But then looking back at that inlife, I would say, why did I do
that when our family is in sucha delicate and vulnerable state?
So we've been making differentcalls as time goes by. And what
(18:58):
this brings me to is where we'reat now. I've gleaned a lot of
things from underdevelopedvillages where they have a
survival lifestyle, and theyhave to prioritize community
just to get by. And so I'vetaken in some of that mentality.
You've got to prioritizecommunity.
Our core community is reallysmall, close friends. You have
to prioritize and lean on oneanother. You have to be okay
with that. You have toprioritize your closest
(19:19):
community, which is your veryfamily. And then just more
recently, the war zone work hasshowed me that we can't be okay
and meet anybody else's needsunless we're strong inwardly in
our family.
We can't do it. And so that'swhy we came home. And then I got
on alone is that we had reacheda point where I I'm like, I
don't quite have the answers forhow to approach this anymore.
And then on alone, I just did somuch thinking. I'm like, How do
(19:42):
I do this?
How do I approach it? Because mywife doesn't want to get out of
this kind of work, and neitherdo I. But she doesn't want to be
left behind, neither. I don'twant to do that either. So how
do we go about this as a family?
Do things that we think aremeaningful, and reach out in
date situations that even couldbe dangerous, but have a good
family life. I think that somuch boils down to the husband
(20:02):
wife relationship. What my wifeand I have between us seems to
be for us the core that sets thetone for how well our family is,
how peaceful our children aregoing to be. And we've gotten
into places where we couldn'tsleep at night. We couldn't get
by.
And then I'm like, what do I do?I want the peace of God. I've
experienced it before, but Idon't have it now. I want the
peace of God in my family. So wealways have to pull in, pull
(20:24):
together, get together as afamily, get our feet on the
ground.
And a big part of that for us isspending time with our faith,
spending time in prayer, andasking God, like, bring us
peace, bring us to a point ofpeace in our souls. And then
whatever home we're living in,let's start here and let's
expand our circle of peace.Let's have our home filled with
peace. And then we might haveenough to go outside the home
(20:45):
for somebody to help bring somepeace. But we've got to pull
right down to the core, to thenucleus.
So it's always me and my wife.We get together. When we go
through hard times, we have tohear each other out completely.
We have to try to understandeach other's points of view
completely. And then we have tosay, what's the goal in this
situation?
We'll rally around that. Don'tbe afraid to start fresh. In the
growth mindset, I think we don'thave to prove that we were right
(21:07):
before by hanging on tosomething that wasn't working.
We can start fresh and rallyaround a point and say, from
this point we stand. We'll goout from here again.
Christy-Faith (21:15):
Life is all about seasons, and it's all about
change. And as families grow,and we age, and maybe our
parents age and need more of ourhelp and things like that, I
think it just changes thedecisions that that we need to
make.
Timber Cleghorn (21:29):
Yeah.
Christy-Faith (21:29):
I wanna ask you about, this global I I'm just so
curious because it's very easyin the United States to live a
really sheltered life,especially as a Christian where
we just understand our versionof Christianity. We definitely
pack a lot of extra things onthe Bible regarding
Christianity. I wanna ask you,what are some core values based
(21:51):
on your more global exposure andyour experience on Alone as well
that can give us some insightson raising our kids with a
little bit more of an empatheticperspective on the world?
Timber Cleghorn (22:03):
Core values about that. Keep in mind that as
I say these things, I understandthat I'm not the person with the
answers. Every family is soindividual and the world is so
vast. I don't understand it all.But I'll be happy to relate some
things that we've found to workfor us, those rally points and
some things about this.
I think that what travel andbeing in different cultures
means to us in this approachingfamily life and trying to make
(22:23):
it through all of thesedecisions is I think it's
important first to not be lockedinto a micro culture in our
minds. And this is one thing Iwould say about homeschooling in
general about how we approach itis that we gotta be aware that
it can develop micro culture.And that's normal. It's okay.
It's a human tendency.
Anything that we're doing bringsa micro culture aspect to it.
But culture is what sets ourworldview and how we act and how
(22:45):
we think we ought to approachthe world. So me coming from a
very tightly controlled and nooutward exposure homeschooling
environment, I had such a microculture that I couldn't even
understand the world when I wentinto it. Couldn't even
understand it. Whatever thehuman said didn't make sense to
me, and I could tell thatwhatever I said didn't make
sense to them.
And so I had to basically studyanother culture and be like, can
(23:07):
I operate in this other culture?Just like studying a culture in
Tajikistan and being like, can Iget by in this culture and and
meet people and be anunderstandable human to them? It
was just the same for meentering mainstream America,
even as an American. So for ourchildren, we try to expose them
to a lot of ideas. I I'm I havestrong faith myself, but I
expose my children to all thereligious ideas as well that are
(23:29):
in whatever village that wehappen to be working at the
time.
I'm like, that's a part of thisplace. It's a part of this
culture. It goes into who theyare. I want you to understand
it. And it would be nice if theybelieve like me, we would
understand each other, but theydon't have to make all my
choices.
So I want them to have an openmindedness like that. That's
very important to both me and mywife. I want my children to be
exposed to other cultures. It'sinevitable that we build
somewhat of a micro culturearound them, but I want them to
be exposed to so much more sothat their ideas won't be stuck
(23:51):
in a rut or limited, so thattheir to so much more so that
their ideas won't be stuck in arut or limited. So their growth
mindset will be stimulated.
We found that in the midst ofall that exposure that we try to
give them to, they also reallyhunger for grounding as well.
There's a feeling of safety andgroundedness that they need so
much. It's just been kind of ajourney to us to be like, what?
(24:12):
In this particular line of work,it's so chaotic. What do our
children need?
And they're they're getting thatground as my son is playing
baseball with the other boys,and he's getting that
groundedness to be like, I'm I'mpart of something that I can be.
I'm not just trapped between allthe cultures.
Christy-Faith (24:25):
Whether you're newer to homeschooling or you've
been homeschooling over adecade, the fact is creating a
streamlined successfulhomeschool is hard. The pressure
is high, and the weight ofresponsibility often leads to
self doubt, second guessing, andfeeling completely overwhelmed
with the excessive amounts ofopinions and curricula options
(24:46):
out there. We love our kids. Andat the same time, the stakes are
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(25:49):
See you inside. Hi there,podcast family. If our episodes
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(26:12):
and don't be shy. Like,subscribe, and comment. I love
this because we don't alwayshave the answers, but that
doesn't mean that a conversationisn't worth having because just
having that open mind. And alsowhat came to mind as you were
sharing on that is what anopportunity in homeschooling
rather than, oh, I'mhomeschooling because I I'm
(26:32):
afraid my kid will turn intothat or they won't be this or
they won't end up this way orthey need to end up this way.
How about homeschooling so thatwe are preparing our kids and
teaching them how to live, howto live an abundant life? Yeah.
And because we know already thestudies are coming in, they're
like crazy about its soft skillsthat are gonna predict their
(26:55):
success. And regarding, youknow, sheltering with faith, I
think that can easily happen ifwe're choosing all Christian
curriculum and this and that.And I am a Christian myself, but
as a person who has had at least2 pretty significant faith
crises where I almost walkedaway.
Like, I actually remember amoment where I made the decision
(27:17):
not to. And I tell my kids,like, this is I'm raising you in
our faith, but I'm not gonnahide different cultures,
different religions, all ofthese things. Because if our
faith can't stand, it's notworth believing. It's it's just
not. And so and as one whobelieves in absolute truth, we
have nothing to be frightenedof.
(27:39):
Because yeah, we don't want ourkids abused and and traumatized
and things like that, but that'swhy in my book, I talk about
homeschooling as more of agreenhouse, where it gives us
the opportunity to
Timber Cleghorn (27:50):
nurture our little saplings. Our kids are
like little trees, and we cannurture them and
Christy-Faith (27:50):
feed them, trees and we can nurture them and feed
them with the intent of itgrowing strong and being able to
transplant them. Because we knowthat if we don't feed young
plants well or we put them outtoo early, expose them to too
much too early, they won'tthrive and they might die. And
so I really like that analogy ofhow homeschooling is a way that
(28:13):
we can accomplish these things.And I think it's pretty cool
that you have this you a themein your book as I was reading
was just about God's love. God'slove transcending different
societies and I think that'spretty incredible.
Okay. So before we wrap upthough, there's a couple things.
I want to ask you what yourbiggest revelation was when
participating in the show.
Timber Cleghorn (28:34):
Okay. The biggest revelation I experienced
from this show is kind of a aprivate thing, but I don't mind
sharing it at all because I'vespoken about it on camera, on
the show. People might be like,how can you be that vulnerable
or open? Because this is aprivate thing. But I realized
that it is okay for me to exist.
This goes back to that mentalitythat I've had all my life. Like,
I have to accomplish somethingor else I'm not a deserving
(28:57):
person. Being raised that way,we we worked awfully hard being
a survival based living. And ifyou weren't working, you were in
big trouble because you weredirectly hurting the effort of
the family to live if youweren't working. And so that
came into a point where when Iwent to college, when I left
home, I didn't know how at allto regulate.
I didn't know how to not work. Ijust work all through the night
(29:18):
and all through the next day,and I nearly killed myself a
number of times. I nearlydestroyed my health through
those years from not knowing howto just breathe and just be. I
thought it was sin still. Isomehow in the back of my mind,
even though hating thatmentality that God would do us
that way, something in the backof my mind, in my muscle memory,
thought that it's sin to justexist.
(29:41):
To just be a human. So allalone, I'm I struggle with this
all my life. I have a very mandifferent mentality about God
now than I did growing up. Verydifferent viewpoint of His love.
I'm very much a I see that helooks down in love.
That he he loves the creationthat he made. But still, I've
struggled all my life. Just likejust work, work to generate, to
(30:01):
accomplish. And I'm sittingthere on alone. And I'm looking
out.
I see this moose. And besidesthe moose, I hunted. I see other
moose. I see other animals,creatures. And I just was so
dumbfounded by the strength ofof the notion that God looks
down.
Like, how strong this notion wasto me, surprised me that God was
looking on that. Just admiringit, just loving it. And as he
(30:23):
says, He looked on everything hemade and behold, it was very
good. And I said that out loud.And I was like, Hey, Bird, God
looks at you and he thinks it'svery good.
I'm sitting here talking tomyself because alone is a
descent to madness. And then Iwas struck. Like, what about me?
I'm a creature. I'm a strangecreature, a weird creature, but
I'm I'm a creature that Godmade.
(30:45):
And and how could God how couldI be different than that? How
could humans and I know so manypeople in our society struggle
with not being enough, with notbeing beautiful enough, or not
being having enoughaccomplishments or capabilities.
But here's the thing, it waspushed in on me that God would
look down and see the thingsthat he'd made and say, it is
very good. And I'm I just I justlook up at the sky, and I'm
(31:08):
like, is that the truth? And itjust felt like the truth.
That God would look at not onlyanimals, but a weird creature
like me. I don't fit in withpeople's society. Even since the
show, people have been, like,sending me messages, cussing me
out, different stuff like this.I understand that I'm weird. I
don't fit in with society.
But I understand now that Godlooks down and says, I made you,
(31:28):
and it's very good. And thatwould be my greatest revelation
from the show. And the thingthat I've been saying to people
since then, I'm like, Iunderstand how how you're
feeling about yourself. And thatisn't the truth. Because if
there's a God, and if he madeus, he looks down and he says,
Behold, it's very good.
And I like that notion. Nowthat's just the beginning.
(31:50):
That's not the end of the roadto me for knowing God and
understanding it, but that's agood beginning.
Christy-Faith (31:55):
Absolutely beautiful. What a great
revelation. I was moved when Iread your reason for tapping
out. You guys, when I tell you Iwas moved reading this book, I
I'm telling you, you guys needto get his book. You write in
your book, Broken Timber says,if I don't win this show, I am
nothing.
The second voice is the personwho has been called out from
(32:16):
within me, renewed and whole. Heis the voice of peace, freedom,
and wellness. It is a man I havebeen so happy to become. The one
who doesn't fear anyone'sjudgment because God has already
judged him and found him enough.It is the voice of Timber the
satisfied.
(32:37):
Will you share with us, Timber,who had an abundance of food on
the show? You could have won.You could have gone on for a lot
longer. Why did you choose to gohome?
Timber Cleghorn (32:47):
You're gonna bring me to emotional state here
by reading those lines becausethis whole idea that there is a
satisfied Timber means a lot tome. So I apologize, but you're
gonna get me a little bitemotionally this. Alone is it
can it's it's deep. It's notjust it's not a game show. It's
deep.
So I get to this point on Alonewhere I do have plenty of food.
I could go on for a long time onthe show. I could live there all
(33:09):
winter, I'm sure. And so couldWilliam, probably. He's the
winner of the show, and hedeserves everything.
So I wanna say, I don't wannatake one thing away from William
because he deserves this win andand seeing his family win is so
beautiful. I love it. I don'tlook at the end of the show and
think, oh, darn. Because Williamwinning it is so beautiful. I
don't wanna take anything awayfrom him, but I definitely could
(33:30):
have gone on for months.
But I come to this point whereI've realized these things in my
soul. I've realized a couple ofthings. What is gonna get my
family through all the decisionsahead? Because there's round
after round of decisions to gothrough. If we're gonna live a
life where we go to some placesand try to serve people, we have
to make several rounds ofdecisions.
Where do we live? What do we do?How do we accomplish this? And
(33:51):
it's not just once like youthink. Well, we not have a home
now.
The decision of where we live isdone for life. That's not how
it's gonna be for us. We go. Wewe're goers. So I'm like, the
money, if I win the money, itcan only solve one single round
of that decision.
One round. And then we're rightback where we were. But what can
help us is if I'm well and Iknow who I am and how to
(34:12):
approach our family life, we canface every round of the
decisions. And I'm like, oh,that's good. But I'll try to win
the money anyways.
But the more I said, I'llscratch on. I'll get more
unhealthy towards that money. Ifelt like I was arguing with
that satisfied timber, drivinghim away, and maybe I'd never
see him again. This what killsme because I couldn't live that
way. The way I had been living,I couldn't live that way.
(34:34):
I wanted that satisfied person,that satisfied timber. I didn't
wanna drive that away and arguewith it and and discredit it by
being, like, I will also scratchon toward things that maybe I'm
not meant to have. So I'm sorry.This is a it's a big day
watching that transpire on TVbecause you're thinking all
those thoughts that don't getincluded. But that's what brings
me to go home is that I'm like,if if I can be this version of
(34:59):
me that that god is calling meinto, my wife will win the show.
And my wife did, I think, if Icould say that. And she's
smiling from over here, holdingour new baby. Because what she
needs is she doesn't need$250,000, which is what it is
after taxes. She doesn't needthat because that solves only
one round of decisions. Sheneeds a partner who understands
(35:22):
who he is and is well that shecan rely on for every round of
decisions.
And I just didn't wanna ruinthat and drive that person away
by hanging on through justscratching how I saw it.
Scratching towards that moneythat would be like, what kind of
a prize is that? I don't evenknow what that would be. It
hurts to give up the position ofbeing the one man left. That's
what hurts.
But it's a small price to pay.It's a small price.
Christy-Faith (35:45):
Well, it sounds like you, and I know this is the
case for many others on theshow. 1, ultimately, what is
more important. When you watchthe last episode of when you tap
out, it's cut the way they frameit is pretty sudden. Didn't you
think? Yeah.
I was like, wait, what? What?And then we're like, no. Right?
And but you just know there's somuch more in the background.
(36:08):
And I thought that was so cool.But when we heard that beep, we
were just like, what? And Iagree with you that William was
amazing. He was so fun to watchtoo. And man, his skills were
incredible.
And so absolutely well deserved.But what an incredible journey
of healing this experience wasand just how you have embraced
(36:29):
it to become a better man, abetter husband, a better father,
and just doing what you arecalled to do. Since the show,
you have been busy writing abook that is absolutely
incredible. Everyone listeningright now, you need to go on
Amazon and you need to buy thisbook and need to read it and
you're not gonna be able to putit down. You sent me a sneak
peek.
Thank you so much. It completelychanged the questions. I don't
(36:53):
know if you were shocked whenyou saw my questions based on
how when I approached youbefore, you're like, wait a
minute. Isn't this ahomeschooling show? And it's
like, this is way more than ahomeschooling show.
This episode, because I justcouldn't put it down. Tell us a
little bit about your book. Justthe, the nuts and bolts of it.
What your approach was. Andwould you tell us where we can
find it?
Timber Cleghorn (37:13):
Yeah. Thank you. So this book is pretty much
it's stories of my life paintedacross the context of alone. So
I start the book starts justbefore I got onto alone with the
situation coming out of Ukraine,out of the war there, with me
looking out of this train windowand seeing a meadow with some
beer in it and thinking I needto be in the wilderness. I need
(37:34):
that.
And then I come home, I applyfor the show. So it picks up
there. And then it goes throughto day 84 where William wins,
and I'm in the at the base campwith my wife being incredibly
happy. So it goes through there.But all throughout that, I tell
kinda who I am.
Everything that I can tell aboutwhat I've done, where I've been.
Basically, it's my life storypainted through those days. And
(37:55):
I told it day by day exactly howI remember it happening. I wrote
it as soon as I came home so itwould be fresh in my mind. So
that when when I come and I tellmy life story on day 42 in the
book, that's exactly when on day41 or 42.
It can't it's hard to remembernow. But that's exactly when out
there on a loan that I sat therewith the camera and I was like,
I'm I'm struggling today withpeople thinking that I'm
(38:15):
contestants thinking I'm fromthe CIA or for for doing this,
doing that. I'm gonna tell youwho Timber is. So that I do it
in the book exactly how ithappened on day 42. So it's all
exactly chronological and, itgives a deep dive into alone,
but also a deep dive into why mylife is so weird.
Now I've got pictures in in themiddle of the book that that
prove these stories are true. Ihave a story about gold teeth
(38:36):
that fell out of the head of agoat in Tajikistan in the
village. I mean, like, that'sstuff that weird. I've got
pictures of that there so peopleknow I'm not making this stuff
up. But also, keep in mind asyou read this book, and I hope
that you guys get it, I've leftout a lot of stuff that I
thought could bring hurt onother people.
Even especially my childhoodgrowing up, I want my parents to
be proud and thrilled about allthe wonderful things that they
(38:59):
did. Okay. So I would I don't gointo a deep dive in things that
I think could bring hurt toanybody. And that just keep that
in mind because I wanna takethat I wanna take that road. But
the book is is out there onAmazon worldwide.
It's called Memoir of a Wild Manand I really hope that you guys
enjoy it and find something init. I I hope that with all my
might.
Christy-Faith (39:19):
Oh, everyone who reads it absolutely will. Your
perspective, your insight, yourwillingness to be vulnerable,
which in turn makes yourelatable. I think a lot of
people suffer from the exactthings in your life that you
have as well. And so I just wantto thank you for your bravery,
your willingness to bevulnerable because what that
does especially for publicfigures is it brings on it it
(39:41):
opens the door for a lot ofattack. But over here in our
house, we are rooting for you.
You guys, don't forget to catchseason 11 of Alone. You can find
it on the History Channel. Ifthis is a show that you haven't
heard of before, it really is afantastic masterclass in growth
mindset, both good examples andbad examples. We pause the show.
(40:05):
I wanna say at least, sometimeswe annoy our kids, 4 to 6 times
per episode and say, okay, Whatdid she just say?
What do you think about that?Right? And I see growth mindset
here or whatever or we wouldpause a lot and say, wait a
minute. Is Timber a Christian?Do you think Timber's a
Christian?
It's a really fantastic show towatch with your kiddos as part
(40:27):
of homeschooling. Wehomeschooling does not have to
be sitting at a table andopening a book and boring your
kids to death. It can be so muchmore and it can be incredibly
engaging. Timber, it has been anabsolute delight to meet you.
Thank you for coming on thisrandom homeschooling show and
sharing your story.
It is an honor to get to knowyou. Everybody go out right now.
(40:51):
I'll put a link in the shownotes, but just get on Amazon
right now, click Prime, buy thatpuppy, and just read it because
you will not be disappointed.And, Timber, I hope this is not
the last time we hear from youin the homeschooling space. I
hope it's not the last time thatyou come on the show.
It's certainly gonna not gonnabe the last last time all of us
hear from you because you, myfriend, my brother, have
(41:12):
something really special and godis using you for incredible
things. And it's an honor to bejust this small little part of
your journey. Thanks for comingon today.
Timber Cleghorn (41:21):
Thank you so much. This has meant a lot to
me. I have never reached backand been a part of the
homeschooling community. Irealized that my experiences in
homeschooling, they're veryextreme. That's not a case study
for everybody, but it doesillustrate some points for us.
So it's it's neat to me to seewhat's happening these days.
Christy, with your podcast here,it's wonderful to know that
there are folks like youapproaching growth mindset and
(41:42):
engaging with their kids beingso, I would call it,
intentional. You said you pausedthe show. Kids, what do you
think about this? I love that somuch.
And but also, you're providingsupport for so many other people
out there that may want to dothis kind of lifestyle, but it
can be very stressful withoutthis community. And so I just
want to say thank you for all ofthat, for what you do for folks
(42:02):
there. I've just gotten to knowyou a little bit. I just like
this so much. I like what you'redoing.
And thank you for having me onthe show today to talk about
this stuff. I I hope I've been afun addition to your show, and
I've just really enjoyed it.
Christy-Faith (42:14):
It's been a pleasure.
But when we don't have those mechanisms of
any input, music, media, justsomething to distract thoughts,
it's coming. The dam is gonnabreak. There's a freight train
coming through. You can be astrong person. You can have all
those bulwarks in place, butthat what that means is that
when they break, it's morecatastrophic.
Christy-Faith (00:15):
Welcome to the Christy Faith Show, where we
share game changing ideas withintentional parents like you.
I'm your host, Christy Faith,experienced educational adviser
and home school enthusiast.Together, we'll explore ways to
enrich and transform both yourlife and the lives of your
children.
(00:36):
As a homeschool mom who values afamily together approach and
leans towards the classical andCharlotte Mason styles, I often
struggle to bring my educationalvision to life with my kids'
diverse ages and learning needs.With all our interests and super
packed schedule, bridging thatgap between the dreamy
homeschool I want and reality, Igotta be honest. It's a
challenge. Now, yes, I knowperfection isn't the goal. But
(00:58):
if you're listening and youcould use a little easing of
your mental load in your day today, I found a resource that has
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great option for you too.
BJU Press homeschool curriculum.Now many think that BJU Press
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excel in that role, did you knowyou can also opt for specific
(01:18):
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hands on activities in thelessons. To find out how BJU
(01:41):
Press Homeschool can comealongside you in your
homeschooling goals too, visitbjupresshomeschool.com or click
the link in the show notes.
Thank you for tuning in to part2 of our captivating series with
Timber Cleghorn. This interviewwas so intriguing, we couldn't
bring ourselves to cut anythingout. Hey, you get this moose.
Now, what? What are you gonnado?
Like, I can't remember exactlyif it's been freezing yet, where
(02:03):
you could preserve it. Butanyway, tell us about because
that was like the highlight ofthe entire show.
Timber Cleghorn (02:08):
Oh, thanks. It's really cool that we could
be connected across these vastlydifferent lives. It brings us
here. We're talking about thisis really cool. That moose kill
though was it was electrifying.
Now me, I get electrified aboutany hunch. There's something in
my DNA or I don't know if it'sDNA or just my upbringing. But
when I get into a hunt, I zonein so much. I will have a level
(02:30):
of focus and dedication. Andthat's that's my favorite place
to live.
I would just live on a hunt allmy life if I could. So it's my
favorite pursuit. So when when Isee that moose out there in the
distance, I think 2 things. I'mlike, I'm grateful I've got
another shot at this becausemissing it was pretty humbling.
I missed this moose.
Most of the contestants wouldnot have missed it because
they're excellent shots withtheir bows. Me, I do spend most
(02:51):
of my time overseas. I do otherthings. I'm not practicing with
my bow all the time. Every timeI'm in the States, I'm shooting
and I'm hunting deer.
I kill a lot of deer with mybow. But for me, I stop close to
the deer. I like to kill thedeer at 10 feet away. These
other contestants, they'reexcellent shots. And so when I
miss that moose, I'm like, noone else would have done that.
It was humbling. So I see thismoose the second time. It's far
away. And I think I've got asecond shot. But I also think I
(03:11):
can't jinx this.
And I'm I'm not superstitious,but I just had this thing. If I
bring the big camera with me anddo a big production about
filming this, I'll jinx thishunt. I'll miss it again. So I
just barely filmed it. I justtook a GoPro with me, and I
pointed it at my face.
And I'm running to get to cutthe cut off the pass where this
moose is going to cross theriver and get outside of my
territory. And then I turn itthe other way. But in the end,
(03:32):
it ends up that I'm the only onewho's gotten the kill on camera
for big game. In each case,somehow they turn on the camera
afterwards or something. Andit's because it's hard to do
when you're hunting.
But when I see this moose and Iand I successfully draw it in,
I'm just out of my mind, I'mlike, I can't believe this is
this is happening. But I I letthe arrow go, and I can tell
right away that it's gonna hit.But when I shoot, I it slows
down time for me. And I can seethe arrow spinning, And I I can
(03:55):
see it moving through the air.And I can kinda trace its
trajectory.
And I'm, like, oh, it's it'sgonna hit. And then, it hits.
And they played it real time.The moose really died that
quickly. It it was real time howthey played it.
They didn't cut out any anyintermediate material with the
moose suffering. It just it runsover to a bush and falls over
dead. I was thankful because Ilike to be humane. When I saw
(04:15):
the moose go down, it was anexperience like I no other. I
can hardly relate it.
But a successful hunt from thearrow shot that you've got the
animal is it's a it's a level ofadrenaline, happiness, need,
hunter instinct. It all comestogether there, and it's like
the golden moments in life. Ifyou look back over your life and
there's whatever it is, there'sgolden moments stand out like
(04:37):
jewels. It's definitely gonna beone of those for me forever.
When that moose toppled, I waslike, Thank God.
Wow.
Christy-Faith (04:44):
How incredible. And what was it like? Is it
called field dressing? Is thathow they refer to that when you
have to cut it up, Skin it? Whatwhat is that called?
Timber Cleghorn (04:53):
Yeah. Yeah. Field dressing is basically the
first part of the process whereyou go and you take the the guts
out of the animal so that theydon't heat up the animal and
cause any spoilage in the meat.So I quickly get up there and I
field dress the moose. And thenit's down to the process of
butchering, which is basicallyskinning, quartering up all the
meat, hauling it to camp,stacking it.
(05:14):
And then the most incredible anddifficult task that I faced the
entire time of the load,preserving the meat.
Christy-Faith (05:20):
Now what was that like? There were different
techniques shown on the showwith preserving. Some people
would make little caves and hidetheir stuff in there and
critters always seem to getthat. What was the climate like
and what did you choose topreserve it? I know you made a
lot of jerky because when youwere coming on the show, my
daughter was so excited and shegoes, I'm really worried about
(05:42):
his teeth because if you recallin the latter episodes of the
show, you were mentioning howyour teeth were hurting from the
jerky.
But just quickly explain whatyou did with that moose. And
then for my daughter, let herknow how let us know how your
teeth are doing.
Timber Cleghorn (05:56):
That is so sweet. She's she's concerned
about folks. That's sweet. Theweather was a big problem.
Everybody thinks on the show ifyou kill a moose, that's the
dream.
And then you just sit there andeat. That would have taken place
if the weather had stayed coldand gotten colder like it was
supposed to. I say supposed tobecause this is the arctic. It's
supposed to be cold. Well, theday I killed that moose, it had
(06:16):
heated up to about 60 degrees byevening, and then it stayed hot
for the next week, and it justblew my mind.
So anyways, that transformed thething from a situation where
you're just made in the shadeand you sit there gobbling meat
for the next 2 months to thesituation where it nearly took
me out of the competitionbecause I had to preserve all
the meat from rotting. And itwas insanely difficult. I had to
(06:38):
work so hard that I I scarcelyate for a week. And then I
preserved to preserve a wholemoose is a lot. So basically, I
had to do 2 steps.
The first step was to make aspot to store it where animals
couldn't get it, and it would bekept cool while I created a
smoker. And then the second stepwould be smoking all the meat
because it was the only way.There's no salt. There's no way
to preserve the meat. It had toall be smoked.
(07:00):
It's the only way to preserve itwhen you're facing weather
that's warm like that. I didthose 2 steps, and they both
took a lot of energy. I barelyate. And at the end of that
process, that's I look like a Ilook like a skeleton after the
end of that process. Aftergetting the most meat that's
ever been gotten on the show, Ilook like a skeleton right after
that.
And then my task is to try toregain my shape, to try to eat
(07:20):
back up. And I just stayedskinny. But smoking the meat is
basically I built my shelter andturned it into a smoker. Took a
3 or 4 days of work to get thatdone. And then I started hanging
the meat in there on racks,slicing it all up.
This takes a long time for awhole moose because we're
talking maybe as much as £800 ofmeat that I got back to my camp
after killing this moose. And£800 of meat, that's a it's a
(07:41):
big job. So stripping it allinto strips, a foot to 18 inches
long, about a half inch thick,making racks, small sticks,
making them big racks where Icould hang on my shelf and then
keeping fires going with greenwood to generate smoke. And that
will preserve all the meat. WhenI got that done, it was day 21.
The moose was smoked, and Ilooked like a skeleton. And I
said, wow, this did not this didnot go how it's supposed to go.
(08:01):
It's supposed to be cold, themoose. The meat stays cold and
you just sit there eating itlike a king.
Christy-Faith (08:06):
The other thing, this is not on the questions I
gave you ahead. Sorry, I'm gonnathrow you a curveball. But I
have to ask you, one thing thatreally stood out to us
throughout the entire show wasthe difference in your mindset.
Are you just a naturallypositive person, or did you
intentionally focus on a growthmindset when you were out there?
Timber Cleghorn (08:28):
Thank you for asking that. I remember all my
childhood being a naturallynegative person. Like things are
always gonna turn out bad.Things are always gonna go
south. I will never make it.
That was my mindset growing up.And then, I kinda feel like as a
survival mechanism, I had toembrace a growth mindset as a
survival mechanism to be like, Iwon't be killed by this. I'm
(08:50):
going to live and to make itthrough. And since then, I've
decided like, I need tocultivate that as a skill. This
is a skill.
And you can't think that growthmindset people just always have
it naturally. I certainly am acase. I did not have it
naturally. I was like a downer,pessimist. But I thought my life
has taught me that the only wayto really get through, and being
in war zones has has reallyplayed into this.
(09:11):
You have to laugh. You have tofind fun. And you have to do
something to change yoursituation for tomorrow. Because
we make tomorrow, today. If wedon't do anything for tomorrow,
we'll wake up tomorrow and oursituation will be worse than
today.
So that's to me where the growthmindset comes in. I I said, I
have to cultivate this and I'vetried to carry that through my
life, especially on the show.
Christy-Faith (09:29):
I was curious about that because it's
something that in my homeschool,I homeschool for a lot of
reasons. But one of them is toget out of comparison grades
things like that and to fostermore of a growth mindset where
failure is expected and ratherrather than agonizing over which
decision do I make? I don'twanna make the wrong decision.
It's more a question of let'smake a decision and make it the
(09:51):
right decision and if and growfrom it. Right?
So Yeah. This really leads intomy next question which is about
the mental game on alone. Right?Everyone thinks, Timber got the
moose, he's gonna win. And thatis not always the case.
You write in your book, I'veseen extreme stress, pressure
and heartbreak expose my rawedges before but I've never
(10:15):
experienced anything like I amgoing through right now. Now
this is you referring to beingon the show because in the book
you go through a day by daywhich is really cool and really
fun. And then quote, you say,But I've never experienced
anything like I am going throughright now. Out here in complete
isolation, I find that I amfacing all of the individual
fibers that are strained andbroken. I feel everything piece
(10:40):
by piece and there's nothing tomask this effect.
There's no conversation. There'sno media, no input of any type
to help me skip over the toughparts. Tell us what that's like
being out there in this mentalgame of alone.
Timber Cleghorn (10:57):
Yeah. It's part of the journey that I didn't
expect to be so hard. We people,I was about to say men but we
just all do it. We build upsurvival mechanism, resiliency.
We have difficult and terriblememories if we've lost somebody,
if we've had trauma in our life.
We kind of can put those behinda dam as a survival mechanism.
And so when I'm talking aboutthis on alone that I'm
(11:18):
experienced all of the fibers ofmy being that are strained or
broken, I'm not talking aboutthe difficulty of surviving in
the Arctic because that reallywas I like that. That's that's
me. That's I didn't have tothink about parts of it. You
just do it.
But what I'm thinking of is theisolation is opening up all of
the things from my frompreviously in my life. And
you've seen this happen withother contestants, I'm sure. And
we contestants are justblindsided by it sometimes.
(11:39):
Like, why am I struggling withthis death that took place over
here? And it's because in ourfiber memory, I believe that in
our fiber memory, if we don'tfully process something, it
stays there forever.
And then it'll want to beprocessed if ever given the
opportunity. And so I get faceto face with that because of the
silence and isolation. I getface to face with my younger
brother who passed away not thatlong before I got off the show.
(12:00):
All the many, many deaths thathad surrounded us as we had been
doing humanitarian aid work insome of these war zones. A lot
of that terrible, terriblememories and visions come to
your mind.
And in a normal day, you wouldjust turn on some music or talk
with somebody, and you couldkeep that dam intact to hold all
those things at bay. But when wedon't have those mechanisms of
(12:21):
of any input, music, media, justsomething to distract the
thoughts, it's coming. The damis gonna break. There's a
freight train coming through.You can be a strong person.
You can have all those bulwarksin place, but that what that
means is that when they break,it's more catastrophic.
Christy-Faith (12:35):
We often can avoid dealing with the hard
things in our life withdistraction and good
distractions. I gotta groceryshop. I gotta plan the meals for
this week. I gotta do this,that, and the other. And it's
easy to just continuedistracting ourselves and not
deal with and heal from thereally hard stuff.
And so what I hear you saying isout there, it's you and the
(12:56):
wilderness and you can distractyourself to an extent and then
there's a point where you can't.
Timber Cleghorn (13:01):
That's right. You can't distract yourself
anymore. You have to get by withthoughts because I guess the
last 2 months of the show afterit snows and everything is
silent, it got so silent. Thetinnitus in my ears would almost
drive me crazy. So silent, youcould almost not even make a
sound that you could hear.
When unless the wind is blowingand then there'd be something to
experience. And thencolorlessness too. So you've got
(13:23):
nothing to go on. You're you'regoing on the things that are
inside your head and that andthat's why all these things come
up. If you're gonna dwell onthoughts, you don't have enough
strength, positive thoughts, andpositive memories to keep all
the negative ones in an isolatedbox.
They have to be fully processed.They'll come out and they'll be
processed. And the strengthcomes from not if you could keep
(13:44):
that dam intact and suppressthose. The strength comes from
if you can process them andsurvive it and be well.
Christy-Faith (13:49):
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Yeah. That makes so much sense.And for television, they're
showing us action all of thetime. And even when there's
montages of silence, it's stilla montage of silence.
I don't think we have any ideahow many hours and hours. And
also in the Arctic, thedarkness. Right?
Timber Cleghorn (17:06):
Oh, my goodness. That was a big issue
because we're closing in. At theend of the show, we're closing
in on no sunlight at all. So atthe end of the show, I think
there's 21 hours of totaldarkness and then 3 hours of
half light. Wow.
And that's that really changesthings. So you've got a you've
got a lot to go up againstthere. All that silence, all
that darkness. Oh, my goodness.It's just it's it's a monster.
Christy-Faith (17:26):
I have another question for you. It's about
your humanitarian effortsbecause you have spent a lot of
time overseas. You've worked inreally tough conditions with
your humanitarian efforts. Howdo you manage the balance
between your personal life as afather and the emotional toll of
that kind of work having yourfamily in unsafe places? What
(17:48):
insights do you take fromcommunities and in thinking
about raising your own kids?
Timber Cleghorn (17:53):
This is a growth topic right now. I'm
growing and I'm trying toapproach these very decisions in
a proactive way especially sincethe show because it revealed a
lot of things to me about aboutI think how to approach this.
Going into this humanitarianwork, I didn't have a very good
mentality. I've been steepeddeeply in accomplish, accomplish
a very a mentality all my lifeto where you accomplish or or
(18:15):
you don't deserve to exist.Going back to my childhood,
that's what it was really likethere.
So I've brought that into myadulthood. I'm also just an
active person naturally. And soheading into our humanitarian
aid work at the beginning, I didmake a lot of errors in like
what place of priority that Iwould put the family. I remember
my wife, we just moved to thisspecific country. We had a 6
(18:36):
month old baby and it was verydifficult.
We hadn't found a place to liveyet. We were, it was very
difficult And I would be like,look, I've got to go do such and
such, such. I said, it's goingto take a week and I'll be back.
And being an amazing woman likeshe is, she handled business.
But then looking back at that inlife, I would say, why did I do
that when our family is in sucha delicate and vulnerable state?
So we've been making differentcalls as time goes by. And what
(18:58):
this brings me to is where we'reat now. I've gleaned a lot of
things from underdevelopedvillages where they have a
survival lifestyle, and theyhave to prioritize community
just to get by. And so I'vetaken in some of that mentality.
You've got to prioritizecommunity.
Our core community is reallysmall, close friends. You have
to prioritize and lean on oneanother. You have to be okay
with that. You have toprioritize your closest
(19:19):
community, which is your veryfamily. And then just more
recently, the war zone work hasshowed me that we can't be okay
and meet anybody else's needsunless we're strong inwardly in
our family.
We can't do it. And so that'swhy we came home. And then I got
on alone is that we had reacheda point where I I'm like, I
don't quite have the answers forhow to approach this anymore.
And then on alone, I just did somuch thinking. I'm like, How do
(19:42):
I do this?
How do I approach it? Because mywife doesn't want to get out of
this kind of work, and neitherdo I. But she doesn't want to be
left behind, neither. I don'twant to do that either. So how
do we go about this as a family?
Do things that we think aremeaningful, and reach out in
date situations that even couldbe dangerous, but have a good
family life. I think that somuch boils down to the husband
(20:02):
wife relationship. What my wifeand I have between us seems to
be for us the core that sets thetone for how well our family is,
how peaceful our children aregoing to be. And we've gotten
into places where we couldn'tsleep at night. We couldn't get
by.
And then I'm like, what do I do?I want the peace of God. I've
experienced it before, but Idon't have it now. I want the
peace of God in my family. So wealways have to pull in, pull
(20:24):
together, get together as afamily, get our feet on the
ground.
And a big part of that for us isspending time with our faith,
spending time in prayer, andasking God, like, bring us
peace, bring us to a point ofpeace in our souls. And then
whatever home we're living in,let's start here and let's
expand our circle of peace.Let's have our home filled with
peace. And then we might haveenough to go outside the home
(20:45):
for somebody to help bring somepeace. But we've got to pull
right down to the core, to thenucleus.
So it's always me and my wife.We get together. When we go
through hard times, we have tohear each other out completely.
We have to try to understandeach other's points of view
completely. And then we have tosay, what's the goal in this
situation?
We'll rally around that. Don'tbe afraid to start fresh. In the
growth mindset, I think we don'thave to prove that we were right
(21:07):
before by hanging on tosomething that wasn't working.
We can start fresh and rallyaround a point and say, from
this point we stand. We'll goout from here again.
Christy-Faith (21:15):
Life is all about seasons, and it's all about
change. And as families grow,and we age, and maybe our
parents age and need more of ourhelp and things like that, I
think it just changes thedecisions that that we need to
make.
Timber Cleghorn (21:29):
Yeah.
Christy-Faith (21:29):
I wanna ask you about, this global I I'm just so
curious because it's very easyin the United States to live a
really sheltered life,especially as a Christian where
we just understand our versionof Christianity. We definitely
pack a lot of extra things onthe Bible regarding
Christianity. I wanna ask you,what are some core values based
(21:51):
on your more global exposure andyour experience on Alone as well
that can give us some insightson raising our kids with a
little bit more of an empatheticperspective on the world?
Timber Cleghorn (22:03):
Core values about that. Keep in mind that as
I say these things, I understandthat I'm not the person with the
answers. Every family is soindividual and the world is so
vast. I don't understand it all.But I'll be happy to relate some
things that we've found to workfor us, those rally points and
some things about this.
I think that what travel andbeing in different cultures
means to us in this approachingfamily life and trying to make
(22:23):
it through all of thesedecisions is I think it's
important first to not be lockedinto a micro culture in our
minds. And this is one thing Iwould say about homeschooling in
general about how we approach itis that we gotta be aware that
it can develop micro culture.And that's normal. It's okay.
It's a human tendency.
Anything that we're doing bringsa micro culture aspect to it.
But culture is what sets ourworldview and how we act and how
(22:45):
we think we ought to approachthe world. So me coming from a
very tightly controlled and nooutward exposure homeschooling
environment, I had such a microculture that I couldn't even
understand the world when I wentinto it. Couldn't even
understand it. Whatever thehuman said didn't make sense to
me, and I could tell thatwhatever I said didn't make
sense to them.
And so I had to basically studyanother culture and be like, can
(23:07):
I operate in this other culture?Just like studying a culture in
Tajikistan and being like, can Iget by in this culture and and
meet people and be anunderstandable human to them? It
was just the same for meentering mainstream America,
even as an American. So for ourchildren, we try to expose them
to a lot of ideas. I I'm I havestrong faith myself, but I
expose my children to all thereligious ideas as well that are
(23:29):
in whatever village that wehappen to be working at the
time.
I'm like, that's a part of thisplace. It's a part of this
culture. It goes into who theyare. I want you to understand
it. And it would be nice if theybelieve like me, we would
understand each other, but theydon't have to make all my
choices.
So I want them to have an openmindedness like that. That's
very important to both me and mywife. I want my children to be
exposed to other cultures. It'sinevitable that we build
somewhat of a micro culturearound them, but I want them to
be exposed to so much more sothat their ideas won't be stuck
(23:51):
in a rut or limited, so thattheir to so much more so that
their ideas won't be stuck in arut or limited. So their growth
mindset will be stimulated.
We found that in the midst ofall that exposure that we try to
give them to, they also reallyhunger for grounding as well.
There's a feeling of safety andgroundedness that they need so
much. It's just been kind of ajourney to us to be like, what?
(24:12):
In this particular line of work,it's so chaotic. What do our
children need?
And they're they're getting thatground as my son is playing
baseball with the other boys,and he's getting that
groundedness to be like, I'm I'mpart of something that I can be.
I'm not just trapped between allthe cultures.
Christy-Faith (24:25):
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(26:12):
and don't be shy. Like,subscribe, and comment. I love
this because we don't alwayshave the answers, but that
doesn't mean that a conversationisn't worth having because just
having that open mind. And alsowhat came to mind as you were
sharing on that is what anopportunity in homeschooling
rather than, oh, I'mhomeschooling because I I'm
(26:32):
afraid my kid will turn intothat or they won't be this or
they won't end up this way orthey need to end up this way.
How about homeschooling so thatwe are preparing our kids and
teaching them how to live, howto live an abundant life? Yeah.
And because we know already thestudies are coming in, they're
like crazy about its soft skillsthat are gonna predict their
(26:55):
success. And regarding, youknow, sheltering with faith, I
think that can easily happen ifwe're choosing all Christian
curriculum and this and that.And I am a Christian myself, but
as a person who has had at least2 pretty significant faith
crises where I almost walkedaway.
Like, I actually remember amoment where I made the decision
(27:17):
not to. And I tell my kids,like, this is I'm raising you in
our faith, but I'm not gonnahide different cultures,
different religions, all ofthese things. Because if our
faith can't stand, it's notworth believing. It's it's just
not. And so and as one whobelieves in absolute truth, we
have nothing to be frightenedof.
(27:39):
Because yeah, we don't want ourkids abused and and traumatized
and things like that, but that'swhy in my book, I talk about
homeschooling as more of agreenhouse, where it gives us
the opportunity to
Timber Cleghorn (27:50):
nurture our little saplings. Our kids are
like little trees, and we cannurture them and
Christy-Faith (27:50):
feed them, trees and we can nurture them and feed
them with the intent of itgrowing strong and being able to
transplant them. Because we knowthat if we don't feed young
plants well or we put them outtoo early, expose them to too
much too early, they won'tthrive and they might die. And
so I really like that analogy ofhow homeschooling is a way that
(28:13):
we can accomplish these things.And I think it's pretty cool
that you have this you a themein your book as I was reading
was just about God's love. God'slove transcending different
societies and I think that'spretty incredible.
Okay. So before we wrap upthough, there's a couple things.
I want to ask you what yourbiggest revelation was when
participating in the show.
Timber Cleghorn (28:34):
Okay. The biggest revelation I experienced
from this show is kind of a aprivate thing, but I don't mind
sharing it at all because I'vespoken about it on camera, on
the show. People might be like,how can you be that vulnerable
or open? Because this is aprivate thing. But I realized
that it is okay for me to exist.
This goes back to that mentalitythat I've had all my life. Like,
I have to accomplish somethingor else I'm not a deserving
(28:57):
person. Being raised that way,we we worked awfully hard being
a survival based living. And ifyou weren't working, you were in
big trouble because you weredirectly hurting the effort of
the family to live if youweren't working. And so that
came into a point where when Iwent to college, when I left
home, I didn't know how at allto regulate.
I didn't know how to not work. Ijust work all through the night
(29:18):
and all through the next day,and I nearly killed myself a
number of times. I nearlydestroyed my health through
those years from not knowing howto just breathe and just be. I
thought it was sin still. Isomehow in the back of my mind,
even though hating thatmentality that God would do us
that way, something in the backof my mind, in my muscle memory,
thought that it's sin to justexist.
(29:41):
To just be a human. So allalone, I'm I struggle with this
all my life. I have a very mandifferent mentality about God
now than I did growing up. Verydifferent viewpoint of His love.
I'm very much a I see that helooks down in love.
That he he loves the creationthat he made. But still, I've
struggled all my life. Just likejust work, work to generate, to
(30:01):
accomplish. And I'm sittingthere on alone. And I'm looking
out.
I see this moose. And besidesthe moose, I hunted. I see other
moose. I see other animals,creatures. And I just was so
dumbfounded by the strength ofof the notion that God looks
down.
Like, how strong this notion wasto me, surprised me that God was
looking on that. Just admiringit, just loving it. And as he
(30:23):
says, He looked on everything hemade and behold, it was very
good. And I said that out loud.And I was like, Hey, Bird, God
looks at you and he thinks it'svery good.
I'm sitting here talking tomyself because alone is a
descent to madness. And then Iwas struck. Like, what about me?
I'm a creature. I'm a strangecreature, a weird creature, but
I'm I'm a creature that Godmade.
(30:45):
And and how could God how couldI be different than that? How
could humans and I know so manypeople in our society struggle
with not being enough, with notbeing beautiful enough, or not
being having enoughaccomplishments or capabilities.
But here's the thing, it waspushed in on me that God would
look down and see the thingsthat he'd made and say, it is
very good. And I'm I just I justlook up at the sky, and I'm
(31:08):
like, is that the truth? And itjust felt like the truth.
That God would look at not onlyanimals, but a weird creature
like me. I don't fit in withpeople's society. Even since the
show, people have been, like,sending me messages, cussing me
out, different stuff like this.I understand that I'm weird. I
don't fit in with society.
But I understand now that Godlooks down and says, I made you,
(31:28):
and it's very good. And thatwould be my greatest revelation
from the show. And the thingthat I've been saying to people
since then, I'm like, Iunderstand how how you're
feeling about yourself. And thatisn't the truth. Because if
there's a God, and if he madeus, he looks down and he says,
Behold, it's very good.
And I like that notion. Nowthat's just the beginning.
(31:50):
That's not the end of the roadto me for knowing God and
understanding it, but that's agood beginning.
Christy-Faith (31:55):
Absolutely beautiful. What a great
revelation. I was moved when Iread your reason for tapping
out. You guys, when I tell you Iwas moved reading this book, I
I'm telling you, you guys needto get his book. You write in
your book, Broken Timber says,if I don't win this show, I am
nothing.
The second voice is the personwho has been called out from
(32:16):
within me, renewed and whole. Heis the voice of peace, freedom,
and wellness. It is a man I havebeen so happy to become. The one
who doesn't fear anyone'sjudgment because God has already
judged him and found him enough.It is the voice of Timber the
satisfied.
(32:37):
Will you share with us, Timber,who had an abundance of food on
the show? You could have won.You could have gone on for a lot
longer. Why did you choose to gohome?
Timber Cleghorn (32:47):
You're gonna bring me to emotional state here
by reading those lines becausethis whole idea that there is a
satisfied Timber means a lot tome. So I apologize, but you're
gonna get me a little bitemotionally this. Alone is it
can it's it's deep. It's notjust it's not a game show. It's
deep.
So I get to this point on Alonewhere I do have plenty of food.
I could go on for a long time onthe show. I could live there all
(33:09):
winter, I'm sure. And so couldWilliam, probably. He's the
winner of the show, and hedeserves everything.
So I wanna say, I don't wannatake one thing away from William
because he deserves this win andand seeing his family win is so
beautiful. I love it. I don'tlook at the end of the show and
think, oh, darn. Because Williamwinning it is so beautiful. I
don't wanna take anything awayfrom him, but I definitely could
(33:30):
have gone on for months.
But I come to this point whereI've realized these things in my
soul. I've realized a couple ofthings. What is gonna get my
family through all the decisionsahead? Because there's round
after round of decisions to gothrough. If we're gonna live a
life where we go to some placesand try to serve people, we have
to make several rounds ofdecisions.
Where do we live? What do we do?How do we accomplish this? And
(33:51):
it's not just once like youthink. Well, we not have a home
now.
The decision of where we live isdone for life. That's not how
it's gonna be for us. We go. Wewe're goers. So I'm like, the
money, if I win the money, itcan only solve one single round
of that decision.
One round. And then we're rightback where we were. But what can
help us is if I'm well and Iknow who I am and how to
(34:12):
approach our family life, we canface every round of the
decisions. And I'm like, oh,that's good. But I'll try to win
the money anyways.
But the more I said, I'llscratch on. I'll get more
unhealthy towards that money. Ifelt like I was arguing with
that satisfied timber, drivinghim away, and maybe I'd never
see him again. This what killsme because I couldn't live that
way. The way I had been living,I couldn't live that way.
(34:34):
I wanted that satisfied person,that satisfied timber. I didn't
wanna drive that away and arguewith it and and discredit it by
being, like, I will also scratchon toward things that maybe I'm
not meant to have. So I'm sorry.This is a it's a big day
watching that transpire on TVbecause you're thinking all
those thoughts that don't getincluded. But that's what brings
me to go home is that I'm like,if if I can be this version of
(34:59):
me that that god is calling meinto, my wife will win the show.
And my wife did, I think, if Icould say that. And she's
smiling from over here, holdingour new baby. Because what she
needs is she doesn't need$250,000, which is what it is
after taxes. She doesn't needthat because that solves only
one round of decisions. Sheneeds a partner who understands
(35:22):
who he is and is well that shecan rely on for every round of
decisions.
And I just didn't wanna ruinthat and drive that person away
by hanging on through justscratching how I saw it.
Scratching towards that moneythat would be like, what kind of
a prize is that? I don't evenknow what that would be. It
hurts to give up the position ofbeing the one man left. That's
what hurts.
But it's a small price to pay.It's a small price.
Christy-Faith (35:45):
Well, it sounds like you, and I know this is the
case for many others on theshow. 1, ultimately, what is
more important. When you watchthe last episode of when you tap
out, it's cut the way they frameit is pretty sudden. Didn't you
think? Yeah.
I was like, wait, what? What?And then we're like, no. Right?
And but you just know there's somuch more in the background.
(36:08):
And I thought that was so cool.But when we heard that beep, we
were just like, what? And Iagree with you that William was
amazing. He was so fun to watchtoo. And man, his skills were
incredible.
And so absolutely well deserved.But what an incredible journey
of healing this experience wasand just how you have embraced
(36:29):
it to become a better man, abetter husband, a better father,
and just doing what you arecalled to do. Since the show,
you have been busy writing abook that is absolutely
incredible. Everyone listeningright now, you need to go on
Amazon and you need to buy thisbook and need to read it and
you're not gonna be able to putit down. You sent me a sneak
peek.
Thank you so much. It completelychanged the questions. I don't
(36:53):
know if you were shocked whenyou saw my questions based on
how when I approached youbefore, you're like, wait a
minute. Isn't this ahomeschooling show? And it's
like, this is way more than ahomeschooling show.
This episode, because I justcouldn't put it down. Tell us a
little bit about your book. Justthe, the nuts and bolts of it.
What your approach was. Andwould you tell us where we can
find it?
Timber Cleghorn (37:13):
Yeah. Thank you. So this book is pretty much
it's stories of my life paintedacross the context of alone. So
I start the book starts justbefore I got onto alone with the
situation coming out of Ukraine,out of the war there, with me
looking out of this train windowand seeing a meadow with some
beer in it and thinking I needto be in the wilderness. I need
(37:34):
that.
And then I come home, I applyfor the show. So it picks up
there. And then it goes throughto day 84 where William wins,
and I'm in the at the base campwith my wife being incredibly
happy. So it goes through there.But all throughout that, I tell
kinda who I am.
Everything that I can tell aboutwhat I've done, where I've been.
Basically, it's my life storypainted through those days. And
(37:55):
I told it day by day exactly howI remember it happening. I wrote
it as soon as I came home so itwould be fresh in my mind. So
that when when I come and I tellmy life story on day 42 in the
book, that's exactly when on day41 or 42.
It can't it's hard to remembernow. But that's exactly when out
there on a loan that I sat therewith the camera and I was like,
I'm I'm struggling today withpeople thinking that I'm
(38:15):
contestants thinking I'm fromthe CIA or for for doing this,
doing that. I'm gonna tell youwho Timber is. So that I do it
in the book exactly how ithappened on day 42. So it's all
exactly chronological and, itgives a deep dive into alone,
but also a deep dive into why mylife is so weird.
Now I've got pictures in in themiddle of the book that that
prove these stories are true. Ihave a story about gold teeth
(38:36):
that fell out of the head of agoat in Tajikistan in the
village. I mean, like, that'sstuff that weird. I've got
pictures of that there so peopleknow I'm not making this stuff
up. But also, keep in mind asyou read this book, and I hope
that you guys get it, I've leftout a lot of stuff that I
thought could bring hurt onother people.
Even especially my childhoodgrowing up, I want my parents to
be proud and thrilled about allthe wonderful things that they
(38:59):
did. Okay. So I would I don't gointo a deep dive in things that
I think could bring hurt toanybody. And that just keep that
in mind because I wanna takethat I wanna take that road. But
the book is is out there onAmazon worldwide.
It's called Memoir of a Wild Manand I really hope that you guys
enjoy it and find something init. I I hope that with all my
might.
Christy-Faith (39:19):
Oh, everyone who reads it absolutely will. Your
perspective, your insight, yourwillingness to be vulnerable,
which in turn makes yourelatable. I think a lot of
people suffer from the exactthings in your life that you
have as well. And so I just wantto thank you for your bravery,
your willingness to bevulnerable because what that
does especially for publicfigures is it brings on it it
(39:41):
opens the door for a lot ofattack. But over here in our
house, we are rooting for you.
You guys, don't forget to catchseason 11 of Alone. You can find
it on the History Channel. Ifthis is a show that you haven't
heard of before, it really is afantastic masterclass in growth
mindset, both good examples andbad examples. We pause the show.
(40:05):
I wanna say at least, sometimeswe annoy our kids, 4 to 6 times
per episode and say, okay, Whatdid she just say?
What do you think about that?Right? And I see growth mindset
here or whatever or we wouldpause a lot and say, wait a
minute. Is Timber a Christian?Do you think Timber's a
Christian?
It's a really fantastic show towatch with your kiddos as part
(40:27):
of homeschooling. Wehomeschooling does not have to
be sitting at a table andopening a book and boring your
kids to death. It can be so muchmore and it can be incredibly
engaging. Timber, it has been anabsolute delight to meet you.
Thank you for coming on thisrandom homeschooling show and
sharing your story.
It is an honor to get to knowyou. Everybody go out right now.
(40:51):
I'll put a link in the shownotes, but just get on Amazon
right now, click Prime, buy thatpuppy, and just read it because
you will not be disappointed.And, Timber, I hope this is not
the last time we hear from youin the homeschooling space. I
hope it's not the last time thatyou come on the show.
It's certainly gonna not gonnabe the last last time all of us
hear from you because you, myfriend, my brother, have
(41:12):
something really special and godis using you for incredible
things. And it's an honor to bejust this small little part of
your journey. Thanks for comingon today.
Timber Cleghorn (41:21):
Thank you so much. This has meant a lot to
me. I have never reached backand been a part of the
homeschooling community. Irealized that my experiences in
homeschooling, they're veryextreme. That's not a case study
for everybody, but it doesillustrate some points for us.
So it's it's neat to me to seewhat's happening these days.
Christy, with your podcast here,it's wonderful to know that
there are folks like youapproaching growth mindset and
(41:42):
engaging with their kids beingso, I would call it,
intentional. You said you pausedthe show. Kids, what do you
think about this? I love that somuch.
And but also, you're providingsupport for so many other people
out there that may want to dothis kind of lifestyle, but it
can be very stressful withoutthis community. And so I just
want to say thank you for all ofthat, for what you do for folks
(42:02):
there. I've just gotten to knowyou a little bit. I just like
this so much. I like what you'redoing.
And thank you for having me onthe show today to talk about
this stuff. I I hope I've been afun addition to your show, and
I've just really enjoyed it.
Christy-Faith (42:14):
It's been a pleasure.
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