How to Add Adventure, Purpose & Kindness to Your Life with Dr. Cliff Redford

Judy Oskam: 0:02

Hey, welcome back to Stories of Change and Creativity. I'm Judy Oskam, a professor at Texas State University. I'm fascinated, and I always have been, by passionate people who are curious and have a growth mindset, and that's certainly the case for my guest today. Dr Cliff Redford is a veterinarian from Ontario, canada. He brings adventure, healing and heart to the world. He in war zones. His mission is to make a real impact, and we all want to make a real impact, so I asked Dr Cliff to share a couple of ways we can all add more adventure into our lives. His answers might just inspire you to make a change, no matter what your age. He lives by the simple but powerful motto be kind to animals, be kind to each other and be kind to yourself. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

I think I was born to do it. I didn't actually decide to be a veterinarian until final year high school. I really wanted to be a police officer or a science teacher or a paramedic or a marine biologist or a veterinarian, so kind of all like service oriented, science oriented. But you know my like, my teachers and church leaders and all these people that knew me when I was 10 years old, eight years old, all said even then they knew I was going to be a vet, so I think it was in my blood for sure.

And then, as far as the traveling which is now my, my future kind of passion, I mean I love it now but it's what I'm going to do when I eventually retire is continue to volunteer and travel. That started nine years ago almost to the day, maybe to the day, I think, nine years ago now. I was in Jamaica, about to return and I had done a three-week volunteer trip. Now it was volunteering the full 21 days straight, but I was also filming it to kind of pitch this TV show idea which I haven't given up on. But now the volunteer travel bug bit me and, like I said, I'm going to be doing this. I'm going to be doing this for as long as I'm helpful.

Well, and I know I have a lot of students and I have a lot of friends who just love travel, so combining their career with travel is something that you found a way to do that.

Yeah, it's been wonderful and it's made you know it's air quotes forced me to go to places that I may not have gone to because I don't go to vacation spots. You know, when I went to India twice with my daughter, it was in the mid-south city of Hyderabad. There's no vacation spot there. So we went there to work and it was fantastic. So places like that I mean I went up to twice in January, the last two Januaries, up to the Arctic Circle, up to Iqaluit, canada, where there's like a couple hours of sunlight and it's minus 40 degrees. I would not have gone except they needed me and I'm so glad I went, I'm so glad I went in January. So it has opened the world, you know, sort of opened up my eyes to the world and it's made me a much better veterinarian and a better person and a better father, etc. Etc. But professionally speaking, the things I've learned there and have forced myself to learn while I'm back here getting ready for the next trip has has really elevated my, my skills.

Well, and let me ask you did you always have a growth mindset? Were you always open to learning and growing? Were you always curious mindset?

Were you always open to learning and growing? Were you always curious? Yeah, definitely I was. You know, I was that kid that was trying, you know, every single different martial art and joining every single different sport, and it wasn't that I was getting bored with it. I enjoyed whatever sport I was doing. I just okay, and I've learned a little bit of this. I want to try and learn a little bit of that and see which one I like doing. I just okay, and I've learned a little bit of this. I want to try and learn a little bit of that and see which one I like better. Of course, as a Canadian kid, I played a lot of hockey, which I still do and I absolutely love. But when it comes to academics, social things, sports, you know, hobbies I'm I may be doing a little bit too much.

I've tried to learn multiple different languages and right now I'm trying to learn Greek because my wife is Greek and her family's Greek, and we're going to live in Greece one day. But it's always, you know, let's try to do something new, new, new. I mean even podcasting. My podcast now is on, maybe the 80th episode, so it's been about two years, which is great, but it's my third kick at the camp. I've done multiple podcasts and this is now finally. It's stuck, you know. So I think that's important. I think it's important that we try new things, expand our skills, not only improve the things we're good at, but see if we're good at something else as well.

And it keeps life colorful and interesting. Well, speaking of keeping it colorful and interesting, what is it about the countries and the challenges that draw you to a particular international location? Is it the type of animal? Is it the severity of the injuries? What is it?

Yeah, it's a little bit about everything. I mean Jamaica. I was supposed to again with this first trip. It was kind of a let's film some footage to try and pitch a TV show, and I was originally going to go to Beijing. I was learning Mandarin at the time. I have a lot of Chinese-speaking Mandarin-speaking clients, and what greater way to practice my Mandarin?

That fell through. There was some concerns about a Westerner coming down with a camera and filming animal welfare. So I get it. It might have been a bit of a political hotbed. So I stumbled upon Jamaica. It was like my, my fallback option what a great, what a great. Second option, right? Um, but after that, rescue started reaching out to me like in droves and so I started looking for.

I kind of have a few things. There has to be a need, meaning if a rescue comes to me and I think I've only got a day or two's worth of work in spaying and neutering and taking care of their animals, that's not big enough. Now maybe I find multiple rescues to work with, but I want to be there for about 10 days. I want to work every single day. There has to be an infrastructure, so either a local veterinarian I can work with a rescue group, some technicians. Am I doing surgery in the middle of the jungle or in the desert, like I did in Panama and Egypt respectively? Or is it actually in a clinic, like I did when I went to the war zone in Ukraine? Then the last place is I want to go there.

I'm not going to do the West Indies again for a while, because I did Jamaica. It's beautiful, but I want to try some different things. I'm really talking to this woman on Instagram. She's called Vet Becca, she's a one-year graduate and she's in Nigeria. I was thinking of going to Nigeria. I've never been to that part of Africa. So those are the kind of the things I look for and I look for. So the need, the infrastructure and just a really cool place that I've never experienced, the culture or anything like it. That's that's my goal.

So that drives you. And then it sounds like, because of all those factors, it helps you make an impact. Right? If you didn't have the infrastructure there, you couldn't really have any traction, right? Isn't that the main reason you're doing this?

Oh, 100%, yeah, and even now like, although I'll film it for Instagram just on my iPhone, I don't travel with a film crew. When I went to Jamaica, we had five people on a film crew. They were all students, like recent graduates, from a local college film college. I paid them in pizza, beer and a trip to Jamaica, so they were happy. It was a good thing. They got to practice their skills, it was a good deal, it was a fun time, and then it just went down to, you know, three people and then two people and then eventually I think it started in Panama. When my daughter and I went to Panama just as the pandemic was ending. It was just her and I and we just filmed everything on our iPhone. So it is becoming the volunteer aspect. And, yeah, I absolutely have to be causing a positive impact Massive spay-neuter clinics that we arrange and work with other organizations In India, working with an animal rescue group that had the facilities but didn't have a veterinarian, and again in Kharkiv, ukraine, a couple of years ago during the war, working with a rescue group that was working directly with the military when the military was going through an area that had been bombed, and they find injured animals.

We then go and pick them up and we do surgery in this clinic that had been bombed. And they find injured animals. We then go and pick them up and we do surgery in this clinic that had been abandoned. The veterinarian had left. So I was able and I was the only sort of real veterinarian that they had a veterinarian by doctor, by the name of Dr Natasha. She's amazing, but she had just graduated, she, she didn't know. You know, she could barely spay a dog, let alone do advanced surgery. So I got to mentor her and she got to teach me the ways of Ukraine and sort of the cultural aspects, which is always important to me.

So I come from these trips, I come back exhausted and energized at the same time. Yeah, and tell me what the impact is when you do get back on your patients, on your friends, your family. I mean, what are the takeaways for you there? Because I'm forced to do things surgeries that maybe I'm not super comfortable in, but I learned that, hey, my training is really solid and I'm able to figure this out, and I'm also doing it with a lot less tools or archaic anesthetics, things of that nature. So when I come back to my modern clinic, my modern hospital, it's easy. Back to my modern clinic, my modern hospital, it's easy.

Um, and then I mean, personally, I am very. It calms me. You know, like over the years and I keep talking about Ukraine, ukraine, cause it was the most sort of emotionally difficult, uh, thing to deal with Um, my team, my family, my friends all say, no, you're, you're calmer, you're, you know, you just, you just nothing. It's like water off a duck's back. You know, when, these little things that it doesn't bother me if someone gets my order wrong at the local coffee shop, right, who cares? So it it. It sort of paints a big picture on what's important in life. But I'm really happy to come back. It's like I'm really sad to leave. I'm really happy to come back. I miss my life, I miss my family, and then I'm already going. Okay, when's next, though? When's next? Because I know I'm going to get this itch and I just got to do it.

Well and is part of that itch taking the challenge and then the result is really building more trust in your abilities and who you are.

Yeah, that's. I think that's definitely it. I mean, my kids used to joke that the first trip was a midlife crisis, and maybe it was. I was 43.

Oh, kids will do that.

Well, they will joke and they will often be correct. That's right. You know, I think it probably was a little bit of a midlife opportunity. I call it, but yeah it. You know, I get this itch and I want to go and I want to challenge myself, and it has. I've always felt like I'm a good veterinarian. I graduated from one of the top schools in the world. I graduated rather young, at 24. I opened my practice at 26, very unusual when my boys were just infants, twin boys, and Emily hadn't been born yet. So I'm very risk. What's the opposite of a verse?

Pro-risk, you pro-risk.

Yeah, like it doesn't bother me. I remember starting the clinic and you know the loan was about $200,000 at the time and my wife and I my first wife we had just bought a home and whatnot, and we literally said well, what happens if a meteor hits this clinic and you're not covered in insurance? Well then, we sell the house and we start over. I'm 26 years old, you insurance? Well then, we sell the house and we start over. I'm 26 years old, you know it'll be fine, so I don't worry, I am not risk averse and any times I've challenged myself, even if I've failed or didn't do as well as I thought, I've learned from it. So you learn more from your failures, as the saying goes, and I got so much more I need to learn.

Yeah, well, well, I love that. And what would you tell people who who want to embrace a little adventure in their lives? Do you have a couple of tips or strategies that you would tell them, based on your experiences, who maybe don't have the exciting, sexy career that you do?

Yeah, well, look, you can make it exciting and sexy. Veterinarian is a cool career, but there's a difference between, you know, working at a cat and dog clinic, like I do, you know, during my regular life, and then rappelling down into a well to rescue a dog as it's drowning in India, you know, um, so you can, you can make. I don't necessarily recommend risking, you know, injury, as sometimes I do foolishly, unfortunately, um, but the main, the main thing, is feeling comfortable with being uncomfortable, right, like you know, recognizing that unless it's real pain, it doesn't hurt. You know, like, being uncomfortable, being nervous, being frightened, being unsure, that's not painful, that is strengthening. And you know you're going to. And it doesn't have to be professionally related, you know you can.

When you go on vacation, why necessarily do the all-inclusive behind the white picket fence in some gorgeous southern south american community when you can rent an airbnb and get a similar experience, but one that's a lot more real, a lot more natural? And the last thing and I'll steal this quote from anthony bourdain, who's definitely his show and his life was an inspiration of mine he says if you want to truly experience wonderful cuisine, you have to risk experiencing awful cuisine. And that's true If you want to really embrace life and really experience something that's wonderful. Every once in a while it's not going to be wonderful, it's going to kind of suck, but it just makes the wonderful that much more greater and it gives you great stories around the dinner table later on.

Well, yeah, I love that. And what would you tell that high school kid looking back now who's trying to figure out what's life all about? What would you tell your old high school self?

Yeah, if I got personal I'd probably say don't get married so early. I got married at 21. And I love my ex-wife but she's my ex-wife. We were way too young. It was absolutely crazy. I would probably tell my younger self don't take life and sort of the popularity of life so seriously. Like find out who you are, that's the big thing. Find out who you are and embrace it, even if it's a little bit different than sort of the norm, bit different than sort of the norm. You're going to end up being so much happier for it and chase that, chase that version of yourself. You know, look at the future, don't look at what's going on right at the moment and risk having a crappy cuisine or experience every once in a while.

I love that. I love that. Well, and and what was your first step in finding out who you were? If you look back, do you have something that was a landmark step for you?

Yeah, probably. Yeah, that's a tough one. There's been so many right and I don't even know if I'm. I don't think I'm there yet. You know I keep changing.

You know, five years ago I decided to take up surfing. I'd always I'd done a little bit of holiday surfing when I was younger honeymoon, that sort of thing where your goal is just to get on the board and get to the beach. And during the pandemic I had realized there was surfing available in Lake Ontario in Toronto. It's a big enough lake that, if the wind is going in the right direction and it's strong enough, we can get surfable waves. A big enough lake that, if the wind is going in the right direction and it's strong enough, we can get surfable waves in fresh water.

Now the thing is it's often in November, January, so we're wearing these giant wetsuits, hoodies, mittens, booties. We look like fat penguins out there, giant fat penguins, um, and the waves are kind of like hockey players. They knock you around. But like that was something that I wanted to try, I decided to give it six months and I have fallen in love with it, full on Um. So there's not one thing. I'm constantly evolving or warping or changing Um, and maybe that's who I am, maybe that's what it is. I'm, the my personality and the person I am is someone who's always changing, sometimes not for the better, but then later on I correct course. So there's no particular time, because I'm constantly learning and sort of learning more and more about myself.

So there's not an age on this deal. Any age goes right. There's no age where it's too late to make changes. I want listeners to hear that in any age you can still make changes.

There is no age. So I'm 52. My wife is 51. A year ago she opened up a spin studio, a fitness studio. That was her dream since junior high to own a fitness studio. And you know, she finally got the courage and the opportunity. I just started boxing three years ago, four years ago, at 48 years old, and I'm now competing with other old guys in boxing matches. Maybe it's not good for my brain, but it's great for my heart and my soul and my waistline and my blood pressure. So I'm constantly doing something and I think I know what my retirement life looks like. I mean it's going to be volunteering and traveling and surfing, but for all I know I might be playing the cello and snowboarding or like I have no idea. So I'm just going to keep chasing what'sboarding Like I have no idea. So I'm just going to keep chasing what's in front of me and see what happens.

Well, and I love that open attitude and your spirit of adventure. And you know you mentioned retirement, but you're a long ways away from that. But, look ahead five years. What do you want to do in five years? What does it look like? Where?

have you been by then? Yeah, I mean I'll still own my clinic, I suspect, and you know, I'll probably be spending a little bit more time in Greece. My wife's family is there and we have a little two bedroom a couple of subway stops from the Acropolis. So although I won't be retired, I'll be. I hope I'm not working six days a week anymore. Won't be retired, I'll be. I hope I'm not working six days a week anymore. Um, I would like to uh.

I would like to catch a barrel, or what's called barrel, like getting a barrel wave, and surfing the round the.

When you're in the middle, they say, uh, I got barrel. It's not even barrel. Uh, it's a very odd uh. So I'd like to do that. And uh, yeah, I don't know. I don't know, I think I want to. I want to swim with the sharks. I'm really afraid of sharks, so I want to swim with them to get over my fear.

But other than that, like I don't have any specific you know goal, and I think that's a problem that people have like to them, retirement is not working, and okay. So what are you going to do? After a couple of months of watching Family Feud or sitting on the beach drinking Mai Tais, you're, you're either your liver is going to be hurting or your eyes are going to be hurting, or vice versa. But like I don't you know, all I know is I'm not gonna be working as much in the classic sense, but I'm still going to be taking care of animals and learning a language and probably learning another new sport that I'm way too old to learn, according to the average people, and I'll just be loving life and hopefully it'll go on for many, many decades.

Oh, I love that and I want to kind of close out with your tagline. It deals with kindness. Tell us about that and why and how can we be more kind to our own animals?

Yeah, and my tagline be kind to animals. I then added to it be kind to each other and be kind to yourself, which is something that I think some of us need to hear. The thing with being kind to animals is we just have to show them the respect that they deserve and recognize that this isn't our planet and we share it with them. They share it with us and we should be lucky. We should express that joy and appreciation that they're sharing with us. We have a squirrel living in this meter, this water meter box attached to our house, which can't stay there, and she has a little four week old baby. So today I've borrowed from the rescue that I volunteer at I volunteer once a week with wildlife. I've borrowed this or taken this two story wooden house and I'm going to install it and instead of evicting them, like any good person in Toronto, we do not evict our homeless we find them a nice home to live in, so I'm going to move them from this tiny little box to a two story home with a balcony.