The Discomfort Zone

Ep #73 Trading Places: A Father-Son Story of Whitewater, Growth, and Trust with Ken and Cashion Porter-Shirley


Listen Later

What happens when the student becomes the teacher — and your kid starts paddling harder than you ever did?

In this heartfelt and often hilarious conversation, I sit down with Ken and Cashion Porter-Shirley, a father-son duo whose relationship has evolved from early river days full of coaching and "peer pressure" to deep mutual respect and role reversal.

Together, we dive into:

🧠 Building confidence through discomfort — for both kids and parents

👨‍👦 The moment Cashion started 'worrying' about Ken

💔 Processing the loss of a paddling friend and showing up with empathy

🎒 How kayaking shaped Cashion's identity and relationship with fear

🛶 Why trust, communication, and community matter most on and off the water

😬The things I discovered I got wrong about both of them when we paddled together

This episode is full of laughter, perspective, vulnerability, and the raw truth of parenting and paddling in the discomfort zone. 

Available wherever you get your podcasts!

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Discomfort ZoneBy Anna Levesque

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

61 ratings


More shows like The Discomfort Zone

View all
Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,567 Listeners

The Moth by The Moth

The Moth

27,240 Listeners

Adventure Sports Podcast by Curt Linville

Adventure Sports Podcast

514 Listeners

Outside Podcast by Outside

Outside Podcast

2,122 Listeners

Wild Ideas Worth Living by REI Co-op

Wild Ideas Worth Living

1,255 Listeners

The Dr. Hyman Show by Dr. Mark Hyman

The Dr. Hyman Show

9,271 Listeners

Chasing Life by CNN Podcasts

Chasing Life

8,193 Listeners

Huberman Lab by Scicomm Media

Huberman Lab

29,128 Listeners

We Can Do Hard Things by Treat Media and Glennon Doyle

We Can Do Hard Things

41,481 Listeners

The Trailhead by UltraSignup

The Trailhead

107 Listeners

Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson

Letters from an American

5,748 Listeners

Wild Card with Rachel Martin by NPR

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

875 Listeners

Tales from the Cripps by Kevin

Tales from the Cripps

29 Listeners

The Safety Break by Jack Ditty, MD

The Safety Break

34 Listeners

Jah Praise Whitewater by Jah Praise Whitewater

Jah Praise Whitewater

7 Listeners