You can’t let fear hold you back.
I was catching up with an old coworker the other day. When I told him of our plans to follow our dream and become full-time professional adventurers he felt determined to show us how foolish we were being, and save us from loosing everything and winding up homeless.
The reality is that what we’re doing scares him, and countless others. People are afraid of going out and trying to live the life they dream of. Even worse, for many like him, our success would invalidate his decision to set aside his own dream in pursuit of a regular paycheck and “security” for his family. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one who’s done this.
We’re here to show you that life can be so much more.
Our goal is to explore this incredible planet of ours full-time and share it with everyone who dreams of far off places, and adventure. We want to entertain you by taking you on our journeys, but even more than that, we want to inspire you through books, ride reports, podcasts, video, and more. We want to show you that you can’t let fear rule your life. We want to show you that living the life of your dreams is not only possible, but incredibly rewarding.
Dreams of adventure
“Most people are not interested in your adventures. You want to get paid for going on vacation1{#fnref:paid-vacations.footnote}. Honestly, I think you’re being foolish… You guys look like narcissists.”
American society has a thirst for adventure, and a dearth of adventurers. Once upon a time we held adventurers in high esteem. They were heroes and role models. People who set off to achieve adventurous goals were frequently thought a little nutty, but revered for their attempts and celebrated for their achievements. Today we welcome them back and say “That’s nice, but when are you going to settle down and get a real job?”
It seems that adventure is almost anathema to the American Dream. It’s far more important to sit in a cubicle and get a paycheck so that you can keep up on the mortgage payments and the car loan. And yet…
And yet we do dream of it: Survivorman, Wild Rides, Man vs. Wild, Long Way Round, Long Way Down, One Crazy Ride, Journey To The Top Of The World, By Any Means, and on, and on. You’ll find tales of adventure on Amazon, and if you go over to Amazon.co.uk you’ll find hundreds more because the UK still values its adventurers.
We’re not so egotistical as to think that there are people out there yearning to see our adventure. We’re observant enough to know that there are people out there yearning to see almost any adventure. Millions of people consume TV, movies, and books about adventure. Motorcyclists spend millions every year kitting out themselves and their bikes for adventures they’ll probably never take because they can’t stop dreaming of it, and thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people read our ride report.
We’re going to bring people a taste of the adventures they dream of, and inspire some of you to set off on your own adventures, or follow your dreams whatever they may be.
But, it’s not just about our adventure either. Dachary and I are both working on books that are all about getting you ready for your adventure, and I’ve got a podcast in the works that will explore tales of adventure from all sorts of amazing people.
Money’s not all that
You’re being dumb. Your chances are slim to none… and even I you do make a profit, it won’t last. Why not find something else you like to that’s reliably profitable and sustainable?
A lot of people don’t follow their dreams because of questions just like this. But, what’s more important, happiness or financial stability? If you follow you dream and find out, that for whatever reason, you can’t make a living doing it, what’s to stop you from just going back to whatever kind of job you were doing beforehand? Or better yet, finding some new profession that’s a little closer to what you dream of doing than the old job that probably wasn’t even close?
People redefine themselves and take on new professions all the time. If you dream doesn’t turn out to be profitable, why not use that as an opportunity to do something new?
We’ve both successfully supported ourselves by running our own businesses, and know for a fact that making enough money to survive really isn’t that hard. More importantly, we know that the value of what we have seen, and will see whilst exploring the world far exceeds the value of a few years of savings.
Vacations aren’t enough
“Yeah, but that’s a hobby (really)… that’s what they call vacations”
We fully believe that it’s possible to have a great little adventure in the miserably short two to three weeks that US workers are offered for vacation. The Adventurists help people to do this every year. But we don’t accept the idea that a two week burst after fifty weeks of cubicle incarceration is either balanced or sufficient. The human spirit needs more freedom than that. And our dreams are far bigger.
Exploration on the scale we dream simply isn’t possible in two week increments. The logistics are currently impossible (there are many places in the world that are over a week’s drive from the nearest airport) and incredibly expensive. Just try and imagine trying to go around the world in two week increments… it’s not only impossible, you’d spend the vast majority of your vacation days dealing with bureaucracy, logistics, and transportation to get to the place where you left off, and then getting back to an airport.
Telling us to just make do with an annual two week vacation is like telling Sir Edmund Hillary to give up on everest and go climb local hills instead. It’s insulting and ignorant in the extreme. It’s like walking up to someone and saying “I realize you’re one of the few people on this planet with the chutzpah to go do something extraordinary, but you should give up on your dreams and be satisfied with a little fun on the weekends, because money and ‘security’ are more important than anything else.”
If your dreams are bigger than your employers “vacation” time then it’s time to consider a change of profession. Any activity can be turned into a source of income if you think about it with a little bit of creativity. Yeah, you’ll probably be poor for a while, but nothing is more satisfying than working towards, and eventually living the life of your dreams. The crappy amount of time your employer offers you for “vacation” should never be used as an excuse to set aside your dreams. Find a way to make it happen.
We’re not You
We know that not everyone wants to go on an adventure like ours, but many people dream of it, and many more dream of escaping their day to day toil. Hardly anyone wants to do what Les Stroud does. Even we don’t dream of adventures as extreme as his, but it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy being brought along for them.
We’re going to bring you along for ours, and we’re going to show you that there’s no excuse for giving up on your own dreams.
The Challenge
The realty is that you are not going to be able to be a professional adventurer and are going to end up homeless…
I can’t tell you how happy we’ll be to prove him wrong, and show you that you that living the life of your dreams is absolutely doable, no matter how crazy that dream may be.
