Ortfolio

 Among the more intellectual conversations I have with friends, I think the most common topic relates to the pursuit of the question of “Is the grass greener elsewhere”? It’s natural to want what you can’t have, but there’s a specific duality that I’ve noticed has been a reoccurring theme in my life and others, that's worth discussing. To what extent do I work my ass off, and to what extent do I travel and explore. It’s the balance of being an ambitious and responsible societal contributor VERSUS being a nomadic experience hunter. It’s difficult to strike a harmonious cord between the 2 opposing appeals, 1 calling for financial stability, general comfort, and practical skill progression, the other for adventure, discomfort, and personal growth. Needless to say, it’s possible to balance work and travel, but for someone who is as extreme as myself, it’s hard to half ass both. I want to be massively successful and have significant impact on the world, but I want to delve into every culture of every country on every continent. Let’s dive into this dichotomy and how to strike a balance between the two.

      Our American society praises and incentivizes those who succeed on a competitive level from a young age, from youth sports and hobbies to more competitive high school sports and hobbies. The same notion is also true for the echelon of material possessions as you progress through adulthood. It’s easy to find yourself comparing your accomplishments or possessions to those of others. They have a house, they have a nice car, they have a well paying job, or they get to travel so much. The issue of competitive comparison is exacerbated by our image driven consumption of social media. Everyone wants to live a life better than the next person. How do they do it and why can’t I? You likely can. Those who choose to travel and explore the world seek experiences, which are often burdened by an excess of material possession. Put simply, the less shit you have the easier it is to travel, but the more shit you have, the more you are winning the contest of possession. This conflict between materials and experiences is one that I particularly struggle with, and I think a lot of adventurous and ambitious millennials do as well. How can I be as successful as possible, while also seeing as much of the world as possible? Remote working situations are an obvious solution. How can I work online? How can I earn passive income? How can I be a savvy entrepreneur? 

I am currently on a 16 hour flight to Singapore, on my 27th birthday, in route to an end goal of Bali  Indonesia for the next month. I also just spent a week in Baja Mexico, and a few days on the coast of California. What a journey it’s been! The experiences and relationships I’ve developed over the last 2 weeks are insurmountable. But an adventure of this magnitude isn’t all unicorns and glitter. I’ve had to make painful sacrifices. It’s required me to quit my stable corporate dream job. It’s required me to leave my family behind when my time with them is of utmost value. It’s required me to spend a lot of money, hindering the pursuit of investing in a variety of outlets that would benefit my life longterm. The combination of those circumstances can be overwhelmingly stressful if you don’t live in the moment and recognize the exquisite beauty of the current and upcoming experience. I’m left feeling considerably conflicted on how to define my values between this stability vs. exploration spectrum. I have a foundational requirement for both of these possibilities, but where do I lie on the bell curve? I’ve managed to make incredible trips over the last 4 years in my career with Red Bull, and many of my friends would claim that I travel more than anyone they know. But I personally feel such a desire for more adventure that I left financial and personal stability to pursue the search of greener grass. But maybe there’s more to it than just pursuing the maximization of your priorities. One of the notions that keeps me curious is “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Sitting at a desk reading and replying monotonously to email after email becomes painstakingly grueling if you’re the type of person who has ever found a secret swimming hole, or found a music album nobody knows about, or met someone who changed your life in an unsuspecting scenario. Those may sound like trivial experiences to most people, but the curiosity to discover the unknown is what keeps me enticed by traveling. Where is the most densely populated group of people like me? Where would I be happiest? Where would I be most successful? The solutions to these questions comes down to self discovery, and knowing what makes you tick. I know I need to be surrounded by natural beauty, I need a social outlet and sense of community, I need a creative outlet of expression, and I need a competitive outlet to channel and encourage motivation. But once your own values are established, it becomes a matter of putting yourself in the places you envision yourself thriving, and comparing those to one another. You don’t buy a car without test driving it, and you shouldn’t place your bets on your happiness without test driving a lifestyle. But with hundreds of countries, thousands of cities, and 7 billion people to interact with and learn from, where the fuck do you begin to look!?

I admire those who have a designated sense of purpose, a confident sense of belonging to a geographical location, or a career path that they are committed to. Being open minded to the possibilities makes it difficult to know which direction to pursue, but I think it’s important, and I often remind myself, that I am incredibly fortunate to have developed an advanced level of social and practical skills that will allow me to adapt to a multitude of career and living situations. If you’re reading this, you are also extraordinarily fortunate to have the technological resources available at your fingertips to be self educated, entertained, and informed. In short, it’s all good and it will all work out. I’m not stressing that. What I’m stressing is, how do I make the most of my time. How do I use my gifts to add value to the world, to change the world for the better if I’m lucky enough for that to be a possibility. How do I maximize the happiness of myself and others. And what career and location will give me the optimal environment to accomplish those possibilities. As someone who vividly remembers thinking third graders were old, I know the brevity of my lifetime. I know that time is truly a limited and scarce resource. Every second that passes is a moment of your life you cannot get back. Now THAT is fucking motivating. That is the source of this fundamental conflict. Like most things in life, it’s a balance. I'm interested to hear your perspective on the topic.