Outskirts Overland Podcast
Welcome to the Outskirts Overland Podcast, your go-to source for all things overlanding! Hosted by a seasoned adventurer with over 15 years of experience, this podcast offers a genuine and down-to-earth exploration of the overlanding lifestyle. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just starting out, join us as we delve into the essentials of gear and equipment, share captivating stories from the road, and provide practical tips for your next adventure. Tune in for insightful interviews, expert advice, and a community of like-minded explorers who share a passion for discovering the world beyond the beaten path. Get ready to fuel your wanderlust and embark on unforgettable journeys with the Outskirts Overland Podcast!
Outskirts Overland Podcast
Finding Inspiration When the Trendy Wave Crashes
Something significant is happening in the adventure travel content space. We're witnessing what appears to be the first major transition in overlanding social media since the massive boom of 2020-2021, and it's creating a strange new landscape for both creators and enthusiasts.
Remember when overlanding content was created by experienced adventurers simply documenting their existing lifestyle? Those voices that taught us valuable skills and inspired us to explore are becoming increasingly rare. Many have disappeared entirely or drastically reduced their output. In their place, a new generation of content creators has emerged—many seemingly motivated more by becoming "influencers" than by genuine passion for the outdoors. The educational, inspirational content that characterized the boom has gradually transformed into product placement, brand integration, and content created primarily to attract views rather than share authentic experiences.
This shift parallels a broader societal pattern that's equally concerning. During 2020-2021, people collectively embraced a mindset that recognized life's fragility and the importance of pursuing meaningful experiences. There was a palpable sense of wanderlust and appreciation for outdoor adventures. Yet now, most have reverted to pre-pandemic patterns—working excessive hours, postponing adventures, and making excuses rather than seizing opportunities for exploration. The light of curiosity that once shined in people's eyes has dimmed, replaced by the comfortable glow of routine.
For long-time enthusiasts who found validation and community during the boom, this transition creates an internal struggle. The content that once provided abundant inspiration has dwindled, requiring us to rediscover our intrinsic motivation for adventure. Yet perhaps this challenge reconnects us with what made overlanding special from the beginning—not social media fame or brand deals, but the genuine desire to explore, learn, and connect with the natural world in meaningful ways. The question remains: how do we keep that flame alive when the social current is flowing in the opposite direction?
Use code Outskirts10 for 10% off your ticket to Overland of America, where I'll be attending and would love to meet up with fellow adventure enthusiasts!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Outskirts Overland. And I got some sleep yesterday. For those of you that listened, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep the other night, so it was a bit of a bit of an ordeal, but got some sleep last night. My dog's hair is cut, which is good, so all is well. I got those cots ordered. I was talking about that. That's your morning monster right there, remember those cots ordered and everything like I had talked about. And I had audio yesterday that sounded like you know I'm not in a 1999 Y2K crisis like it had been. I uh, I guess, first things first. Before I, before I get too far into the weeds here, before I get too far into the weeds here, if you guys are planning to go to Overland of America, go ahead and use my code Outskirts10. It'll get you 10% off and I mean I'll be there, not that I'm anybody, that's anybody that you guys want to see, but I mean I will be there if you guys want to hang out and I think it's going to be a I mean again, I think it's going to be a fun time. So, and then today, the national day-to-day is National Egg Egg, like Chicken Egg Day La, la, la, la la, ch-ch-ch-chicken, if you know. You know, anyways. Um, that is today. So I guess, eat your eggs, think about your eggs. It doesn't say National Eatin' Egg Day, it's just National Egg Day. Then do what you do then. Um, hmm, excuse me. Then do what you do then. Um, excuse me, that is the allergies talking there, right, all right, sorry guys, I'm talking while I'm getting my things in order here, now that I have. Oh yeah, what I was going to get in the weeds about.
Speaker 1:I had a friend yesterday. I have a couple of friends who started their own podcast and I'll plug them real quick, actually, because so you guys can go over there and listen to them. It is Deliberately Lost Outdoors. They had their first episode released yesterday. Go over and give them a listen. But I was talking to them. I was talking to them last night and we were talking about they you know, they're not my friends starting yesterday, like they've been my friends for a little bit. So we, they were, we were texting back and forth and they, I told them I finally figured out the audio situation with the podcast and I was saying how it's just a huge pain in the butt and how I think that, uh, how I kept changing me and service and all these things, and really, when it came down to it, it was it.
Speaker 1:It was this. It was a software that just wasn't supporting mobile streaming. It supports streaming on a on a big level, but it wasn't supporting mobile streaming so like. So I'm doing this in the car, or you know, I'm not sitting still and that software wasn't supporting that specific thing. So I'm away from streaming all together and I'm just recording on something that's completely and totally independent of the internet and then I upload it so that way I can have good audio.
Speaker 1:Cause, although I'm not a polished guy, I cannot have my sentences when I'm conveying things and talking Like I can't have that stuff not coming across like in full, complete thoughts to you guys. So that was driving me absolutely nuts and I was downplaying it quite a bit on here for how mad I was getting at it, because I can't take something that that isn't there and edit it back in. You know what I mean. So it was just really no matter how this audio sounds, as long as it's all there, I can clean it up, but it wasn't all even there. So when you guys would hear the podcast cut out, that audio was gone. Like that audio wasn't there. Audio was gone. Like that audio wasn't there and I could even do a backup track. But because it was web-based it's the backup track is for, like it's. It's essentially listening from two different places to make sure you could capture the audio it it could have been capturing from 16 places. The place recording it was was cutting.
Speaker 1:So I'm just happy to know it wasn't me like. I was like man, what am I doing? Like I need to figure my life out, like I was really going through it with it. But it seems like yesterday I got this to work in theory I thought it would and it did. So that made me happy. So yeah, but I was. It's just long roundabout way of saying I was talking to them and I got this figured out and they were asking about it and I was like thought I'd bring it to you guys.
Speaker 1:Like road doesn't make bad mics, dgi doesn't make bad mics. My iphone's not bad, it's not bad. It's not the transmitter, it's not the receiver, it's not is the damn software slash hardware of the program. So that should be fixed now. Well, not fixed, I mean, I guess if eliminating it is fixing it. I will look at what it looks like to stream again, but for now that does take the podcast off my Facebook page and my YouTube account Because I made those all stream simultaneously.
Speaker 1:But again, that alone was the problem, like pushing it out. Taking it in and pushing it out at the same time. Something happened in the software where they updated it to make it better for streamers sitting still, but it ends up, by increasing their quality, it ends up requiring too much signal for me to do it on my phone through cellular data, essentially. So it made it too good for them and unusable for me Because it was too. It was like too much, it was drawn too much to do it all. So that's fine. I mean that's fine. I'm nobody to nobody, so I mean good for them for upgrading it. I'm nobody to nobody, so I mean good for them for upgrading it. I just need it to go backwards in time to something a little less, I guess, complex. I don't know that. I'd say it was complex. It got complex when I was trying to fix it.
Speaker 1:So, whatever the topic for today and I talk about this too much, but at the same time it's what I have, what I'm thinking of and it doesn't apply to just overlanding, but it does apply to overlanding. I yesterday I was thinking, you know like I am in a funk. We all go through funks in our life, but I'm in a funk. I'm in a funk in general. I'm in a funk when it comes to camping. I'm just in a funk and I'm struggling with I do this podcast and I go camping and kids and life and all these things I think I touched. I mean, I touched on some of that yesterday, like just busy and kids and everything else.
Speaker 1:But what I struggle with or struggling with currently, the funk I'm in, is is like social media to me Is an extrovert's way of saying like two things. It's an extrovert's way of saying look at me, or someone just genuinely likes to create things, which is fine too. But where I keep getting caught up is like I'm not typically that person. I don't know that I'm introverted. I'd say I'm neurodivergent. I wouldn't say I'm introverted. I'd say I'm neurodivergent. I wouldn't say I'm introverted.
Speaker 1:I can do what I need to do but nonetheless I struggle with putting out content. Half the time I'm putting out content because I know you guys listen to it every day, and then half the time, man, that's probably not even right. 80% of the time I'm putting out content for you guys, 20% of the time I actually have something that I'd like to convey to the masses, but you guys do listen to it every day. And again, I've talked about it. I have people that I used to follow well, not used to only still subscribe to on YouTube, but don't see much from anymore, but they used to do daily vlogs and I think it's like, even though they had nothing to talk about, I enjoyed it. So I see the value to you guys and what I'm doing. It just is. It just is taxing on me to do it, which is why they don't. But if I can which, again, is why if it works on me, driving to work like I'm doing now and used to do on the previous software, we're good, we're Gucci, I can do that all the time, but when it starts to become too much, you know, after I'm done recording, I got to do all this stuff just to make it livable, you know, like, just to make it come together. Okay, that, that, those three or four extra steps, man, that's it for me, and it and it got me thinking, like in social media.
Speaker 1:Now I've talked about it before like the turnover and overlanding is two years. This is so. It's been five years since the big boom of overlanding in YouTube. It's been five years since 2020. And now I think what I'm seeing is the first, you know, because unprecedented times then is the first turnover in social media content, influencers and the type of content. And, naturally, you know, stuff's going to evolve, and I say evolve because I don't think that that necessarily means better, but it is going to evolve. It's going to shift just in time. Stuff's going to change and right now, being an influencer and doing social media, like I'm doing, right, this very moment, has turned into something, and I've talked about this. I saw it coming last year, at the end of last year, and it was a huge struggle for me to be associated and it's not, but it's not.
Speaker 1:Those people are going to go again, okay, but I think social media content, youtube content, instagram content, as far as, like, adventure, travel, overlanding, camping peaked. I think we're on a down, down time because the content that that is there now, like some of those really high producing creators, I don't know what they're doing, but it's not that anymore and it's not that they're not doing adventure, travel or camping. Maybe they're doing it. Maybe they got jobs, okay, like, maybe they were really talented people that were were creating because they didn't have work in. Youtube was a means in which to do it, because they're very talented, like extremely talented. So maybe that's what happened, but they're not making content, at least for themselves, and now the content is out.
Speaker 1:There is a lot of folks, which is very obvious. This is not, I mean, I don't like it, but it's not me saying that it's wrong, but it is a lot of people trying to be the creator, to to be the creator. You know, like, trying to be like I'm a YouTuber, you know, for the like, for that purpose, instead of being like I'm a cinematographer, I work in digital marketing. You know, those were the types of folks that I feel like were in the space before.
Speaker 1:And there was some, you know, like Matt McClellan with Ozark Overland Adventures, like he's a good example, like he's somebody more similar to myself, where he's more, more, I mean, he's doing it like he's going, he's just bringing you along and filming it. Where, like me, like I'm been doing it a long time and I just started doing a podcast, I think there's a lot of people now that are doing it for the content. They're not producing content, doing it anyways. Like, like Matt is going to go, anyways, like he's filming it and he maybe even is traveling more than he would have, but he, I, anyways, like he's filming it and he maybe even is traveling more than he would have, but he, I don't think he's traveling to tell you a story or anything Like he's just bringing you along on what he's already doing. That's the, that's the vibe I get, and and maybe I'll have him on I don't you know because ultimately, no matter what has happened or popularity that's occurred, he's probably one of the few left that's just kind of doing adventuring and again, just bringing you along with.
Speaker 1:Like all you're seeing from him is you're getting reviews and stuff. You know it's his job. Like you're going to have that sometimes you can't have an epic trip every single day, like you know, it just doesn't work that way and you got to edit it and it's just, yeah, stuff takes time. You gotta you know, essentially you gotta have the stuff to pay the bills. But by by far and large, he's adventuring and bringing you along. He's not picking a trip that he thinks you're gonna want to watch or a brand's gonna want to see, to get free stuff and get viewership, he's just doing what he's doing and it goes out, goes. There's way less of that now and everything.
Speaker 1:Everything that I'm seeing not everything you know in totality, but everything I'm seeing is for the purpose of trying to be what the peak was in this space, in social media. So like people are emulating, is what it feels like. Or, you know, brands are pivoting to these new creators and they are new to the hobby too, like they're also new to the hobby, which, again, it's totally fine, like it's fine. It's just it's a turnover of of stuff and I'm not in line with what is turning over into. That doesn't mean I'm gonna stop doing what I'm doing, but it does mean that and again I bring up matt mcclellan because he's still doing it and I have no reason to believe him and kara are gonna stop doing it.
Speaker 1:Okay, I, but a lot of creators have slowed down and the ones that are still in the space, their content has shifted or just went away, like a lot of them there's. Maybe some of them are putting out content, but not on a regular basis and maybe that's an income thing. I have no idea. I don't know the behind the scenes of YouTube. Okay, like, I'm going to be completely honest with you guys, I have no idea, like I don't know the behind the scenes of YouTube. Okay, like, I'm going to be completely honest with you guys, I have no idea, like I don't know what goes into that. I don't do that, I aspire to do that. It's just a whole different world than what I'm doing here. It's a whole different world than just Instagram. It's a whole different thing, but all of it is in a shift. I mean podcasts I just talked about my friend come up with a podcast.
Speaker 1:This is not, you know, directed at him, but in general, when I started doing this, this podcast, you know, um, almost two years ago now, there was like two other podcasts, three, three other podcasts in the space. There was a bunch that happened, kind of popped up and went away during during the, the, during 2020, but they had since gone away, like they'd came and gone and you know, people, just boredom, I mean, I think a lot of us were bored in that, but boredom creates, boredom allows a space to be creative and I think now we're all back to normal life and the people that weren't doing it before, you know, they were forced to sit down and be creative and be bored and have to pivot from their normal activities. We're back to that space again pivot from their normal, you know, activities. We're back to that space again, but with an influx of influencers, social media, all those things. But if we were to go back in time, if you were to go back and I don't know that YouTube will let you do this, I know Instagram would be a pain to do this but if you would go back in time to look at people's content and subscribers just from 2017 through 2019, just 2017 to 2019, my podcast generates more today, like I have more people listening to my podcast today than people had subscribers then in this space, even the super popular people. You know they were 10,000 or less. So, although that boom brought a bunch of attention to it I think it brought a bunch of viewership it just we're headed. We have the same amount of people trying to be the people that existed during the, during 2020 and the years following.
Speaker 1:A lot's changed since then, you know, as far as like and I don't mean a lot's changed, like in a good way or bad way, one way or another, but it's changed Like the world changed right there. World changed right there In the space that I discuss and in the hobby that I have. It changed for popularity because the lands are public, which is free, you could go, you could keep social distancing. It all made a ton of sense, okay, like it all made a huge amount of sense to get into this hobby. So, yeah, like that's obvious, right, like that obviously makes sense. That's why it got popular. That's why people were watching it.
Speaker 1:Cause two things you can go out in public land free and and away from people. You could still build a truck at your house, get stuff shipped to you. We all know that Amazon like saved us all. You can still get stuff shipped to you Like there was no supply chain issues, particularly outside of toilet paper, but for, like, overlaying products. There was stuff to be had, there was ways to get out. You go camping, you could have what you already had, and then you know subsequently, 21, 22, 23. And then last year and this year I've seen it just kind of. They've been like almost like dead years kind of.
Speaker 1:But now I have I see as many people trying to be creators, as people were creators that aren't creating too much anymore and the content is, it doesn't give. So my whole, my whole mission here is to one, be educational. Well, not one to be one, to be authentic and genuine, just just whatever, like you're getting me truly here. And then number two is to be educational. You know if, if it allows, like I can't again, I can't teach something every single solitary day. I could think of something, but now we're're on I don't know, like 80 episodes, Like I don't have a hundred episodes of new stuff every day, and as I talk about this, with my life changing, like naturally, I'm just adding that too. That's what makes it, you know, that's what makes you guys, you know, kind of get to know me, which is good, like all is good. But now the content is just way different, like way, way different.
Speaker 1:And it's hard because it almost seems to me like the, the transition of creators that are there now, are not, are, are just not the same intentions, the same reasons, the same purpose as the people before. And I'm seeing the first transition and it's hard for me, and not because I'm like the, I'm not the old guard here, like it's just not. That's not the case, because I'm still relatively new to social media myself. Um, but it is such a shift that it's like hard and it's overwhelming. Like the brands, the marketing, like how it's all being, how it's all being packaged, you know, just further makes it difficult For me to want to be Like, be associated. But that's not how that works. Know, like, if I want it, if I want the some of us that are still doing this, you know, whether they're youtube or instagram or podcasting, like myself, if I want you know it to stay around, these folks that are doing it for my, for what?
Speaker 1:My opinion is all the wrong reasons. They're going to go away and then there's only going to be like I don't know that if, if society in the world doesn't have something else like 2020 happen, this space is going to shrink. Like all these brands and stuff peaked last year at coming out with stuff. That's how far behind they were from the boom. The boom was so fast and so big. You're just seeing stuff come out now because the development took that long. But I think all of those things everybody's going to be like ooh, like too little, too late, like it was way behind, way behind what needed to, way behind.
Speaker 1:I think demands less. Now I think the demand for less expensive gear because people aren't using it as much, that's maybe not as high quality, is a much bigger, is a much bigger draw right now. Um, but again, that's my opinion, that's my opinion. But as I come to work, too, like people aren't getting outside, people aren't fishing as much, um, but again, that's my opinion, that's my opinion. But as I come to work, too, like people aren't getting outside, people aren't fishing as much, camping as much, like it is just not something that's popular anymore. Like is it still happening? Yes, but it is not as popular as it was two years ago. It just isn't like.
Speaker 1:I think people that know about it know about it because two years ago it it just isn't. I think people that know about it know about it because two years ago it was so popular. They're aware what else was, something that was really big, that probably peaked then Probably Call of Duty, warzone. People talk about the COVID times. It's never going to be like that again. Like, because it isn't like that again.
Speaker 1:If things got like that again, I guess we all have like, we all lived through it, so now we all have an idea of what we could be doing and versus, like then we were all just scrambling to figure it out. But even so, I don't think that a lot of people would go back to this. I think we saw the peak and that was that I think we're coming down off of it and we're getting back to what the content looks like prior to that boom, and I wasn't associated with content then. So that's why I don't know how to even handle where we're at now, because I'm a guy that like, like for the last five years, I've like I've talked about it here like the amount of gear and content, education and inspiration that can exist through something like youtube, through all those awesome videos and creators and truck builds and all this stuff and truck builds and all this stuff like that is super inspirational to me. To want to keep like that helped me a lot. Like cause I'd be like man. I'm watching these people do it. I need to get out and do it.
Speaker 1:So I'm having like a a little bit of like an internal struggle because that doesn't exist anymore and I'm right back to like finding it within myself. That doesn't exist anymore and I'm right back to like finding it within myself. You know to, to, to inspire myself to get out and go new places and do stuff, but it's been five years. It's been five years since I had to do that, so I'm like relearning it. So for those of you that are in the space now, that are struck like not in the space, like like I am, but like are getting in, like say you're getting into it right now, it is a tough time. Like you're going to go back and look at content and the stuff you go and look at that you might want isn't there. It already came and it's already come to be and went away. Like it's already come and gone, like it went away and so it's going to.
Speaker 1:You almost got to go back to prior and, quite frankly, prior was a, was a way less popular time. So I'm very interested to see, you know, does this become an anonymous thing again? Like a lot of people that that did this before, before they had to do YouTube for a job, a lot of people that did this before did it because they liked it and did it as a way of life, but they weren't documenting it. You know they, they, they essentially overlanding was something they like to do as a lifestyle versus something they did for a paycheck. So those people that do it like that, that aren't creators and never were creators. I don't think anything's changed for them, but they weren't telling you about it, so now you're not. You're still just not hearing about it. So, although those people are still there and those people will always be there, they just aren't personalities in the space and it creates for me, like I was ecstatic you know, not that 2020 was the best time of my life but I was ecstatic for, like, the availability and amount of stuff that was available. And now, you know, just a perfect storm of life is more normal again Tariffs and supply chain from China, which is where a lot of this stuff comes from, that's affordable.
Speaker 1:We're literally right back Like that's. We're right to where, like, that stuff doesn't exist. All the stuff that was there before is still there because it's been well established through a market. We're literally right back. We're right to where that stuff doesn't exist. All the stuff that was there before is still there because it's been well established through a market that wasn't as popular. You can't just throw a rooftop tent up now, put a freaking different iron-on sticker and sell a hundred of them today. A because the companies that do that don't have a hundred of them today and B, because people aren't going to spend $1,000 on that when they can go on vacation again, they don't have to do that. They're spending $3,000 and $5,000 to go back to resorts all-inclusive all those things they couldn't do.
Speaker 1:And it is just all I'm getting at is it's just really this transition. Just all I'm getting at is it's just really that this transition, even though I'm not transitioning out like people have, it is hitting me very hard mentally because, again, the people that are documenting and stuff aren't people that are extremely knowledgeable, they're relatively new, and so I'm looking at it going well damn, because the people, some of the folks that were doing it, it's like they were real experienced. They've been doing it a long time and for whatever reason came to be, they either started doing content or whatever. But it was like so nice because you're like dang, like I finally see behind the curtain, kind of thing. And now I think the curtain closed again and now the content that's out there is to to to associate it with another market.
Speaker 1:It's a lot like gym content for males and females, like everybody's, you know, like gym content was genuine on YouTube for a while and then like everybody's fitness app and ebook and buy my workout plan, you know, for six weeks, join this group for $50 a month where I just repost the same stuff, like high, highly educated strength coaches used to be popular and information was given and it was like really positive, and then it just turned into a bunch of freaking. You know, beggars. Essentially like I'm a girl with a big butt, I'm a guy that's on steroids. Look at my body. Here's how I did it, even though you know, behind the curtain, false, you know false, false idols, guys, like really, and that's what this space is turning into and I think that's natural with anything. I think it's natural, you know, when it comes to social media, I'm not saying everybody doing it, I'm not saying me or you or anybody who's listening is this person, but it is just a shift in the times and it creates for me. It creates.
Speaker 1:It's hard for me to stay as passionate and as motivated. I'm not nearly as inspired as I was, because I saw so many other people that have been doing what I love and have been doing for so long, doing it a lot and like I got to watch it and that's just so awesome and that's just a time that I'll cherish Because it's gone. Everything now is a product placement. Integration's just not that. It's just not what it was. I keep wanting it to be and it's just. I just finally come to terms with that. It's not. But those of us that have been doing a long time, I mean we enjoyed the hell out of the popularity because we, I think it should still be that. But just fact of the matter is it's not and it probably never will be again, which is fine, which is totally fine.
Speaker 1:I just got to readjust to like what that looks, how that works, what that looks like, because because I've forgotten, I mean it's five years ago, I think five years ago, like in time, I talk about being a parent, but like two of my kids didn't exist five years ago. You know, I, you know my daughter was four, my oldest daughter was four, like not even in kindergarten yet, like five years is a blip on the map. But also like if you were to go down and minuscule, like look at it from a, you know, really, zoom in, it's a good amount of time and it's just tough. I don't know, I was just. You know, I just been thinking about it and it's the topic I want to talk about because it's it's real to me and talking to you guys about it, even though I'm not talking to you guys about it. And it's the topic I want to talk about because it's it's real to me and talking to you guys about it, even though I'm not talking to you guys about it, I know you guys are going to listen to it and that helps me to like just get it out there, like here's what I'm thinking. You guys don't got to agree with it, you don't got to do anything with it, but if you're new, I mean seriously like. I mean seriously like just I don't even want to I don't know how to say it but like there's just one creator that I even really know anymore that's doing it like they were always doing it. You know kind of stayed true to it. Really they always did the product reviews. You know some people would have said they were cringe then, but they have. You know I can't knock them. They have stayed consistent.
Speaker 1:And that's Matt. I mean that's bad. He's doing what he was always doing. Like you could go back four years and look at Matt McClellan's content and he probably has some better equipment for filming now and he's probably going further away than he did now. But dude his style. Everything is consistent, like you know, product reviews here, products there, this, that and the next thing they're talking about. You know what he's got. But he's also not somebody that gets a new product every five seconds on his truck. You know he might review products, but they're just product reviews. He's not like product placement on his truck, like you know. Hey, look at me, here's the 16th freaking drawer system I've had in my Jeep. You know, like every five minutes attaching it to his adventure rig. Again, he does product reviews, but they're like standalones. Does product reviews but they're like standalones and everybody else that I could think of is slowed down. The creators that are still doing it, that always were doing it, that just had a pretty big uptick like I watched lifestyle overlay in an epic family road trip, and a lot of people don't enjoy them because it's somewhat slower content, but that's always what their content was.
Speaker 1:We got too used to, too used to in the short term, other stuff and it just again it's it's. I don't know how to inspire you guys the way all that inspired me, because it made it way easier to be more frequent and be excited, like I talked about it. Going out in the Ozarks a couple of weeks ago and I didn't see another overland vehicle and it was so freaking like I'll never forget 2021. 2021, was it 2021 or 22. Heading to rendezvous in the Ozarks I will never forget this and going by Oark cafe and just the the freaking. If you guys have ever been to Oark, you know like parking's non-existent but like the road everywhere was just lined with overland built vehicles and everybody was so excited, Like it was just a awesome time. It was so cool. I've never seen it like that again, but it was a freaking cool for somebody like me.
Speaker 1:That's like been doing this anonymously, like everybody has assumed my trucks, like like they've associated my truck with like doomsday and guns, like all the way until that point. And then everybody's like, oh, it's camping stuff. You know like, oh, it's adventure off-roading. You know like people weren't even aware and it's already gone back to that. People are like what's that? What's this? Like people, people are like what are your traction boards? Like they almost think there's some type of like armor or something. And I'm like oh, no, like no, no, no, no, no, no, but that was stuff that was pretty well known for a little bit there and it was pretty cool, so big, like it's just a.
Speaker 1:It's just a discussion I wanted to have because it is just very close to me and I hadn't thought through it fully yet, so I didn't want to talk about it with you guys. I didn't want to talk about it with you guys. I didn't want to talk about it on the podcast because I hadn't I hadn't put it together well enough in my head to where it would have even made sense, but I knew I wanted to talk about it this week and I was just talking this morning, like we're in my life, like in my home. This morning I was like, you know, we're just right back. Everybody has already forgot like, has already forgot like 2020.
Speaker 1:I always lived this way. Okay, I was in the military. I've deployed multiple times. I was in the infantry combat deployments. You know I carried a gun everywhere doing this stuff, talking to people. You know I carried a gun everywhere doing this stuff, talking to people, gathering intelligence. You know all of that stuff, like all the stuff that's glorified in movies, that's not very glorious in real life I did all that. So I already kind of had this external scope, so when it lived in a third world country for an amount of time under, you know, unique circumstances and limited supplies.
Speaker 1:So when 2020 hit, that wasn't a trigger to me, like to change how I was living my life, like it was for so many people. But we're all like right back to complacent, like living like it never happened. Just, you know, we all just went from like, oh my God, life is short, get out, enjoy it. Like like it made us all come to a realization as a people and I'd say globally, probably like a little, it brought on a little more wonder, you know. Wanderlust for essentially for everybody, because like A, we could and B, like all of of a lot of the things of the world we live in were um, what is the word I'm looking for? Deteriorated, like we couldn't go do all this social stuff and do all this other stuff. So it was what a lot of social people had. It's all they had. So they did it, you know, and I think it gave people a new perspective.
Speaker 1:But I feel like right now, that perspective's gone. People have lost it altogether. We're right back to where we were before it happened. Everybody's just working their life away, when I've always been like we get one life to live and I'm spending all my time making profits for somebody else. And that's not an entrepreneurial thought, that's a I can't believe. In order to do stuff that costs money, in order to get money, I have to sell my time essentially to a workplace and I'm just like. I'm right back to where I was before 2020 going. This sucks Like the adventurous spirit you know of people has. It's not there anymore. Like that light's not in people's eyes, that curiosity isn't there anymore. People just like, for lack of a better term, we just fell back in line, Like like I would assume, on a social experiment stage.
Speaker 1:Like if you were to, if you were to, if you were to survey a bunch of people in 2021 and ask them the same questions you asked them today, it would. You would find like you wouldn't even think they're the same human, because I have friends too. Guys Like, and I have so many friends that, like, I made friends during that time and they were like so into it and hardcore. Like not hardcore, but just hot to try. You know, I haven't camped with them in a year or longer. They haven't camped at all in a year or longer. They haven't had their truck in dirt or a road that's unmarked in years now, you know, and I think they all are mentally struggling with it too, because they want to, but like life's right back and it's not. It's not like it was, we're not all working from home, like to have our homes in order, and like it's just tough.
Speaker 1:This is a place I've always been, though I mean not always, but pretty much since getting back from my first deployment, where I was like, you know, time is fragile and it's going to come, and that comes from losing so many people and watching loss happen, and that for me, for me, that's how it happened. You know, my friends I mean the individuals that we were over there against like they lost lives too, and those were people sons and moms and dads. They lost lives too, and those were people's sons and moms and dads. That still was, generationally, a shift in time for those people. Socially, that was a big. So it has a lot to me.
Speaker 1:That trauma opened my eyes to like that could be any day. And do I want my last day to be like, you know, in that instance, fighting somebody for a purpose? I don't understand. Do I want my last day to be at work making money for somebody that will replace me before I'm in the ground? Like that was the type of mentality people had during that time and they understood it. And we're just right back.
Speaker 1:And that's where I get frustrated and where passion is like. It's hard to be passionate for you guys when I could just go back to being a hermit, a sense social media wise, a social media hermit, and just be anonymous, because what's the point? Like I don't know that I'm inspiring anyone at this point, you know, because I don't know that there's this many people to inspire, if that makes sense. So, yeah, it's just a that's just a big long topic, but like, maybe it will resonate with somebody and they'll be and they'll take a vacation day tomorrow and like, do something they actually want to do, not a soccer game for their kids, not like, go do something you want to do with your family. Like actually, like you actually want to do Not that you got to do, that you want to do, because there was a lot of us that thought about that quite a bit more vastly and we're just right back.
Speaker 1:We're just right back where everybody's like oh work, oh the kids, oh school, oh this, like, like it's like him hauling through life and I never. I haven't wanted to be like that for 20 years and I've been doing this for 20 years because I'm like, I want to explore, like there's stuff to see and it's not a soccer complex and it's not a soccer complex and it's not my desk and it's not you know, like I want to go see something that I've never seen. You know, I want to explore, I want to have fun, I want to learn, like I want to learn primitive things Camping is far more primitive than you know, society and we're just all right. Back to phones, internet, work, work. Oh, I can't do it because of this excuses. Essentially, we're back to excuses again.
Speaker 1:Where are some of these excuses were gone during that time because, quite frankly, you just couldn't do the things you can do now and I'm just struggling with it. So I mean, maybe there's other creators that even listen to my podcast. I don't know just something to think about today, guys. You know I made a point like so I mean, maybe there's other creators that even listen to my podcast. I don't know Just something to think about today, guys. You know I made a point, like the time that was is gone, but also here toward the end, like, think about what you were doing then and how you're not doing it now Because you're not. I mean, I guarantee you're not. I'm at work right now and I used to work from home and work was started at nine and I could work out before work and do all this stuff during that time because I could work from home.
Speaker 1:I don't want to say creates too much, but makes a makes people have more creativity. So I would, I would challenge you all to read a book that I like and read annually the comfort crisis, and it talks a lot about you. What creativity is born is born in boredom, and now we're just right back to a life where everything's at our fingertips. I don't know that any of us are bored anymore and I talk about it to you guys, like I do this hobby to go and be bored because it it, it recharges my mind in a way, like it makes my mind work, where now I can get everything I want down the street, down the road, on the internet, grocery pickup, like heck. Even if you don't have money, there's 10 ways that somebody will lend you money on a 12-month loan. Now Like life's back to like, consequenceless and abundant. So, anyways, I'll catch you guys tomorrow. Enjoy your day today Hopefully this resonates with five of you and I'll catch you guys tomorrow. Have a good one Later.
