Oh, hey.

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

So I know it’s been 5 years since my last post. And I left no explanation about why I was no longer writing, either. But let’s be fair here – it was mostly my family and friends reading this blog to begin with. Most everyone knew that after I went back to work, I put that fledgling (ahem, non-existent) travel writing career aside and allowed myself to be consumed by my job in TV once again. But for those of you just catching up, allow me to explain my absence – and more importantly, my sudden reappearance.

So where I have I been since 2016? Well, a few awesome things happened. Most importantly, I met an incredible woman, Alyson, who is now my future wife. She’s gorgeous, smart, hilarious and her laugh makes me happier than – well, anything. She’s a TV producer as well, so she gets the demands that come with this career, and while she’s not as into active adventures as I am, she loves to enjoy life and explore new places. She shares my obsession with good cocktails and even better cheese. And the biggest miracle of all – she lets me be me, and loves me for all my eccentricities and penchants for crazy exploits, big and small.

I’ve also managed to sneak in some adventures here and there in the last 5 years, including a summit of Kilimanjaro back in October 2016 (the hardest thing I’ve EVER physically done) and a 2-month trip to Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Italy and Greece in 2018 (a whopping 3 years ago!). Since then it’s been just short trips to Mexico, Lake of the Ozarks, some domestic traveling for weddings, weekends away nearby, and local adventures. And then of course, 2020, the year of staying at home and doing…..nothing.

But mostly, I’ve just been working. A lot. After I last left you, I jumped back into unscripted TV and hit the gas HARD. And good news – I’ve done well for myself! I learned how to organize a large team and put hours of thought into how to be a good leader. I absorbed more about making TV in the last few years than I did in the previous 10. Working with a team of people I truly love and respect, I helped build a hit show. It’s been all-encompassing, but rewarding.

However, the success has come at a great personal cost. As I got used to regularly working 80-100 hours a week and putting the rest of my life on hold, a windfall of anxiety followed. I fully lost myself in my job, at the expense of every other area of my life – my relationships started to fall apart, and I couldn’t remember what it was like to do things I enjoyed. I started having panic attacks in 2019, the kind where I found myself gasping for air the second anyone criticized something I did. Add a global pandemic into the mix, and it was a recipe for disaster – after a particularly brutal filming schedule earlier this year as the Covid numbers surged, I got sick. My doctor diagnosed me with extreme exhaustion.

I’d lost the balance in my life that I was so committed to when I returned from traveling, and that episode made me realize that it was time to get it back. My life actually depends on it.

I’ve spent the last few months working hard to reconnect with the things I love – spending quality time with my friends and family, being outside and seeking adventurous new experiences, and then writing about them. I’ve desperately missed working out the desires of my heart by putting them to paper – I think not doing it has contributed to how far I’ve strayed from those desires. You know, that really fucking pushy voice – the one I was always talking about.

So here I am, back in business with the blog – only I don’t want it to be a business. I harbor no more delusions that I will make a living from this blog – I don’t have the self-discipline or the writing skills to find success in that extremely oversaturated market. So you won’t be seeing any shallow click bait posts (ugh, some of the early ones really make me cringe).

Instead, you’ll be getting my stories and thoughts from the last few years, as well as fresh adventures as the world starts to open up again. I’ll write about the quest to reclaim the balance in my life between regular life and seeking experiences far outside my comfort zone, and some inspiration for you to do the same. I’m also bringing back my Sunday Snaps posts, because I miss taking pictures (mainly because I liked forcing myself to do things that are exciting enough to take pictures of). And finally, I’m planning to do abbreviated monthly recaps again, because I love the way they help me track my adventures, add context to my experiences, and benchmark my progress.

Mostly, you’ll be just be hearing from me – or rather, from that voice that dwells deep in my spine and shames me out of complacency if I ignore it for too long.

The same voice that asks, as Glennon Doyle writes, “Isn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this?”

The same voice that pushed my body to the top of Kilimanjaro when my mind was saying I couldn’t do it.

The same voice I’ve been mostly ignoring for the last few years, and it’s not happy. It’s fucking pissed.

It’s time for me to listen to that voice. To trust it again.

Cheers to more adventures for ALL of us in 2021!