Before You Die Guy was born on a 2,500 mile sailing trip across the pacific ocean; for twenty three days I sat on a boat the size of my car, floating across the largest transpacific crossing in the world. It was the most exciting impromptu adventure of my whole life and I almost missed it.
It all started when i got my first office job. After years of working low wage, on-call jobs, I got a "real" job. I sat in traffic, I worked in a cubicle, and I wore a suit to show how serious I was. Finally, I could look my parents in the eyes and assure them, "Yes, I'm an adult." But it wasn't long before circulated air and no windows took their tole- I started having horrible panic attacks at work, where I felt stuck in my own skin; I stopped having creative thoughts; my sex drive dropped to nothing.
I built a profile on a boating website I'd heard of, where you could help crew on sailboats. I filled out a free profile with this:
Name: Ryan Waters
Experience Sailing: 0
Mechanical Experience: 0
Amount of Money Willing to Contribute Towards a Sailing Trip: $0
I was shocked to get a call at my desk within a week from three complete strangers. They said, "Hey we're going to Maui today. We need some help. Can you come?"
"Wow, so exciting," I said, "But I can't," I told them. "I'm in a suit, sitting at a desk." I was an adult now. I hung up the phone and got back to work.
As soon as I hung up the phone, I looked around the office and said, "I hate this fucking job!" I called them right back. "I can't come today," I said, "but I can come tomorrow." I quit my job at the end of the day and the next morning, I was on a boat sailing to Maui.
I'd never been sailing before, ever. I learned how to trim the sails, how to cook on a boat, how to sleep and "shower" and shit on a boat. For three weeks, I was stuck in the troughs of waves that were three times taller than the little boat we were on. I was positive we were going to either sink or die from boredom, but it was 23 days of freedom- freedom from things, from work, from rent, from internet. And thankfully the panic attacks went away and everything came back, all the creativity, the sex drive (a waste, stuck on a small boat with 3 salty sailors).
I knew that what I was doing in that office was bad for my soul, but I did it anyways. And when life knocked at my door with a sail boat life line, my immediate response was no; I have to stay at my horrible job. Now years later, I've never once regretted the decision to walk away from that. I came back from that trip and started my career as a boat captain, which I've been happily doing for years now. I've had many more adventures since that trip without giving up my day job.
On that boat I realized, if my natural response was to say no, there must be other people saying no too. My goal with Before You Die Guy is to give inspiration to say yes, to give concrete ideas for ways to get out and be among the living. To help with not only ideas for cool things to do, but also lifestyle tips that allow adventure living alongside responsible adulthood. (It's tough to fund adventure without $$$, but that stuff is easier to free up than most people realize)
I'm still building, but the plan is to build recurring video content, written blog content, and ultimately build finance to actually take people with me to do these adventures on a web series or television series dedicated to helping people answer the door when life comes knocking.
Animation sketch-of the first ad for Before You Die Guy- created underway on the transpacific crossing.
Want to come work with us? Help us on our mission? We need bloggers, video editors, creative minds. Need an internship or just like the idea? Contact us here!