From being a childhood Boy Scout, to films like “The Revenant” and “Jeremiah Johnson”, I’ve always wanted to be an adventurer. Not like Bilbo, but like Jack London.

For those of you I somehow haven’t bragged to, let me be the first to tell you that I’m an Eagle Scout and I’m proud. On average, only four percent of Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts. A source states that in the last 100 years, less than 50,000 Eagle Scouts came from Indiana, and I’m one of them.

Boy Scouts was never glamorous. I remember being ridiculed and taunted in middle and high school for missing social events to go to meetings. And to be brutally honest, I wasn’t crazy about going to them either. Hands down I learned indispensable things about myself and the world around me from Boy Scouts. My dad and I still spend a weekend in Upper Michigan every spring, miles from civilization, in a tent together to value nature, creation and morel mushrooms.

Through Boy Scouts, I gained an incredibly powerful resume builder. I met one of my favorite human beings ever, Jeremiah Theurer, and got the chance to lead a National Youth Leadership Conference. But my gosh, did I hate going to weekly meetings. I ran the New Haven Boy Scout Troop for a majority of my later years, but all I ever wanted to do was camp. We learned about computer science, money management and future planning, but I just wanted find the next best campground or fishing site. Boy Scouts can often lack personal and social skills and this bothered me. Boy Scouts were losers, nerds or gay. Apparently, spending weeks at a time with no one but other young boys in tents was gay. Go figure. I had the time of my life as a Boy Scout, and it will continue to influence my life.

Just like every other young man with a beard, I love the Instagram posts about nature, mountains and the like. Honestly, I often feel pissed off when other people claim to be outdoorsy, even though I’m the Eagle Scout, but it’s fine; you should like whatever you want. Huckberry.com is my personal favorite when it comes to an outdoor outfitter/blog site. I am constantly inspired by their content and other sites like them. Instagram is the best place to sample sites like these. My feed is constantly filled with pictures of the Pacific Northwest, a place I’d soon like to be.

So here’s my question. I follow countless photographers and adventures on Social Media. Why on earth am I not one them? What is keeping me from packing up Chris McCandless style (read “Into The Wild”, it’s life-changing) and exploring the world? I don’t know the answer to that, but hopefully I will soon, and I can change it.