I’ve been chasing this idea for 2.5 years. It is the result of decades of musing. It tumbles together in different ways seeking the best expression to find form. It is exciting and it scares the crap out of me. I want to live. I want my friends and family to live. Not just to exist but to thrive, to explore, to explode.
Moraine Lake, Canada, on a fall road trip with Ally Coram
I love their stories. I love their skills. I want to see their visions expressed in their voices. So I stepped out the door of my last house and started living out of my backpack full-time travelling in the spring of 2012. Over this time I have gone as far afield as this recent trip to Poland and Scotland. I’ve also been able to share a roadtrip through the Rockies with brilliant photographer Ally Coram, a roadtrip down to San Francisco with two chef brothers visiting other photographer friends I’ve made online, a train trip to LA for a week to help out with an online music festival, and the 7 month trip across Canada and back that finally became my first ebook. These are the bigger moments, amidst a multitude of other wonderful adventures, conversations, hikes, laughter, and discussion.
I’ve also been called a wide range of names from the mildly offensive, through the disheartening, to the outright malicious. It can be difficult some days. I’ve gone without food very few occasions and tend not to speak of those times, or the times I’m assaulted by doubts and uncertainty. But it happens, and deserves only this brief mention. No one said it would be easy.
I’d rather focus and speak about the wonderful times, the enriching times, the shared magical times. These interactions far outweigh the negative, and they fire my desire and move me forward. They keep me going.
At Friendship’s Forge – I love bringing my friends together! Hiro & Masa Takeda (chef brothers) and photographer Cameron Siquenza on the California coastline at sunset
I set out the door seeking to encourage people to realize their awesomeness; the wonder in their story. I know that this is also my journey of seeking to realize my awesomeness and the wonder in my story. It’s not an easy thing. It is not a simple thing. And it is something that I had to walk, try, fail at, and continue forward through. Ideas must be tested and honed. Skills grow. Abilities are made strong through use.
I crossed the 2nd largest country in the world in seven months, took over 14 months to assemble it in a 437 page ebook, and released it over the summer with a few small launches. I don’t know much about releasing work. As with many of the skills I’m now using, I’ve had to risk the very real reality of sucking at doing something before I’m good at doing it. Releasing my books is something I am getting better at. I’ve already got a number of ideas to improve the next launch.
A two page spread from my Crossing Canada overview ebook full of photos and hinting at some of the people and stories encountered along the way.
Why do all of this? Because I believe that I can best teach when I speak to something I’ve personally known and felt: the fears and joys of creating authentic work that needs to be released, failing forward through trying and growing, using the internet to self-educate, developing a digital strategy/workflow for sharing work, and the importance of mentoring, and a support team. I know these things intimately. I have lived them. And I believe our world can be changed powerfully by people creating their authentic legacy.
As we live we continue to grow deeper into our craft. We develop greater skills and abilities. We are the sum of these parts. We are the fusion of our experiences, perspectives, and story. My years teaching as an outdoor education instructor, mentoring youth and young adults in numerous programs, training and working as a health professional, travelling and meeting people, sharing photography and writing, and honing creative strategies as a response to our rapidly changing digital world, make me who I am today. I’m now ready for the next phase of my long envisioned journey. My road of 34 years has brought me to this announcement.
I’m now taking clients as a Social Media Consultant/Personal Coach.
I want to help people realize their incredible authentic legacy.
Please contact me if you’re interested in talking about my consulting/coaching services, please share this with people who you think will find value in it, and use the comment section below for any questions or comments you might have of me.
Onward the adventure continues, into an exciting and enchanting future. Thank you all for your support and encouragement on this journey!
Sincerely and with much excitement,
Jordan Oram
aka the Maplemusketeer
