Why I Turned Down a TV Survival Show

Description

I recently had a chance to be on an unique survival-based television program. This is why I turned down the opportunity, and the lessons I learned as I contemplated my decision.

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Tags: Kenton Whitman,ReWild University,Human Rewilding,personal rewilding,mindfulness,how to,bushcraft,survival,wilderness survival skills,how to survive in the woods,Survival Skills (TV Genre)

Video Transcription

I recently had an interesting experience that I wanted to share with all of you because for me it was a big learning opportunity so over the past four months or so I've had four contacts from different production companies wanting to talk about TV projects and in a way this is super flattering you know they found me through YouTube and chipmunk and seemed to just like my presentation and so as you as you probably know from some of my other videos I'm not really big on television I haven't had a television for over 20 years and and I don't like the whole advertising thing and the message that seems to give to people so I have a lot of resistance to television in general but but this last opportunity it was tempting for a number of reasons

and some of those reasons surprised me one of the cool things about this opportunity was that I was going to get to fulfill a lifelong dream which was to spend a large amount of solo time out in nature and I would be doing it in such a way that it would be solo is a self shooting project so there won't be film crews there and you know there's some some amount of compensation for this and so to get paid to do something that but I always wanted to do wow just seemed like you know opportunity from heaven how can this how can this be true of course I had to way that I have to to God earth that are under under four years old and in a wife who I just adore I have this the school here that I'm running and students lined up who I would have had to turn aside and say you know I'll have to bump you to next year next year's people are going to get bumped to the year after that and so all of those things weighed pretty heavily on me but I think I was I was surprised at how tempting the thought of getting more recognition and making more money attempting those two things were for me in a way I want to say that I thought I was I was further along spiritually or emotionally than that that I wouldn't feel any temptation from those two elements those I think are two things in our culture that it's still pushed into us and they hold so much power that people will recognize you maybe this whole idea of Fame on us on a small level or a larger level and in a way we're all getting to experience that when we put out a YouTube video in someone comments you know when we see that people have watched it there's that that feeling that people are are looking at you and in liking you of course the flip side of a fame is that usually just as many people dislike you as like you especially as you become more and more famous but it's easy to overlook that and just to sort of get this little high off of

of people liking us and it was interesting to me but philosophically I can understand that really the people that matter the people that I'm directly interacting with you know family friends people that comment on this channel I can comment back some of you hope to meet in person someday there are real relationships that get forged there but again there's also this this emotional like high that that I think we get when we see the number of our subscribers you know or the thought of being on television and having you know ten percent of the nation watching you on TV what would that be like what would it be like for everybody to recognize your name as a household name and in a way it's it's just getting very superficial kudos from from strangers and so what is the real temptation there money similarly I've been able in my life to interact with people who are would be considered at the bottom of the socio-economic scale and people that are very high on that scale and I've seen over and over again the money has almost nothing to do with with happiness or the quality of a human being that you can be you can have millions of dollars in the bank and you can be a super happy person that has a lot of integrity is really together you can also have millions of dollars in the bank and be completely unhappy with your life same thing if you're homeless

in my own life you know I am certainly not considered high on the socio-economic scale at all and yet I find that there's plenty for my family and to share with the people around me and so I was a little shocked at the temptation of having you know to have quite a bit more coming in then we currently do even though I know that doesn't create happiness most powerfully of all I think this served for me too they put up this possibility of what Rebecca my wife calls a rock a rite of passage it's something we don't have in our culture something that tests your mettle that puts all of your skills all of the physical emotional mental strength that you've cultivated thus far in your life kind of to the test puts you in a place where you have to meet challenges and really stand up and find your way through them challenges that may seem too big or too powerful and this this opportunity especially with the loneliness involved in being solo for

maybe up to a year that I knew that would put put everything I have to the test

it would also put my bushcraft skills to the test in a major way and so Oh this powerful feeling of like my rock my rite of passage and I was talking with my brother as I was you know asking different people for counsel with this decision of whether to do it or not my brother I mean he's a major adventurer he spent two years living in a guerre in Mongolia with almost no other English speakers anywhere a lot of time in South East East Asia spent a year in Nepal he's an adventurer and and he said ken it's totally not worth it you know even if even if you had become super famous even if you make millions of dollars at this it's not worth it because the time with your family is more precious than that and and he said you know it also doesn't accord with your values doesn't accord with your values and and I knew when he said that that it was true that I'm not about trying to be famous trying to be rich trying to have my name recognized what I'm trying to do out here with my little school is it's just to reach out and touch individuals and to make a difference in their lives I've cultivated some amazing ways of living in my own life I know that and I know that I know how to share that with others and pass it on and so why was I thinking that I would need more recognition for my school do I want students you know knocking on the door and having to do great big group group classes and no I love the way it is it's small it's individualized and and so I haven't I had to thank my brother for opening up my eyes in that way a number of other people gave me similar counsel and I'm gonna have to thank them for that

I think the thing I would want to pass on the lesson that I learned is to really examine you know a lot of you may get opportunities like this as your channels grow and production companies contact you is to really look at our our motivations why do we want more people to recognize us is that as important as being a really quality person to the people that are more immediately in our lives is it worth it to be away from our family for days or weeks or months even if we're getting the love of millions of other people if we're not able to give love and receive love from from our families from those people that that are closest in their lives tasks about that role of money that seem so you book it ubiquitous in our culture that we seek after money and we think that it's going to solve our problems it's going to make our life better is it really or is the key to life to happiness and life have to do with with relationships with being mindful of the moment we're in it harkens back to a time when Rebecca and I were in a really tough financial place a few years back and we had a house in the country we're in the process of losing it because our life financially was just falling apart and we were walking down the road and we looked at each other and we realized in that moment we were infinitely wealthy we were walking down the down that country row it was beautiful out we had nowhere to be we had no schedule imposed on us you know at least for that half-hour for that moment that we were in

money could not have purchased something better than just walking hand in hand down that country road on that beautiful summer day and then finally in a question I'd want to leave you all with has to do with that Rob with that rite of passage I do feel like this is something that's powerfully missing in our culture it's something that men and women teenagers as a as are coming up and looking to become adult adults as they as they retire and leave their their jobs behind and move on to that new new era of their lives could we have rites of passage in this culture that would empower you during those transitions that would just be such powerful experiences that you could harken back to those experiences and say wow I remember that that rite of passage that I went through and that that colors and flavors all of my life from here on forward I know I can rise up and meet challenges that even if they leave me shaking in fear I know that that I can surpass that I can exceed even my own expectations of what my what my inner strength is I know my skills have been put to the test and and they came through or or I failed and I grew because of that failure and so I would like to leave you with that question I mean that's something I'm trying to do here at reweld University to some extent but I would love to see more programs offered in my school and at other places around the country other opportunities put that for people to have these rites of passage what are those rites of passage look like how can we do that within the framework of our current culture and create experiences that would leave people forever change I would love your ideas I think that it was put a bunch of those ideas into the comments here it not only some of them might serve as inspiration for others to create their own rite of passage in their life but for those of us who do run schools it might also be an opportunity to look and say there's something I could create out of this idea that would become a powerful open door for people to experience rites of passage during different times of their lives so I would greatly value your ideas and your input they're also your your thoughts about TV opportunities I you know it's still it's not something I'm completely closed to but I don't think I want to be away from my family like that

maybe something here at the reweld you training grounds following students to their to their adventures would that be interesting to watch so please I would love to get your input on on those two questions the rock and is there a TV program or maybe something I could do on youtube you know in a program sort of way that would really really be not only amazing and fun to watch but really would inspire and educate and just give tools for navigating this sometimes very confusing life so thank you all for watching I hope that this was worth your time in that you could gain something from the process I went through and the learning and insight that I experience thanks a lot