Adventure, Creativity, and Finding Meaning: A Path to Self-Expression

Step into the intimate world of self-discovery alongside our host in this deeply personal episode of the Adventure Recognition Podcast. Recorded amidst the breathtaking beauty of nature, join me as I share my own raw and honest reflections on the winding path towards finding purpose and passion.

Listen closely as I trace back to the pivotal year of 2016, where my travels became a catalyst for profound change. Amidst the backdrop of mountains and sunsets, I reveal the moments of doubt and triumph that shaped my journey, from navigating the complexities of work to grappling with imposter syndrome.

Through the lens of my camera and the canvas of my experiences, I invite you to witness the evolution of my creative spirit. Together, we'll explore the highs of artistic inspiration and the lows of self-doubt, all against the backdrop of my relentless pursuit of authenticity.

But this episode is more than just a narrative—it's a heartfelt invitation to join me on a journey of rediscovery. Through candid storytelling and introspective musings, I'll share the profound lessons learned amidst the twists and turns of life's adventure.

So, whether you're seeking solace in nature's embrace or searching for inspiration in your own journey, come alongside me as we embark on a quest for meaning, creativity, and the true essence of self. Welcome to my world—welcome to the adventure.

Where to find your host online :

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blaisedepallens/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blaisedepallens/
Website: blaisedepallens.com

Transcript

00:01:22:17 - 00:02:06:07
Inconnu
Welcome back to the Adventure Recognition Podcast. Today is a bit of a special episode because I'm recording on the spots actually in front of the mountains in nature, with the sunset going on to put into the picture. And I feel inspired to talk to you guys because I feel it's been a while. I haven't done those solo episodes, and for this special episode, I want to reflect on my journey of finding my finding myself, but also my own path to where I am today and to where I'm going.

00:02:06:09 - 00:02:42:14
Inconnu
And for me, a lot of this started to happens when I travel the world for a year in 2016. Before that, I was. In my early 20s, having fun, trying to enjoy life, partying a lot with friends. focus on football, studying and working at the same time. And it was it was fun because that was the first part of my life where I had my own income and I could, really enjoy that.

00:02:42:16 - 00:03:22:03
Inconnu
But with the work, I felt that I was not on something that was exciting me. I was working on the admin administrative work, and I always thought that my studies of business administration and business development would bring me a better understanding of the finance world, and I wanted to explore the idea of becoming an accountants, and I was sure would be something for me because I was actually enjoying working with figures.

00:03:22:05 - 00:03:53:08
Inconnu
And after four years of studies and working, I completely changed my mind from that because I'd been quite disgusted by the idea of working as an accountants. I had an opportunity in the middle of my studies to work in, as an accountants. But basically what I was doing all day was scanning bills. no disrespect to any accountants that would listen to that.

00:03:53:10 - 00:04:31:07
Inconnu
I know it's more than that, but the work that was given to me basically was scanning bills to the computer and to the system to treat the bills and pay them. So, yeah, my idea of being an accountant was far from that. And I'm study conscious that that's not the exact thing of this job, but I was discussing about that that was disgusted about the whole thing and actually left business school is more questions than answers gone.

00:04:31:07 - 00:04:38:01
Inconnu
The idea to become an accountant or work in finance. I was done with that.

00:04:38:03 - 00:05:06:05
Inconnu
And I felt this need to explore new perspectives opened my mind. And that's why I work. And think about what I could do after my studies. And very quickly, that was the idea to go back traveling and spend one year alone to explore who I am. just lived life for one year. Initially I thought, okay, let's go, let's see what happened.

00:05:06:07 - 00:05:50:11
Inconnu
And that's your year, and you can come back. And if you find nothing else, you can go back to the normal conventional path. And if that works for a lot of people to have routines to look for safety, security, that was something that didn't work for me. And when I left for traveling. I took camera because I wanted to make videos and have memories of my travel, but I didn't think it would be a creative side of me that would awake from that trip.

00:05:50:13 - 00:06:42:16
Inconnu
I didn't know how to use my camera. I had basic understanding on how to film and edit videos because that's what I wanted to do initially. But then I focused more on photography because it was easier and quicker and it started to become a game. I went from shooting 600 pictures to get one good to slowly improving by watching online tutorials about photographers, meeting other photographers, and very quickly I was able to shoot in manual mode by myself and using the whole power of my camera, and especially remember vividly that time in in New Zealand with another photographer from England.

00:06:42:18 - 00:07:06:22
Inconnu
That kind of took me under his wing and we went nights shooting. So for me that was like something completely new. And I thought actually I had just had to put the camera in the sky and shoot, and then I would get the stars. But that doesn't work like that. And I remember it was winter in New Zealand.

00:07:06:24 - 00:07:39:22
Inconnu
It was cold, it was -two degrees Celsius and we would stay three hours under that cold. Just get some pictures of the Milky Way and the stars. And that was fascinating to me. And it taught me so much stuff about photography. And from that point I really improved my photography more and more shots after shots. And I was able, at the end of my travel to really get down to maybe, I don't know, 50 pictures to get to 1 or 2.

00:07:39:22 - 00:08:07:01
Inconnu
Good. Even better. So from a creative standpoint, I found myself into that adventure around the world. And on top of that, I had so much time alone, so much time with myself. And sorry for the noise. If you hear some motorbikes, I mean a mountain. People go crazy with that. Obviously as a biker, that's not something as a cyclist.

00:08:07:01 - 00:08:53:11
Inconnu
Sorry, that's not something I like so much, but that's maybe another topic for another podcast. But what I was saying is I was spending so much time alone, building so many people, discovering so many different cultures that. I was spending my view, my mind's and everything about life and myself. And this year alone. Really having a deep understanding of who I am and having these creative side that is developing at the same time, put me back on a different path.

00:08:53:13 - 00:09:22:07
Inconnu
But when I came back, it was after a year of travel. I was still in this travel mode, so I would come back, find whatever job I could find to get money, and then go back on the roads to meet other friends that would go travel as well. But at the same time, I was keep growing my skills as a photographer and videographer, but I wasn't still considering.

00:09:22:09 - 00:10:02:01
Inconnu
Creativity as a viable path for me. First, because I have, I had a very hard time to consider myself as a photographer and be the aggressor. So I guess I was some somehow lost in that word. I was expecting somebody to tell me yes, you are a photographer. When you go to university or you study a subject, sometimes, most of the time you get a degree idea that says you are this society, see you as this.

00:10:02:03 - 00:10:27:22
Inconnu
But in this case, I was just shooting by myself and I wasn't even considering myself a photographer. Even if I had very, very good feedback about my skills as a photographer and videographer. So I had this bit of imposter syndrome for a couple of years. Despite shooting. And.

00:10:27:24 - 00:11:09:19
Inconnu
I had a little moment where I was shooting so much that I step away from shooting. I needed to take a break. I remember I did, my first big video project was shooting about my city of London and coming back and exploring your city as a traveler, which was a very big project for me. It took me six months to shoot it and edit it and make a three minute videos, and it kind of like shook my idea about becoming a videographer and photographer, because I thought, this is a lot of words and I'm not good enough to to do this all the time.

00:11:09:21 - 00:11:41:22
Inconnu
So I stepped away. I doubt my skills. I doubted myself, and I started to get involved into this personal development space more and more. That wasn't something I was really aware of it in my travels. For me, learning and growing was always about going outside adventure or going to travel. Take a step back and that was the only way I would do that.

00:11:41:24 - 00:12:16:12
Inconnu
But with this personal development space, I was starting to read a ton of books and get this full. Reward of I was doing something, but at some points I started to see a lot of patterns about like really concrete example, how I could help myself and others finding their own path because before that it was definitely something that was in my head.

00:12:16:14 - 00:12:45:19
Inconnu
That was growing for myself, discovering. But I have nothing concrete and it's opens my mind. It opened my mind to tools that would help people. That was in the same position that I was before, lost to, found some sense of meaning and direction into your life. And for me, I was always driven without knowing because I always had dreams and goals.

00:12:45:19 - 00:12:51:01
Inconnu
But I didn't know that.

00:12:51:03 - 00:13:15:12
Inconnu
We could help others with some tools. And then I started to do a bit of coaching. Was a good experience, but I felt a bit misaligned. with the whole industry. I think it was a bit playing with a lot of buttons of people to sell their coaching program. I definitely did that mistake as well.

00:13:15:14 - 00:13:34:12
Inconnu
And. I decided to go away about the coaching industry a little bit, to get back to my adventure spirits and my creative skills that I put aside for a moment.

00:13:34:14 - 00:14:11:16
Inconnu
And I remember last year, in 2023. I really started to pick it up that creative side of me. It was really exciting, but that the same time. I had to take jobs on the side that weren't fulfilling at all, and I was especially in a job last year, a bit more than a year now. Where the whole environments was crumbling.

00:14:11:16 - 00:14:54:07
Inconnu
Before I got to that job. I didn't notice it when I started and I felt like people were nice. But after some point, I realized that the whole environments. Was, toxic, that people didn't really support each other, except some exceptions, of course. And especially the management where. Blaming the employees instead of helping them in this situation where everything was going sideways.

00:14:54:09 - 00:15:29:08
Inconnu
And for the first time in years, I really felt and lost my fire. And I felt lost again. I, I lost all sense of direction. I felt all my energy, all my drive, all my fire within was gone. And I remember one day my girlfriend saw me almost totally depressed. And she took me aside. And she started to ask me questions to help me reconnect.

00:15:29:10 - 00:16:14:06
Inconnu
And honestly, it was really hard because I was a very deep state of. Lust and feeling. What am I doing here? Why should I get started? And slowly but surely, she. Remind myself from that adventure spirit. The dreams I had about adventure. The creative side that I wanted to pursue. And. Within an hour, she managed to.

00:16:14:08 - 00:16:31:00
Inconnu
Reignite the fire from within. For me. And there was something I was saying online before, and I think I had to go through that sensation again to know what it means. Truly.

00:16:31:02 - 00:16:38:10
Inconnu
And I got the fire back, and I was creating again and again.

00:16:38:12 - 00:17:15:12
Inconnu
And out of nowhere, I have seen that job description of company looking for a content creator. And it was like, that's good, because I'm starting to shoot. I'm starting to have people notice I'm shooting again, getting, people asking me to, to come to shoot for them. And at the same time, I got this job description that I would see myself totally in its.

00:17:15:14 - 00:17:46:08
Inconnu
And of course, I applied for this and I had the chance to know somebody in a company that's not very well, but she helped me with the hiring process and I got the job. And I remember just leaving that job, that toxic job was a relief for me, because there was no meaning in that job for me. And I'm constantly looking for meaning.

00:17:46:10 - 00:18:11:16
Inconnu
And even if I feel life is. Is what it is, I think it's our job. Or at least that's what I feel for myself. That's my job to bring meaning into my life. And since I lost my dad, that's been a constant for me. Trying to understand my place in a word and bringing meaning and what I do.

00:18:11:16 - 00:18:19:00
Inconnu
Otherwise I don't see the points of of this.

00:18:19:02 - 00:18:45:19
Inconnu
And in the meantime, my girlfriend just reminded me one of my big dream to visit my own country, Switzerland. And since I travel in 2016, I always wanted to go through my country. My first idea was to go working, but if I have to work, I mean, I have to take three or 4 or 5 months of break to make it happen, which is a lot at this stage of my life.

00:18:45:21 - 00:19:26:22
Inconnu
So between the two jobs, I had three weeks and I decided to make it happen, but instead of working, I would use my passion for cycling and I went on a trip for three weeks. I bike back to Switzerland, all the region of Switzerland for three weeks and it was absolutely an amazing time. Amazing time because it gave me the chance to reconnect to what was bringing me joy, which is bringing outside goal and adventure and cycling and camping at the same time.

00:19:26:24 - 00:19:39:10
Inconnu
And also gave me time to be with myself again, reconnect, reassess the situation and finally move forward from here.

00:19:39:12 - 00:20:15:01
Inconnu
There are so many stories I could tell about that trip, but I think I could do a whole podcast about that trip that I never done and yeah, come back and I started this job. Got back the spirit of creation. I mean, I got it back way before that actually, because but for me, it was one of the the first time, maybe the second because I got jobs before that.

00:20:15:01 - 00:20:44:03
Inconnu
So what people would pay me for this, but where I could really see myself in this new career path. And I've been creating videos for them, for their company for a while, and I'm really happy with that. I'm really grateful for that opportunity and for the people I met and now I'm happy to create for myself again. That's why I took a break of the podcast in 2023.

00:20:44:05 - 00:21:11:07
Inconnu
That's why I stopped to be sharing on social media in 2023, because I really needed to realign with myself to create content that was really me. And I think that it's so easy to lose ourself in this world of food that we have today. We have so many distractions. Social media is the news. Your family, people around you.

00:21:11:07 - 00:21:52:21
Inconnu
Can you, pull you, pull you in in different directions. Another for me lasted for for a while, but I'm happy to be back. And this year I'm really excited because that's one of my goal, is to create around what I love is to inspire you, to follow what inspires you and help you find your own path. And I feel I'm in a very, very special spots now where I could combine my love for photography, videography, creativity, content creation with podcasting as well, self-expression.

00:21:52:23 - 00:22:21:03
Inconnu
Self introspection. Self exploration. Psychology, seeking all those stuff I could put them into my content and that's my goal for this year to be more regular on my content creation and ultimately to make it to make a full time living with my own creation.

00:22:21:05 - 00:22:47:23
Inconnu
But I know it's going to take time, and it's going to be a long journey. And I think when we go on those adventures, when we when we when we go after our dreams, we need to remind ourselves to be patient because great things takes time. There's no shortcut. Even if I see that a lot of those things online are the moments, there's no shortcut.

00:22:48:00 - 00:23:29:14
Inconnu
If you don't put the reps, if you don't put the work, if you don't. Progress towards what you really want to do. There's no way you can get there. And for me, the most important thing in 2023 and now in moving on with that goal is to stay aligned. That's why I been doing an exercise every year since the, the last two years to first indentify my values and then write goals around my values.

00:23:29:16 - 00:24:00:22
Inconnu
And finally, instead of writing the goals writing journeys, I want to go on the transformation. I want to go on just to focus on that and having the goals as a direction. And that's why I created the one pager that if you are interested, you can get for free. through my link in bio in my Instagram.

00:24:00:24 - 00:24:20:22
Inconnu
But I will put this in the description. So if you want this one pager, I call it the minimalist one pager because it's really minimalist. And that's what I want is something simple. So you can get it in the description below. If you want to.

00:24:20:24 - 00:24:52:06
Inconnu
And what I was saying about 20 2023, 2024 is to focus on the journey. Because I met the guy in my backpacking trip around Switzerland that told me that the journey somehow is the goal. I remember was it was after after three years of cycling, I was exhausted. I was wondering how I would go around Switzerland. I was really thinking I would miss my goal.

00:24:52:08 - 00:25:23:23
Inconnu
And then he told me, you know, even if you don't achieve that goal, it doesn't take away anything about the experiences you had during your trip. And that's when it clicked. That's when I understood that the journey is the goal, and that the journey is the most important thing. And I always wanted to leave experiences, but sometimes I lose that insight and, focus too much about the goals.

00:25:24:00 - 00:25:50:22
Inconnu
So yeah, 2023 is about creating content and focusing, especially at the moment on Instagram. So if you want to follow more, just go to Instagram at the moments I want to create more podcast as well. But because in the past I was creating once a week and it was a lot of work, there wasn't a rhythm that was working for me.

00:25:50:24 - 00:26:27:17
Inconnu
And now that I'm recording in nature, I feel this is something I could do more often, maybe a bit more structure that this, podcast episode. I'd love to hear your thoughts about it. Just contact me on Instagram or LinkedIn. I'd be. I'd love to hear what you think about those type of episodes. And I think instead of being in my office recording could be a good way to make it easier for me and more inspired as well, and more clear and just having more fun.

00:26:27:19 - 00:27:16:02
Inconnu
Like I told you about the process, so I won't promise you any rhythm for podcasting this year. I definitely want to start again. Some interviews coming in. I know I've said that before in, a previous episode, but that's the spirit. That's the thing I want. I want to to meet other people, especially outdoor oriented people or anybody that would just spark my interests about adventure, about nature, about sport is about getting outside or even coaches, I don't mind, I'm just like opens to whoever is really sparking my curiosity and interest.

00:27:16:04 - 00:27:54:12
Inconnu
And yeah, that's where I'm going and I will definitely document the journey and what I can tell you from that journey that I started this year, I've been published, I think I published around 40 videos on Instagram, and my goal is to publish 200 piece of content this year. And, yeah, that's my goal from now on is to slowly, like a marathon, slowly pace myself, have fun in the process and building.

00:27:54:18 - 00:28:37:06
Inconnu
It's over time so that I can make a full time living with this. So yeah, I think I will conclude this episode on this episode now as the sun is slowly going down here, where I am at above my city, and I really enjoy this nature conversation. with you today, I know I haven't been quite clear, and it was a bit random the way I went through this episode, and I definitely will structure them more in the future, but let me know what you think.

00:28:37:08 - 00:29:03:10
Inconnu
Contact me on Instagram or LinkedIn. Leave me a message I love you, I love you to do that. And yeah, don't forget to put a review on Spotify that will help me a lot. And just come to say hi. I'd love to to get to know you more so that I can create better content for for you as well.

00:29:03:12 - 00:29:05:15
Inconnu
All right, have fun guys.