Failing to make a move on a climb at a local crag outside of so-called Portland, Oregon, the traditional territory of the Kathlamet, Tualatin Kalapuya, Multnomah, Chinook, and Mollalas peoples.

Building Terra Incognita Media: Confronting Failure, Self-Sabotage, and Imposter Syndrome

Since starting Terra Incognita Media my life has been a Chumbawamba song. It’s been a journey of killing my ego over and over again, making public and private mistakes, and learning major lessons. Sometimes the lessons required an easy pivot, but more often than not the lessons I have learned have been brutally life-altering, perspective-bursting, and humbling as fuck.

I have lost friendships and gained new ones. I have had countless conversations with various people in the outdoor industry, the publishing, marketing, podcasting, branding industry, etc. I have gone to trainings that have been crucial to my learning, and some that I regret, like the one that put me in the most debt I have ever acquired in my life. It’s not to say I didn’t learn anything because I surely did. I learned where I don’t want to invest my money.

I learned that I need to listen to the deepest gut feelings I have about things. I used to be too easily influenced by what other people thought I should be doing. I was too wrapped up in external validation and what everyone else thought about me. I believed that if I just talked to the right people I could deduce the end-all, be-all answers to my pressing questions about how I should do the work I am here on this Earth to do.