8 Instagram Feeds That Will Give You Wanderlust

All I see is miles of pristine ocean water pinched between two vertical extruding rocks. Big white clouds float gracefully overhead, while my sailboat bobs up and down in the sun soaked harbor. I notice my deeply tanned skin as I pick up my camera to capture the view. The camera viewfinder comes up to my eye, and framed perfectly, is my beautiful wife, paddling toward the boat on a Stand Up Paddle board. With open ocean in one direction, and a white sandy beach in the other, I’m completely surrounded by beautiful green water. Off in the distance I hear the low hum of a boat jetting across the water somewhere. Then I have to ask myself, “Is this a dream?”.

Woooooooosh! Back to reality. I hear the traffic rushing along the interstate, and the hum of the refrigerator from inside our small apartment in the city. It was all a dream. I’ve never been on a sailboat more than a handful of times, and when I was, it was on a lake in northern Wisconsin, not the far away tropical places I fantasize about. Why do I keep having dreams like this? Why am I filled with wanderlust day and night?

 

Where does all this wanderlust come from? Instagram! Youtube! Name your favorite social media site, and if you are like me, your feed is filled with amazing views from amazing places. My Instagram feed is a finely curated collection of all things travel photography. Every day I grab my phone, click the Instagram app, and scroll through amazing images from the likes of Travis Burke, Jimmy Chin and so many others. I jump over to YouTube and find myself watching videos of people sailing the oceans, swimming in green waters, climbing mountains, and waking up to sunrises in their vans as they embark on the vanlife.

I believe both good and bad things can come from suffering from a strong case of wanderlust. Let me start with the problem with wanderlust. If you spend your days unhappy with your own life because all you do is dream about what you wish your life could be, then you are setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment. On the other hand, wanderlust can be a powerful driving force to get you outside to explore. It can help motivate you to click off the television, grab your shoes and go do something exciting.

Most of us live in a place where our basic needs are met. Our daily life is not riddled with war and starvation. Because of this we are given the opportunity to use everyday to explore and wander. It might just be in a local park in your city. Maybe it’s just waking up early enough to drive somewhere to watch the sunrise.

If you start to look around and appreciate the things around you you’ll notice there are amazing things to see and do everywhere. In Minnesota I am lucky enough to have the twin cities, the shores of Lake Superior up north, the cliff faces of the Saint Croix and Mississippi river to the East, thousands of lakes, and wide open plains to the West, all within a few hours of where I live. I can swim, paddle, bike, hike, ski, snowshoe, skate, climb, or rappel into an unlimited number of adventures anytime I feel inclined. Did I mention I can go sailing? Yup, Minnesota has sailing as well.

 

The point is this, I never want to look back at the end of my life wondering why I let so many beautiful days slip past while I wasted them on the couch. Call it FOMO if you want, but my basic life goal is to die with no regrets.

So if you catch yourself dreaming of your future life, remember this. If you truly want your future to look like your dreams, figure out a plan to make it happen, start on that path and live moment to moment. One day you might wake up standing on a sailboat surrounded by pristine ocean waters. The best part is, when you look back at your life you can smile knowing that you were living the dream every single day.

It’s the journey that is the most important.

 

Here are a few of my favorite people to follow on social media that inspire me to get off my rear end and head outdoors to look for something amazing.

Jimmy Chin

Alex Strohl

Daniel Kordan

Travis Burke

Van Lifers

Chelsea Kauai

Best of 2016: When the universe aligns. – Spending 5 weeks in Indonesia was a really special trip. So much culture and diverse environments. This is one of the many ornate and serene directional temples in Bali. @travisburkephotography and I rode for hours on scooters through villages and windy mountain towns until we realized we were definitely lost. Two boys ended up showing us the way and with no one else around we watched a sublime sunset over Mt. Agung then stayed out until the stars came out. We sat on that step where I’m standing and talked for hours – about hard stuff, deep stuff. In that gateway time seemed to stand still and I felt truly connected to the space around me. #wonderfulindonesia

A photo posted by Chelsea • #Protectwhereweplay (@chelseakauai) on

Chris Burkard

A view from the safety of the beach is most people’s favorite.. unless you’ve felt it from this perspective.

A photo posted by ChrisBurkard (@chrisburkard) on

Two Wandering Soles

Thanks for reading. I hope you are inspired like me to get out and make the most of your day!

Written by – Dan McCreight

 

“So, it’s kind of like the quest for the holy grail. Well, you know, who gives a shit what the holy grail is. It’s the quest is what’s important.”

-Yvon Chouinard – 180° South