Growing up in Vermont before the age of smartphones and high-speed internet meant spending a lot of my youth outside. As the son of a carpenter, I developed an early love for building and hands-on learning, which led to my move to Maine at the age of 21 to build wooden boats. After over a decade in the trade, I began to grow restless, building other people’s dreams and watching them sail away. The majority of my spare time was spent off-grid, living in the Maine woods and studying old books on survival and homesteading, so I could maintain my own tiny piece of wild property. When the TV show Naked and Afraid came out, I found myself thinking, “I could do that.”  But truthfully, I was a bit afraid of the naked bit. Not long after, History Channel launched a new show called, Alone. I applied to the show and was accepted! Before I knew it, I was on my way to spending what turned out to be 87 days surviving by myself in the wilderness of Patagonia, eating only 63 fish and 2 birds. I emerged from this enormous challenge 73 pounds lighter and the winner of Season 3 of History Channel’s Alone, marking the beginning of a new chapter in my life.