For over two decades I worked as a full-time writer specializing in adventure, travel and natural history. I traveled the world in pursuit of the best stories, I got to spend time with and learn from top experts in their fields: adventure athletes, scientists, environmentalists and straight-out eccentrics. I published my stories in high-end international magazines like the Smithsonian, New Zealand Geographic, Australian Geographic, GEO and many others. This, in turn, led to writing books like the TROUT TRILOGY and collections of my other works. Just so I don’t repeat myself here, you can find out more about my writing life, and books, at DerekGrzelewski.com.

At one point, as evolution would have it, I decided to spend less time at the computer, writing, and even more time outside, adventuring. I fished over 100 days a year and skied another 120, and in between seasons I learnt to kite in the Caribbeans and pursued more scuba diving. Along the way, friends and later clients began to join me in my adventures because it was just too much fun not to!

Whatever the activity, the learning never stops! It might be mastering the double-handed Spey cast to better fly fish in the wilds of Alaska, joining the AMGA ski guide program to be a safer skier and a guide, getting on a directional board to kite surf the waves or pursuing more technical levels of scuba diving. The secret, as I see it, is to pick challenges and projects that are doable but which also push us to our limits because this is where we are at our best. I wrote about it in the book Going to Extremes, check it out, it’s a worthy ideal.

Learning is where the growth is and the excitement. Perhaps a little too much at times, a little intense and crazy. But it’s crazy good, and makes me getting out of bed excited every single day, wanting to make it the Best Day ever, every day. And I would not have it any other way.

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