My Epic 10 Year Journey Exploring The Beauty, Magic, And Mysticism of The Hawaiian Islands...PART 1

Aloha,

Since travel seems to be all the rage on Steemit right now, I figured I'd share with you the last 10 years of my life in a few words and lots of epic photography. So you know exactly what it's like to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world full-time without a job.

(and also why I'm leaving...)

(That's me. Standing on top of a 10,000+ foot volcano named "Haleakala" aka House of the Rising Sun)

I decided to move to Hawaii in 2007 because I was ready for a BIG change. City life, the daily grind, and the keeping up with the joneses lifestyle was no longer appealing to me. I had just started to have enough success in my online business to do what I wanted to do. so I decided to take a big risk and leave it all behind.

So I packed my bags and moved to the most remote chain of island in the worlds. It wasn't easy but it was definitely worth it. If you haven't had the chance of even visiting a Hawaiian island I highly suggest you add it to your bucket list because you won't regret it.

Hawaii is easily one of the most beautiful, pristine environments on Planet Earth and it has been an amazingly beautiful yet grueling experience for me to live here. (I'll explain why in a bit...)

(I snapped this shot from a beach that I visit almost daily "Secret Beach", I typically have it to myself each morning.)

There's no better place to wake up than this. Stress is almost non-existent, everyone's relaxed, petty crime and theft is not a problem, I've never had my home or car broken into, nor anything stolen and I never lock anything here. Hawaii in my book especially Maui is one of the safest places to live in the world.

And on top of that I have a 300mb internet connection! I know that's not the fastest internet speed on Earth but the fact that I live thousands of miles away from the nearest continent means it's amazing!

Plus I get to hike in epic places like this! There's so much jungle, so many majestic waterfalls, and if you go off the beaten path you typically can have an entire valley like this one (Iao Valley) all to yourself.

Hawaii taught me a lot of things about myself and gave me things that I'll take with me for the rest of the life. One of them was what we call "Aloha". Many people mistake this word for hello and Goodbye in Hawaiian but it's much more than that.

Aloha is a feeling or spirit that emanates throughout this land it can be felt in the wind, in the trees, in the waters, and in the people with whom it has infected. Unfortunately this spirit is fastly disappearing as more and more of the western world settles in here bringing with them their unconscious habits of consumerism, greed, and disrespect for the land.

Aloha Aina' means love of the land. If you slow down enough to connect up with the natural world here you will hear in your consciousness the land speak to you it's message is simple..."Take care of the land and the land will take care of you". That is the LAW here but most people don't slow down enough to ever hear it.

Luckily I did and I was so blessed to experience what it's like to be connected to the Earth in such a deep and profound way. You can call me a tree hugger but really I'm just someone who had the chance to remember something most of us forgot a long time ago that we are indeed connected to and a part of this Earth. If Hawaii taught me anything it was that.

And I'm eternally grateful for it.

Oh, and what about those Maui sunsets? Photos like the one above taken by my friend @madmonka are a daily occurrence, absolutely mesmerizing don't ya think?

Here's a few more...

It's safe to say on Maui and the other Hawaiian islands I've lived and visited beauty and relaxation is the order of the day. This land is nourishing, breathtaking, and filled with her secrets for those that allow themselves to tune in and listen.

What's really awesome, is I brought my dog Maverick with me when he was just 2 years old. He's 13 now and has lived most of his life in paradise, I love my dog and I'm so happy that he has been able to live as a happy go lucky beach dog. He is so kind, patient, and in good health because of this lifestyle.

I learn something new from him everyday, only bad part is that even at his old age he's still got more energy than me it's like babysitting a permanent 2 year old, he never stops.

I've also met some of the most awesome, naturally intelligent people you could ever imagine. This is a picture of my friend Trevor and I taken by @madmonka. He's easily one of the coolest, most down to earth people on Earth, and an amazing surfer. This kid taught me a lot, for instance every time he goes out to surf he picks up all of the trash on the shore before he even hops in the water, nobody sees him do it, he doesn't get paid for it, it's not to inflate his ego, it's because he cares about this land.

And here's picture of us getting ready to catch some waves in Hana, Hawaii. Of course I didn't catch any but at least I tried :) As you can see Maverick goes with us just about everywhere!

I was also introduced to Yoga here before it became really popular. I started practicing Ashtanga Yoga on the North Shore of Maui with a woman named Nancy Gilgoff she was the first woman to bring Ashtanga to the United States and has a guru like following of people that come to practice with her from all over the world. So I was always meeting fun, interesting, and eccentric people from all over the world.

What was different about this yoga class vs. today's yoga class is half the class was wearing weird diapers and practicing on these strange rugs from India. This was before yoga became a brand and a fashion show. I got super strong doing it and really connected to myself in a deep & profound way.

Hawaii is definitely a spiritual place. If you're looking to dive a little bit deeper into your soul this place provides the solitude and the environment for anyone to do so. In all honesty it's very challenging to live here, it will cause you to face and confront your demons head on and I'm only talking about Maui. I'll tell you about my experiences with the Big Island in future posts but that place is even crazier!

Anyways, after a while I was getting bored of going so slow. I wanted to speed things up a bit so I bought this....

I've always been passionate about Motocycles & Cars. And if you know Hawaii there's one speed limit here...SLOW. So, the rebel in me decided to buy this 2007 Yamaha R6 I call him Maestro. I have to wake up at about 5am and head up the volcano to ride him the way I want to but going 150mph in Hawaii is just as fun as relaxing at the beach to me!

I also got into farming for a while...

These are San Pedro cactuses have you heard of them? They don't taste that great but if you eat them they will open up your heart and your eyes to the world around you in a way that you've never experienced before.

And I also lived in an Airstream trailer on the beach for 6 months! Crazy right?

Anyways, I have so much more to share with you from the land of Aloha. As I've been digging through these photos I am amazed at the amount of Gems that are on my hard drive. By the way the majority of the photos on this post were taken by my friend @madmonka and some of the nature shots by me.

I'm going to go now. I hope you enjoyed this post, if it gets a lot of traction here on Steemit I'll throw up some more!

Mahalo & Aloha

Jayson

p.s. Please let me know what you think of my story and photos below, would love to hear your feedback!

#hawaii #maui #steemit #travel #adventure #steem #photography #aloha