HERMAN'S
ORIGIN STORY
It was a Sunday morning. There was a half-dozen of us friends just sitting around our college apartment wondering what the day would bring. Up until this point in my life, I genuinely thought and believed that a college-aged person was supposed to just party on weekends and make good grades during the school week.
“Well, I guess we’ll just day drink, play some cornhole and turn on whatever game is on TV,” my buddy said with a disappointed tone. It was insane to do the same thing every weekend, hoping it would somehow bring us the joy and satisfaction we all were searching for.
“What if we did something else!” I blurted at the dreadful thought of spending another Sunday as we’ve spent every Sunday for the last few years. “What if we…went on a hike or something! Man, I’ve always wanted to go on a hike since I was a kid!”
“I know a spot!” Nick said with excitement.
The next thing I knew, I was scaling a cliff in tennis shoes, basketball shorts, and a T-shirt. Adrenaline coursed through my veins and my palms became sweaty as I looked at the endless free fall below me and the distance we still had to climb to get to the top. I knew if any of us made a mistake and fell it would mean certain death.
To my left, my eyes met the eyes of a group of climbers with ropes, harnesses, chalk, climbing shoes, and helmets. “Oh…we should probably have some of that stuff if we’re all climbing the same cliff,” I thought to myself and laughed.
“What do you guys think you’re doing!? You’re going to have to get rescued by a helicopter! You won’t be able to get down from the top without ropes,” a climber yelled at us from below.
A gleeful feeling filled my body at the adventure and challenge of now having to get back down from the top of this cliff without ropes, without dying. I was hooked. The following weekend we went camping for the weekend and caught fish with our hands to eat. The weekend after that, we went camping again. The wilderness now ran through my blood. The old me died and a new man was born.
LIFE VENTURES
- Became a Registered Nurse with nine years of experience throughout the entire country, in units varying from ICU to oncology, medical, surgical, orthopedics, and emergency department
- Taught tactical combat casualty course alongside a green beret and a civilian medic
- Holds an amateur mixed martial arts Lightweight Title
- Worked with the victims of human trafficking
- Lived in the Rocky Mountains in a tent or with a tarp and sleeping bag amongst grizzly bears for eight weeks straight
- Successfully hunted or faced off with some of the world’s most dangerous animals with just a spear or knife
- Has led numerous groups into the wilderness to help them uncover the magic of life; the radiance that is the nature of existence
- Has been hunted and stalked by a grizzly bear and African lion, loving every second of it
- His strongest survival skill is meditation and he feels most at home in sketchy situations
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
- Social Media: Twitter
- TV Shows: American Grit Season 2
