The Most Surreal Country I've Ever Been To.

This video is going to be a little different than what I usually make. I want to share an experience from this summer visiting what I think is perhaps the most magical country I've ever been to. But instead of just giving you the good parts, I want to share the full experience. I get a little uncomfortable sometimes out in nature, but it's a good kind of uncomfortable. I hate being attacked by bees and mosquitoes, but this trip I took was full of hilarious and beautiful moments. What are you doing? I think we have to hurry because I think there are more and more coming. Like, I'm not joking. It looks like there's an insane amount of outlets. Okay, let's do it. Let me charge up with one chocolate. Our reaction to there being an outlet in this car. I've never been happier in my life. It's Christmas morning. I have a tendency to worry a lot about things, but sometimes I find myself in situations that really take my breath away. Here's what you need to know. Lucas is one of my best friends. He and I had a mission this summer. We flew up to northern Norway to see something neither of us had ever seen, the midnight sun. I love this. It's so beautiful. Dude, I love seeing your excitement. It's so cool. But our first night there, it became apparent that I'm a bit out of my element when I'm in nature. Doing all right, bro? Do you want me to show you the spot where we can see the midnight sun? But little did I know, I was going to have my very first encounter with the Norwegian bees and mosquitoes. What are we doing right now? We're going to try to spot the midnight sun. Are we getting eaten by mosquitoes? Yeah, I'm dead. I don't know what the deal is with the bugs in this country, but they're like the cyborg version of the ones that I grew up with. It's like they've all been injected with steroids. First of all, I've never seen so many mosquitoes in my life. And these bees were not normal bees, okay? We couldn't even stand still because if we would, they would attack us immediately. Oh, there it is. There it is. You got it? You got it? Yeah, I smacked it down. Get ready. I have a flash forward moment. Tomorrow we get armed. And no, bug spray did not seem to make any difference whatsoever. It might as well have been moisturizer. What the fuck? This is your protection from the mosquitoes. There's like literally a thousand mosquitoes around you. Dude, this isn't what midnight sun. It was just there before. It was so weird. Bro, we don't even see the midnight sun from here. We're too much in the forest. Look at that. And the mosquitoes are just... Worst night ever. So we missed it. Yeah. Well... Through the epic countryside, our hunt would continue. This is gorgeous, but it looks like we are not going to be lucky with the midnight sun. It's okay. This is insane. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this in my life. What are we doing? It's past midnight right now. What are we doing? It's morning. I'm surviving out here. There are bees everywhere. It's like there's not a single place where it's shady. I just went to that fisherman's boat down there. Fisher house down there to kind of escape. What? I feel like I'm out in the lobby. I feel like I was in the lobby. I haven't started the beach. Just the second I haven't seen it. Bro, I tell you, the game is intense. That is what you're doing with the beach. They're so aggressive. Fine. Okay. You want to start also in the tent? I think we get the fuck out of here. Exactly. Your coffee is in the making. But I got you, bro. What's going on here? Why are you in a squat wearing a towel on your head? Everything is trying to attack us, so we got to blitz this. We're here in the safe zone. Now we're going out packing everything as quick as possible We fucking back so fast Hey that again, what are we unorthodox campers In Malaga I think we have to hurry because I think there are more and more coming. Like, I'm not joking. It looks like there's an insane amount out there. Okay, let's do it. So let me charge up one chocolate. So what's our plan? Check everything in the back? Mm-hmm. And then get the fuck out of here. Any enter? I think we're good. Yeah! I spend a lot of time thinking about how to live a happy life and I clearly do not get it right all the time. And in fact, I can be very hard on myself for totally losing sight of things because I'm so caught up on the problems that I invent in my own head. As you're going to see though, something extraordinary happens when you do see past all these little worries that we choose to obsess over. A lot of what I'm exploring in this video is inspired by an audiobook I just finished called After the Ecstasy, The Laundry by Jack Kornfield, which I just finished listening to on Audible, who is sponsoring this video. The audiobook is fantastic and explores how we so easily lose perspective and fall into negative patterns and how to break out of that. It's such an insightful audiobook and it really made me notice some of my own behavior while on this trip in Norway. Audible is just so awesome, seriously. Just replace some of your social media usage with time on the Audible app and you will become a smarter person. Audible offers a tremendous amount of audiobooks in their library. The app is really easy to use, it's very easy to navigate, and it feels to me like a doorway into an insane amount of stories and ideas to think about, to ponder over. The app also just makes it so easy to listen to audiobooks anytime, anywhere. Some of my favorites are on trains, on planes, while on walks, or while working out. So if you want to give it a shot for yourself, new members can get Audible for free for 30 days. All you have to do is go to audible.com slash Nathaniel Drew or text Nathaniel Drew to 500-500. I will also leave a link in the description below. Thank you so much to Audible for sponsoring this video. And now for my favorite part of this trip. On our third day in the country, something really extraordinary happened. And it's a large part of the reason why I wanted to tell this story. After speaking with some locals. Thank you. Good luck with the groceries. We decided to hike up to a nearby lake to camp for the night. Neither of us had any idea how this was going to go, if it was going to be worth it. And we were both utterly unprepared. Two absolute roof balls carrying way too much shit in Ikea bags and tennis shoes. You have like 20 kilos of luggage. I'm sure you're not going to go far. What are we doing? We're going to hike up. It's like vertical. Dude, we started two minutes ago and I'm sweating my ass off. I feel so weighed down by what I'm carrying right now. Do you have a power bank with you? Nice. The hike begins. I used to fight against this side of myself. You know, the loser who doesn't have this shit together and what people would think of me. Worrying about dumb things. But I'm working on coming to peace with this. You know, let them criticize. This is who I am, you know, and if this means that I'm a loser who sucks at camping, then so be it, okay? I'm still gonna give it a shot. This is such a dumb idea with all this stuff. I agree. Sometimes. Through all the bullshit I make up in my head, all the things that I choose to worry or stress about, all the attachment and disappointment and sadness and frustration, life can throw some really beautiful surprises. Look at that. Oh my god. And I only seem to be able to spot them when I step far enough out of my head to look around. I can't believe this. This is unbelievable. It's 7.30 right now and... This hike is gorgeous. The sun is peeking out. Oh, I'm not filming. You want to do it again? It's not long. Let's go back down. Wow, it's the first time coming up here. The thing is, it's not far, but it's super steep. You're laughing through the line because it's exactly what you said before. Wow. It's not far, but it's really steep. Like the third or fourth time you've said that? Arriving at the end of our hike, Lucas and I were stunned with what we found. Where are we? On one side, a gorgeous lake. On the other, the ocean stretching out into the distance. Not a person in sight. I think this easily wins the award for most cinematic place I've ever set foot in. We settled in for what we knew was going to be a long and memorable evening. The light was extraordinary. It does feel like borrowed time, like I'm stealing something that I shouldn't have access to. There are moments too where I'm like, wow, how are we in summer already? It feels like two seconds ago is winter, three seconds ago is last summer. Essentially what I'm describing right now is the impossibility of stopping time. but we talked about it before that here it actually feels like time stops yeah briefly i feel like i'm trying to like revel in it and even here where it feels like time is stopping it's like okay it's past 10 p.m before i know it'll be tomorrow morning yeah and we're leaving this place yes butter what is this water yes this is the most ridiculous sunset i can confidently say the most ridiculous sunset for it to keep going Oh my god. It just keeps going. It's like I just realized I've been in sunset mode for six hours. Like really, really. 25 minutes to midnight. This is so crazy. I'm going to get the girl. It's in my backpack. It felt like we had stepped into another world. It's funny how easy it is to completely lose sight of the beauty around me when all of my focus goes on the things that are going wrong. seems like i've got to do whatever i can to catch myself i cannot believe this really makes you think like it's crazy for life i think i'm drunk off of this sun i think it's it's it's somewhat dipping underneath briefly wow wow dude how can we get so much entertainment from the sun it's like dude wow wow Even with all of the entertainment in the world, watching the sun dip in the sky was like watching the most beautiful movie I'd ever seen. You know what that makes me think of? Without being in the perfectly right spot in the universe with the sun at the perfect distance for us to be the right level of warm. Yeah. The universe can be such a barren, dark, desolate place. Yeah. Fuck me. And we live in this lush, green, beautiful place with water because it's just the right temperature. We have this illusion. We actually think we understand the universe. We actually think like, oh. as we get, as we have more and more powerful tools to measure the universe, we actually get what's going on. Dude, we do not know what's really going on. You know what I mean? Like this is, this is on another level, you know? I feel like I'm so pumped up with adrenaline right now. I need to like soak this in for like a moment to fully get what's going on because I feel like tomorrow I'll have to say it's like a memory. All of this made me think. Just because there is what looks like a problem in front of me doesn't mean I have to do anything about it. The mosquitoes, the bees, the worried thoughts, they can just be there. As long as I create the distance to see it for what it is, I'll be okay. Perhaps the most important journey we're all on is learning to be okay with what's happening.

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Timestamps

00:00 Intro
01:52 I. Learning To Laugh At Myself
08:35 II. Encounters With Beauty