By Michael Youngblood & Jonathan Kalan, Co-Founders of Unsettled
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It’s amazing where a little determination, a clear vision, and a single intention can take you. 

Two years ago, we set out to build a company that would adapt to our lifestyle, not the other way around. A company that would grow with us, and challenge us to grow.

We believe that the world’s most enduring and impactful companies are built on the greatest questions of our time. The deep, probing, provocative questions that speak to what it means to be human in the 21st century. The ones that challenge us to re-think how we show up in the world, how we create value, what makes us feel alive, and where our true sense of belonging lies. 

And so, we started Unsettled with a question. How do we want our lives to look in one year? Three years? Five years?

The thing about starting with a question — not an answer or solution — is that the questions keep you wondering. They keep you searching. Curious.

Answers are absolutes that disguise the truth. They are fixed destinations, not the start of epic journeys. They make you believe you’ve arrived, but inevitably, an answer is the sum of your total past experiences, and not the basis to create your future. 

In building this venture, we set out to design a company around a future we could believe in. One that was informed by our personal experiences, lifestyles, values, and trajectories. One that stood for true work/life symmetry, and not just a balance between two ideas that only exist because we say they do. What does it mean to separate one’s ‘work’ and ‘life’ anyway? Aren’t they one and the same? Isn’t it all life or nothing at all?

We designed Unsettled so that every metric of growth would not be tied to a spreadsheet, but to a thousand new beginnings. Your beginnings. Because every time someone joins one of our retreats, something new is sparked. An inspiration that leads to a new journey’s beginning. That’s our top KPI at Unsettled. #ReallyFuckingInspiring.  #RFI.

We didn’t start in a garage in Silicon Valley. We started as a group of misfits who came together from all corners of the world to find shared meaning in a word, a feeling, a moment, a question. 

We have been humbled by where these questions have lead us. We’ve hosted over 50 experiences across 15 countries, inspired a community of over 1200 participants from 80 countries, weathered volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, separatist movements, economic crises, droughts, and more together. 

And we truly feel we are only just beginning. We invite you to become part of our story, and apply now for your next adventure into the unknown…

*Thank you to Vibol Moeung for the video, and Albert Khoury, Mykim Dang, and Ramzie Shams for the additional footage!
**To all of our alumni, thank you for joining us on this journey. You have, and continue to inspire the f*@$ out of us…