We recently connected with Svilen Rusanov and have shared our conversation below.
Svilen , appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
I’m on a journey to visit every National Park in the U.S. My mission is to inspire people to travel more and help them reestablish their connection with nature as well. I believe that in the technological era that we live in, many of us feel a void and need of much deeper relationship, that with nature. Only in the recent years humanity has developed a way of living so remote from the natural world, that feels foreign and lonely. For the first time in thousands of years the majority of young people grow up in a protected and artificial world that sometimes we feel lost in. I’m convinced that exploring, visiting new places and traveling expand our sense of being far beyond our comfort zone. And that this is very important part of our existence ,if not the essence of life. In the U.S.A. National park system provides an opportunity of traveling in a relatively safe fashion in comparison to the rest of the world. The first National park in the world “Yellowstone” was established in 1872, that started a global movement in conservation. Since then more and more parks are created and lands have been preserved and celebrated. Currently they are 63 National parks in the U.S. and I have visited 55 of them. That has inspired me to share my experiences through storytelling and making short films on YouTube about the best places that I love in the greatest country in the world.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Svilen Rusanov and I love traveling and nature. I hold dear childhood memories of our family vacations up in the mountains and the sea side. Later on I’ve developed a connection with Earth sciences in High School and that lead me to study and earn BA of Geography and Biology at University of Sofia, in the capital city of Bulgaria, where I grew up. Few trips to Italy, Switzerland and Greece have ignited my passion for travel and later on took on a few student exchange programs to Cape Cod and Nantucket, the highlight of witch was visiting Boston,New York and Niagara Falls. When I graduated in 2013 my mind was set on my fascination with the American culture , so in 2014 I’ve left all known to me at the time and moved to Nantucket Island in Massachusetts, where I’ve lived for the next five years. There I drove a taxi-cab where I’ve met amazing people from all over the country. In between the busy seasons of island life I’ve used every opportunity to travel and expand my empirical knowledge. All that allowed me to improve my language skills, visit new places and meet interesting people. I’ve spent significant time of the first couple of winters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.There I went to Everglades National park where I saw giant alligators, crocodiles and flamingos in their natural habitat. After just a day on an airboat in the marsh region I remember felt so mesmerized. Ever since I’ve fostered ever growing appreciation for those places and have used every opportunity traveling to more and more national parks. In every off season in the coming years I’ve organized trips to Colorado, Hawaiian islands, Alaska, Utah, West coast (San Diego to Seattle). All of those trips gravitated towards exploring the national parks and bigger cities. With each trip I was getting more efficient and focused on the experiences over possessions, following an inner feeling and desire for further exploration that my being deeply desired. In 2019 the current relationship I was in has ended and I felt the need of new place to live ,so I’ve moved to Honolulu,Oahu in the middle of the North Pacific, where I lived the “Aloha” lifestyle for the next two years. I’ve had great time developing new skills working as a certified fitness trainer, finding some new friends and most importantly I’ve met my future to be wife Jessica. We get to know each other well especially when the global pandemic happened and as many we’ve spent a lot of time locked inside together. Time was a great test of this new relationship and we married in Lahaina on Maui island. A few months later had to leave the islands pushed but the very restrictive policy that kept us out of work and prove economically impossible to sustain the live there. So we moved to her home town of C
Columbus,Ohio. Until this day I’m following that calling of the wild with faith and compassion, to trust your guts even in most challenging circumstances with love and perseverance.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Our life path varies and for each person that will look somewhat different, but yet similar in terms of the struggle and hardships ,we all have those coming and exactly they are the ones that give us an opportunity to become stronger, better version of ourselves.my makes no exception many times thought out my journey I’ve been presented with set of challenges in order to accomplish a dream that I’ve set up for my self. The biggest one came relatively early in my life, when I lost my mom to cancer at fifteen years old. Yet I’ve focus on my studies and becoming a strong and independent young men. I’ve established a habit of going to the gym back then and diligently strengthening my body and mind. Later on a competed in bodybuilding for 6 years achieving some great results and especially getting to know the limitations of my body through massive amount of hard work, learn some dedication, developed a discipline and applied consistency that immensely has impacted my life. Recently I’ve started my 18th consecutive year of going to the gym at least 4 times a week, no matter what else I’ve had going on in my life. Other than that later further developing my younger self ,I’ve finished on top of my class at the University and when It looked out that I’ve secure a future as a High School teacher I didn’t settle for it, I’ve left the country, the culture, my friends and family to pursue a new better life abroad. I’ve moved to the U.S. with very little English to a place where I knew no-one and I could even use my hard earned accomplishment, started from the bottom of the hierarchy with an entry level, soul sucking jobs as landscaping, window cleaning, valet etc. But yet once again growth happens out of the comfort zone, you have to be willing to give up your older self in order to keep developing or at least that was the case for me at the time. Later on that has happened two more times when I moved to Honolulu and once again left everything I knew. With overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, after years away from home it felt a bit easier to take new risks and follow you hearth, in my case that was traveling and exploring new places. Later on forced by the circumstances once again I’ve left it all and pursued a new carrier at the circus, learning to stilt walk and playing accordion I have became a major part of the circus troupe of “The Amazing Giants” in Ohio. I trusted my guts and abilities to adapt and quickly learn new skills. For the past four years have proven myself and grew in the team as a manager and by delivering massive performances to audiences around Ohio and the neighboring states. I have inspired and help many circus performers to be better version of themselves. Resilience is developed through hardships, have faith, trust yourself and push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I believe that reading and writing is the best way of forming and clarifying our thoughts, way of thinking. For me that is a massive source of inspiration, not only to get to know the subject or the author, but to develop our own philosophy and perceive the world as an active member of society through action. There’re many books that have changed, and formed society as we know it in many ways the most impactful one might be the library of the Holy bible, For me a few books that has really helped me changed my ways in personal development are : “12 Rules for life ” by Jordan B. Peterson, “High performance habits” – Brandon Buchard, Various textbooks and travel guides for the subjects I’ve studied and places I’ve visited, I love the travel books by National Geographic, Lonely planet etc.. Especially beneficial to me are the geography atlas books that combine maps ,witch by the way contains copious amounts of information of an area on a single page, it’s quite miraculous, as tedious process the creation of a map. The fiction books that are greatest hold some of the greatest storytelling tool, that provides the base for the majority of movies made historically are a spectacular and these are some of the ones that stayed with me: “The Alchemist ” – by Paolo Cuelio, “The calling of the wild” by Jack London and as I’ve developed personal relationships with a few authors of books in Bulgarian language , I’ve been impacted by the numerous of them most importantly by professor Rumen Penin.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/svil_rus/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/svilen.rusanov.7/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTlk2xrta_et8KwNwEAoQlA
Image Credits
All the pictures are taken and belong to me.