We were lucky to catch up with Tyler Farnham recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tyler, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

In 2009 I was a lifeguard Captain EMT in my hometown of Cocoa Beach Florida with plans to go to Fire school when the unthinkable happened. On a routine skydive with my mom performing her first ever jump, I suffered a near death accident. What resulted was two broken femurs with a near amputation of my right leg, multiple bone breaks in the right arm, shattered jaw, nine broken teeth and a fractured skull. Confined to a wheelchair and mouth wired shut I had strenuous rehab looming ahead along with a future dependency of Oxycontin in the midst of the Opioid epidemic.

Before my accident my life path was laid out. Although after the accident and recovery, I felt that I wanted something more. Influenced by five Canadian tourists I met on the beach, I used an old math notebook to plan a solo trip to the other side of the planet.

“We have two lives; The second one begins when we realize we only have one.”

I took a risk by leaving my full time lifeguarding job with Brevard County Ocean Rescue and selling my car to buy a one way ticket to Western Australia and try out for their Ocean Rescue team for the summer. I was 29 years old and I passed the tryouts in November of 2012.

That summer was the catalyst.
I spent 11 years living and working outside of the USA, 9 of those years in Indonesia doing what I love. And to put that into perspective, out of those 11 years I spent maybe 5 months visiting the USA.

It was not what I missed, or the path I did not take, it was what came from that risk I took of stepping out of my comfort zone and taking a much different path.

A chance meeting with a female couple in Bali, led to an amazing friendship, and 2 beautiful children. I became a surrogate father in 2017 with the birth of little Ophelia. And once again in 2022 with a baby boy, Orli. The kids live with their mums in Byron Bay Australia, and we are family… just a little bit different than most families.

To begin to tell the story of the past 11 years, I can only scratch the surface. From DMT in the jungles of Indonesia to motorbike accidents, big sharks in Australia, love, heartbreak, adversity and of course, perfect waves.

I wrote and published 2 books detailing my accident, recovery and my world travels which goes into detail on my “bonus life” and those I met along the way.

https://www.amazon.com/Reaching-Cloud-Surviving-Near-Death-Skydive/dp/1943302030

https://www.amazon.com/Journals-Cloud-Tyler-Patrick-Farnham/dp/1943302049

My initial risk was jumping out of airplanes, because if it were not for my skydiving accident, I may have never taken that first step out of my comfort zone and left my home country.

I will always feel fortunate to have had the support from family and friends, old and new, to have had the life and adventures that I’ve had.

With that said, in the beginning there was always a lot of doubt, or uncertainty trying to block my path. This can make you feel crazy or doubtful for going against societal norms. But you learn pretty quickly that you just cannot listen to the haters.

I’m writing this while visiting my sister in Reno NV. I’ve moved back to the USA for the first time in over a decade to pursue a different path, which I believe will land me back in Asia in the future.
The reverse culture shock is still very much with me, and I’m unsure it will ever go away or if I will ever adjust. Back in Florida it’s the same, a culture shock in my hometown, where now I feel like a puzzle piece that just does not quite fit. I feel that no one understands me…But I just smile and remind myself that they just can’t hear the music.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Born and raised in Cocoa Beach Florida my dad starting pushing me into waves when I was 3 years old. Surfing was, and still is my life passion. I began working at 15 in the restaurant and hospitality industry until the age of 24 when I began Ocean Lifeguarding.

I worked my way up to Captain after a short time and was apart of the first year round Ocean Rescue Team for Brevard County in 2008. The following year I survived my skydiving accident and that was the beginning of the rest of my life.

With the help of my team, on my first day with my feet back in the sand we took part of saving a surfers life who broke his neck on a shallow sandbar. Sadly, he was taken off life-support weeks later although survived his injuries on the beach.

Summer of 2010 I was presented with a lifesaving valor award and lifeguard of the year. It was a true honor. In 2011 our team on the beach saved countless lives with dozens of lifesaving rescues and preventative actions on the beach during a busy hurricane season. That same year was my first experience with surfers for autism.

All of these stories led to my first book, Reaching Cloud 9.

I left my position as Ocean Rescue Captain in 2012 and spent the next 11 years living a very unorthodox life.
I continued my lifeguarding career in Western Australia and Darwin, Northern Territory of Australia.

This led to an opportunity Ocean lifeguarding on the North Island of New Zealand. I began a side job surf coaching in Murawi Beach which I used as a springboard when I arrived to Indonesia in 2015.

Between 2015 and 2023 I managed surf camps, became head surf guide/instructor and also had work stints in the UK, and Hainan China, the only time I spent working outside of Indonesia in those nine years.

I began giving leadership and overcoming adversity talks in Florida back in 2012. From New Zealand, UK, China and Indonesia I have spoken at schools, conferences and leadership seminars promoting a healthy lifestyle with a bit of an edge and comedy approach.

In 2020 I rewrote a second edition to my first book, Reaching Cloud 9, along with the second book, Journals from Cloud Nine. The books detail my skydiving accident, Opioid dependency, to world travel as a lifeguard and surfing coach.

Jan of 2020 was when I was hired on as the boathouse manager at the world number one ranked hotel Nihi Sumba. Then Covid stripped away the opportunity before it even began.

After years of patiently waiting, the job fell through and I was just another tale of covid stories.

As of now, I am back in Florida since October 2023 and will be pursing motivational speaking in the USA full time along with surf therapy which I plan to take back to Indonesia in the future.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Communication is key, along with listening skills and taking action. When I was running a team of lifeguards, I made sure that I would lead by example, and never ask anything to be done that I would not do myself. Over the years I put together my own personal recipe of habits to build that I could potentially pass on to other coworkers to help better there physical and mental health.

Meditation
Journaling
Fitness
Creating
Learning
Gratitude

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I could go back, I would have started lifeguarding at a younger age, and I would have began promoting surf therapy much sooner. I would have learned from failures much earlier than I did.

But I don’t regret a thing! If I would have changed one thing in my past, I would not have had the memories, people or adventures. And I cherish every one of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tylerfarnham.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylerfarnham/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tyler.farnham
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyler-farnham-40501959/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAdzxtQ7jLAM-Z6gGwOnTFw