A moment that I talk about a fair bit is we're paddling hard head down.

There was a campground, like an actual campground, where I was going to spend the night.

And I just kind of wanted to get there, set up my tent, go to sleep.

And I heard somebody yell, take a break, have a beer.

And I looked over my shoulder, and there was was a marina and there was a group of people

on the back of their boat hanging out. And my first thought was, I'm just going to keep going and, you know, give me a wave. But I was like, no, why not? Why not take a break, have a beer? I'm only a mile from where I want to be. And I went over and they helped me up into the boat. And we just had this amazing conversation.

They were so joyful and supportive of somebody.

He was doing something weird just because he kind of wanted to do it.

Dan Rubenstein is a journalist from Ottawa, Canada,

who spent years exploring how he connect with the natural world.

Back in 2015, he wrote a book called Born to Walk, all about the science of walking outside. But after that project was done,

Dan's curiosity began to shift from land to blue spaces, like rivers, lakes, oceans, and other

waterways. He loved to stand-up paddleboarding and would head

out on the Ottawa River whenever he could. Before long, he started to wonder, what does being

near water actually do for our brains and bodies? With that question in the back of his mind,

Dan came up with a wild idea. In

23, he set out to stand-up paddle 1,200 miles, from Ottawa all the way to New York City and

back. Along the way, he met with experts who helped him understand the physical, mental, and

social impacts of spending time in blue spaces.

He later wrote about his experiences and findings in his book, Waterborne.

I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-Op Studios production,

presented by Capital One and the REI Co-Op MasterCard.

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