What’s Your Wild Idea? | Shelby Stanger
- mgraziano45
- 24 hours ago
- 3 min read
What’s the wild idea you can’t stop thinking about? And what would happen if you actually went for it?
Meet Shelby Stanger
Shelby Stanger has built a career around adventure, storytelling, and helping people find the courage to pursue the ideas that excite and scare them. As the host of Wild Ideas Worth Living and author of Will to Wild, she has seen firsthand how stepping outside your comfort zone can change the direction of your life.
Never Miss the Mosh Pit
One phrase has followed Shelby from her early days covering the Vans Warped Tour: "Never miss a mosh pit."
For Shelby, it means more than getting into the middle of a punk rock show. If you want to understand something, be part of it, or eventually lead it, you can't always watch from the sidelines.
"You gotta get amongst it."
She learned the same lesson while covering a surf trip in Indonesia. Faced with waves far more intimidating than what she was used to, Shelby could have stayed safely on the boat and played the journalist card. Instead, she got in the water and eventually caught one of the best waves of her life.
Getting into the "mosh pit" means:
Participating instead of only observing
Getting uncomfortable when the moment calls for it
Experiencing the work firsthand
Being willing to take a calculated risk
Learning by doing
That wave became more than a great surfing story. It reinforced a lesson Shelby has carried throughout her career: sometimes you have to get in there.
Build a Career Around What You Keep Coming Back To
Shelby's career didn't follow a straight line. She worked in journalism, action sports, marketing, sales, freelance writing, podcasting, and plenty of jobs that taught her what she didn't want to do.
The common thread was adventure and storytelling.
"If I keep following what I really want to do, it works out."
That didn't mean every decision worked. Shelby talked openly about failures, missed opportunities, and jobs that weren't the right fit. But experimenting helped her get closer to the work she wanted to do.
Her career was built by being willing to:
Try jobs she wasn't completely qualified for
Create opportunities that didn't already exist
Change direction when something wasn't working
Learn from failure without letting it stop her
Keep returning to the work that energized her
Shelby didn't find the perfect career waiting for her. She kept experimenting until she built one around the things she cared about most.
What's Your Wild Idea?
Shelby has spent years asking people one question: What's your wild idea?
She's learned to recognize the answer before people even finish explaining it. Their eyes light up. They're excited. They're usually scared, too.
"When people have a wild idea, their eyes light up and they're really excited. They're also scared in the best way."
For Shelby, that combination is worth paying attention to. A wild idea doesn't have to mean climbing a mountain or surfing a massive wave. It's relative to the person pursuing it.
A wild idea often has a few things in common:
You keep thinking about it
It genuinely excites you
It makes you uncomfortable
You know pursuing it could change something
Part of you wants to turn back
The goal isn't to wait until the fear disappears. It's to recognize the idea that keeps pulling you toward it and start figuring out what it would take to make it real.
Resources Mentioned
🔗 Checkout Shelby's book: Wild To Wild
🔗 Listen to Shelby's podcast: Wild Ideas Worth Living
🔗 Find Shelby's first podcast: Vitamin Joy
🔗 Connect with Shelby! What is your "Wild Idea?"
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