Featured Image Credit: Harrison King / Getty
Yes Theory has built one of the most inspiring presences on YouTube, built around seeking discomfort and pushing beyond the boundaries of what feels familiar.
Founded by Thomas Brag, Ammar Kandil, Matt Dahlia, and Derin Emre, the popular channel has taken its audience to some of the world's most isolated corners. One such video explored a Swiss town rumoured to pay people $70,000 to move there.
It is exactly that ethos that drew Harrison King to the channel in the first place, and in a new YouTube video, he has opened up about why, after finally landing what he describes as his dream job working with his 'heroes,' he walked away from it.
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"After achieving my biggest dream, I decided to leave it all behind and I quit," he said in his new video.
King was living alone when he first came across Yes Theory and was amazed by the team's 'optimistic and contagious energy'.
He applied to join the team as an editor, lost out to another candidate, and assumed that was the end of it. However, six months later, another offer came through and King said it changed his life.
"This period of time was amazing, and I'm so grateful for it. I met lifelong friends and made some incredible memories, but these experiences ended up only being a small percentage of what my life actually looked like at the time," he explained. "In reality, my day-to-day was pretty much the opposite."
King went on to say that his routine involved waking up, having breakfast and sitting at his computer alone for 8 hours - something he did every day for an 'entire year.'
"I'm not complaining about being an editor because that's literally what I signed up for [...] but after a period of time, the shininess and excitement of getting to make the video eventually wore off," King added. "I became really burnt out and unhappy."
The moment of clarity came when King realised what he had always wanted was not to work with Yes Theory, but to 'be them.' The filmmaker explained that he wanted to create his own stories rather than someone else's.
"I wanted to create art myself and I wanted to change the world by shining my own light, not by helping someone else do it. I realise I had to quit," he argued.
Letting go of his dream job wasn't easy, however, as King admits it was 'heartbreaking.' But looking back now, he sees the experience as essential to understanding what he actually needed. He now creates his own videos and runs his own podcast, building something that is entirely his own.
King's hope in sharing the story is that it resonates with others and encourages them to chase whatever they want in life.
