ABOUT AUSTEN WAYNE
Finding Where I Belong
I spent a lot of years trying to figure out where I belonged.
I grew up in Minnesota, and these days I call Florida home. But somewhere along the way, I realized that belonging wasn't necessarily about a place. It was about living a life that felt true to who I am.
Creativity has always been a part of me. I started behind a drum kit as a teenager, played in rock bands, learned piano by ear, and eventually found my way into writing and producing music across all different genres.
But I was also someone who was deeply curious. The kind of person who questioned everything, felt everything, and spent a lot of time trying to make sense of this wild experience we call being human.
THE ROAD BACK TO MYSELF
Somewhere along the way, I lost touch with that part of myself.
I became increasingly concerned with what I was supposed to do, who I was supposed to become, and what a successful life was supposed to look like.
Eventually, I convinced myself that the responsible thing to do was follow the blueprint… So I did.
I built a career in marketing, and on paper, things looked pretty good. But underneath it all, something never quite felt right.
Then life started making introspection unavoidable.
Heartbreak, old wounds I couldn't outrun anymore, mental health challenges, losing my rescue pup Archie when he was only three, and eventually a layoff that gave me more space than I wanted, yet exactly the space I needed.
Through everything, one piece remained a constant: Archie changed me.
He was the most present soul I've ever known, and losing him forced me to think a lot about what it really means to be here. And when he was going through his final season, I made him a quiet promise:
To stop pretending, stop chasing who I thought I was supposed to be, and just live honestly.
FINDING MY VOICE
That promise changed the way I approached everything.
Music found me again, or maybe I finally stopped running from it. I picked up a guitar, started writing songs, and rediscovered how naturally storytelling came to me.
What began as a way to express myself became something more. Through songwriting, I found myself revisiting the experiences, emotions, and questions that had shaped my life. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't just trying to make sense of where I'd been…
I was becoming curious about where I was going.
And the more I reconnected with that curiosity, the more I began looking beyond my own experiences, wondering what I might learn from the lives of others.
Reconnecting with that part of me opened the door to where I feel life was always leading.
A SMALLER INFINITY
What began as a journey to understand myself was becoming a desire to understand the world around me and how it shapes our lives.
So I finally began turning toward a question I couldn’t shake anymore:
What makes a life truly rich?
I've always felt drawn to nature, unfamiliar places, and the different ways people experience the world. The older I get, the more interested I become in understanding what we actually need to feel fulfilled, rather than what we've been taught to pursue.
That curiosity has led me to begin developing my first book, A Smaller Infinity.
It's a long-term literary exploration of extraordinary lives and simpler ways of living around the world, centered around one fundamental question:
What if everything we're searching for is found in less?
Through travel, immersive experiences, and conversations with people whose lives challenge conventional ideas of success, I hope to explore what it truly means to live richly.
I've experienced firsthand how simplifying my own life has changed the way I see the world. But I'm curious about something deeper: Why does simplicity resonate with us so profoundly? What does it reveal about what we truly need, and what might we discover when we begin challenging the ideas we’ve inherited?
Those are the questions I want to spend my life exploring.
THE LIFE I’M BUILDING
These days, I'm less interested in becoming something and more interested in being who I am.
I continue to make music, write, explore, ask questions, and build a life that reflects what matters most to me: meaningful experiences, genuine connection, creativity, and the natural world.
I'm learning that living richly isn't necessarily about doing more or having more. It's about becoming more intentional with what we choose to make room for.
Some of those experiences become chapters in a book. Others may become songs. And some are simply meant to be lived.
Whatever form they take, I hope the stories I share encourage others to examine their own lives, see the world from a different perspective, and discover what living richly might mean to them.
I'm really glad you're here.
Welcome.