B
y: David Burns
I want to share my story about how honey bees created a career change and total life change for me…for the better.
My early life wasn’t too much different than most people. I got married, went to college, graduated, pursued a career and had a family. As a young man I started struggling. There was a time when I felt like I was drowning — drowning in debt, in loneliness, in the crushing weight of failure. We were living from friends and family, and we felt very isolated. We didn’t have friends to lean on and with five kids and bills piling up, it felt like a relentless struggle.
I liked my career but it was becoming more difficult to feel supported. I started facing criticism and a steady stream of constant disapproval and negativity. It was tough trying to work in an unsupportive environment, which steadily drained my motivation. I was starting to hate the career that had once felt so promising and rewarding.
Then, amidst all the noise and pain, I found beekeeping. Or maybe… the bees found me. I can’t explain it, but it felt like they were sent to me — like some unseen force brought them into my life at the exact moment I needed them most. Maybe it was divine intervention, fate, or just the universe knowing I needed saving. But as I stood there, watching the hive for the first time, it felt like they were showing up to teach me something, to heal me.
I think I started beekeeping as an escape, but I quickly realized this was more than a hobby; it was a lifeline, a kind of sacred encounter with nature. The more time I spent with my hives, the more something shifted inside me. The bees weren’t just insects — they were messengers, teaching me to live through their example.
My little colony of bees became my friends. They didn’t judge me. They didn’t criticize me. They simply were. Day in and day out, their calm hum was like a balm to my soul — a reminder that there was a simple kind of beauty in just being, just working together. Then, all at once, they were in trouble. I remember the day I watched my bees fail — they lost their queen. And in those early years, I didn’t know what to do. I had no idea how to help them; I felt powerless. I thought they were doomed, without hope. And I couldn’t help but feel that something so beautiful, something that had brought me back from my lowest point, was about to disappear, as if I had been misled all along.
But, lo and behold, my bees never let their loss and struggle hold them down. They didn’t give up. They got to work, raising a new queen. And within no time at all, she emerged and began building up the hive, making up for lost time. Watching them, I learned something that has stayed with me ever since: even when it seems like all is lost, when life strips you down to nothing, there’s always a way to start over, to turn a new leaf. The bees didn’t wait for things to get better; they made things better. They didn’t give up—they found a way to thrive.
Beekeeping didn’t make my problems disappear. My job was still hard, money was still tight, and some days felt unbearably heavy. But the bees taught me to find joy, even in the smallest moments. I started seeing the beauty in the everyday — the warmth of the sun on the hive, the calm hum of the bees working together, building something that mattered. The bees showed me that life isn’t about being free from troubles; it’s about facing them, day in and day out, and finding the courage to move forward anyway.
The bees gave me hope again. They gave me a reason to smile, to keep going, to believe that even in darkness, there is light. They showed me that happiness isn’t something that comes from outside — it’s something you fight for, something you build, piece by piece, just like the bees built their hive.
And maybe that’s why I share this story with you now. Because no matter how heavy life gets, no matter how many times the world tries to tell you you’re not enough, there is always a reason to keep going. To find your purpose. To build, just like the bees.
Beekeeping gave me more than honey and hives — it gave me hope. It gave me a reason to keep going when I thought I had lost everything. And I can’t help but wish that someone else, someone feeling as broken and lost as I once did, might find that same joy and strength.
I keep bees because I have to. Because I love what they’ve done for me. I make beekeeping videos not just to teach or to grow a community of followers but to give hope. I’m hopeful that my videos can reach and encourage a lonely soul at the end of their rope, and that maybe, through these little glimpses into my life with bees, someone will realize it’s going to be okay.
If you’d like to watch my video on how to raise bees of Winter physiology, visit: https://www.honeybeesonline.com/davids-youtube-channel
David Burns is an EAS Certified Master Beekeeper since 2010 and has been beekeeping for nearly 30 years. A life long educator, David’s passion in beekeeping is education. He has a popular YouTube channel and podcast, has authored a beekeeping book and speaks all year at beekeeping conferences, conventions and bee clubs.
