44 27.82 N 073 23.17 W
We have come to realize that one of the great blessings of retired life in general (and the cruising life in particular) is the freedom to be spontaneous. This morning we planned to sail to Valcour Island. The weather isn't the best. Therefore we delayed departure to this afternoon, or perhaps tomorrow or the day after that. Weather above all other factors, is what steers our decisions. As my friend Bob on Carpe Diem said so elegantly, “We don't live in a boat, we live on a boat.”
The value of spontaneity however, extends far beyond weather. It is a major factor in allowing us to relax. To enjoy life. To stop and smell the roses so to speak. When everything is planned and scheduled, our lives are robbed of the ability to be spontaneous. We become less the masters of our own lives and more slaves of the same.
Is it true that the lives of all non-cruiser modern people of all ages are becoming more planned, more rigid, less spontaneous? It seems that way. We are poor judges though. We can not see with the clarity of un-involved outside observers.
In our first years of cruising, Libby reminded me often. She said, “Stop thinking like a project manager – hurry hurry hurry all the time.” It took me several years, but gradually I changed. Now, I think the transformation is complete. Our only unyielding imperative is to migrate with the seasons. Indeed, when we must commit to being in a certain place at a certain time more than 48 hours in the future, our stress levels raise noticeably. We observe that is a characteristic shared by most long term cruisers. They hate the idea of promising to be a specific somewhere at a specific time in the future.
My favorite expression of the feeling is as follows. “365 days of the year we get to decide whether to stay here, or to go some other place. If we do go, we get to decide where. Who else on this earth enjoys that freedom?” In other words, we are nomads and we enjoy the spontaneity of that life style.
We have come to realize that one of the great blessings of retired life in general (and the cruising life in particular) is the freedom to be spontaneous. This morning we planned to sail to Valcour Island. The weather isn't the best. Therefore we delayed departure to this afternoon, or perhaps tomorrow or the day after that. Weather above all other factors, is what steers our decisions. As my friend Bob on Carpe Diem said so elegantly, “We don't live in a boat, we live on a boat.”
The value of spontaneity however, extends far beyond weather. It is a major factor in allowing us to relax. To enjoy life. To stop and smell the roses so to speak. When everything is planned and scheduled, our lives are robbed of the ability to be spontaneous. We become less the masters of our own lives and more slaves of the same.
Is it true that the lives of all non-cruiser modern people of all ages are becoming more planned, more rigid, less spontaneous? It seems that way. We are poor judges though. We can not see with the clarity of un-involved outside observers.
In our first years of cruising, Libby reminded me often. She said, “Stop thinking like a project manager – hurry hurry hurry all the time.” It took me several years, but gradually I changed. Now, I think the transformation is complete. Our only unyielding imperative is to migrate with the seasons. Indeed, when we must commit to being in a certain place at a certain time more than 48 hours in the future, our stress levels raise noticeably. We observe that is a characteristic shared by most long term cruisers. They hate the idea of promising to be a specific somewhere at a specific time in the future.
My favorite expression of the feeling is as follows. “365 days of the year we get to decide whether to stay here, or to go some other place. If we do go, we get to decide where. Who else on this earth enjoys that freedom?” In other words, we are nomads and we enjoy the spontaneity of that life style.
p.s. We've been offline for the past few days. We may be offline more the rest of this week.
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