The other day I was replying to one of our followers who emailed us to let us know how much he loved our blog and how he was living vicariously through it; "My dreams have long since been abandoned", he said.
This made me sad. And it made me think; dreams do not have an expiration date.
This man literally felt that his ship had sailed. But it had not! As long as a person is living, willing and able - dreams don't need to be abandoned. It is so easy to make excuses, it's so easy to say it's too late. If we have learned anything throughout our journey it is that living your dreams takes tremendous effort and, depending on your dream, significant risk. You have to be willing to sacrifice, you must be willing to fight, and you must be willing to take the good with the bad. If your dream is to see the world, it doesn't need to be by boat; it can be by car, by bus or by train! Get creative. Dreams evolve and they have a tendency to lead you to places you never imagined. Doors open up, people reach out and magic begins to happen. Trust me, it is MUCH easier to abandon your dream and live life as you are, but if there is a dream that is tugging at your heart strings, the consequences could be dire. The air is full of the whispers of discarded dreams.
For those of you who need a little inspiration - here's an excerpt of a book I've just started reading; Tales of a Female Nomad. It is the story of Rita Gelmen who, at 48 and on the brink of divorce, traded in her high society life in Los Angeles and began living out of a backpack and traveling the world as a nomad. If nothing else, maybe she can offer you a little perspective:
I first realized something was missing about five years ago when a woman wearing a floor length muumuu and sandals sat next to me on an airplane. She told me she was in the business of booking sailing tours for captains around the world...As she was telling me about her trip, tears began streaming from my eyes...
(I realized) I was crying for my lost spirit. I remembered that once I'd dreamed of sailing around the world, of paddling down the Amazon, of sitting around a fire with tribal people and sharing their food and their lives. My husband had no interest in boats or tribal cultures...
Three months later, I boarded the Tigris without my husband...and was touched by the world of otherness.
I was never the same again.
- Rita Goldman Gelman
It's never too late live your dream. It is not late to live the life you imagined.
Love,
Brittany & Scott
I love this post. It never is too late to live the life you have imagined. We've had to change up our dreams as of late. Getting demasted in the channel in Charleston has meant the end to our sailing dreams, but we're working on some new ones.
ReplyDeleteLove reading your adventures. May your sails always find the wind...
Love this! Achieving one's dream is not easy, or everybody would get there. However, getting there after all the sacrifices makes it that much sweeter. Glad ya'll are "livin the dream" and we know we'll get there too! People like you two give us the confidence.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely LOVE Gelman's book, read it right after graduating college & it set me on the course of dreaming VERY big. We're still in the getting prepared for adventure phase but never ever have let the dreams pass...life is nothing without out dreams.
ReplyDelete"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." - Goethe
I'm honored that you chose to quote my book. Thanks. My dreams are still alive and thriving. I'm going on 24 years as a "nomad" and still loving it. I'm also working to make the Gap Year a common practice in the U.S. so that high school kids have a chance to discover who they are and to gather the kind of experiences that will feed their dreams. Check us out. www.letsgetglobal.org
ReplyDeleteYour writing has reminded me something I had forgotten. I was once a kayaking nomad, later a mountain biking nomad. Somewhere in there, I got "respectable". I'm making adjustments and shopping for a cruiser now (once I dumped my big foreign car and its maintenance bill, a boat is looking really affordable). Thank you for helping me keep my eye on the prize!
ReplyDelete@ Nicki - sorry to hear about your mast :( - but there is a reason for everything and I'll bet you and your boat will come out stronger on the other side!
ReplyDelete@ Rita - thank you for a great book and a great perspective - happy to hear from you and happy to hear you are still living the dream, 20 years later!!
@ anonymous - awesome!! Keep your eye on the prize my friend!!
Okay... I found you late Saturday night, began reading, began searching the web, thinking/dreaming.scheming! It got me thinking as a kid I had dreamed of warm waters and palm trees over my head, the breeze on my skin as I went over the water...But being a land lubber who was born by the sea but quickly moved inland by her parents I have no idea how to sail!
ReplyDeleteBUT...
Sunday afternoon( yes, yesterday!) I found a little Hunter 146 2008 boat for sale 8 hours away from me in Calgary. This weekend I have a 3 day weekend..perfect timing..I made a deposit and now am doing a road trip!My husband is crazy horse about the idea too ( He's a Newfoundlander and loves the ocean too)
With a few big lakes within an hour of our home up here in the frozen north of Alberta we will get our skills and have alot of fun I think! Just reading that another young couple has gone and done it has given us the kick! We have lots of time, and we also have 3 small fur-children to think about...hard to sail with 2 cats and a dog..so we will hone our skills a few years, and figure out a way to get tot he west coast/ Vancouver and start really sailing! Maybe when we're down to just the dog we will let go of our moored lines and go...
Here's to dreaming!!
Carmen in Grande Prairie Alberta Canada