Table of Contents
Thanks
In the previous post, Reality, Check! we arrived at a decisive cross-road in our journey. Along with hard decisions came a very stressful period, which I can summarize as emotional chaos. Doubts, fears and uncertainty are a few of the contributing elements, while underneath it all, a worry of what the future holds gave way to a much needed pause for introspection. As the great Lao Tzu reminds us:
Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself? (Tao Te Ching)
I want to take a moment to say Thank You to the amazing people that have been following our adventure so far. It’s an overdue thank you triggered by the overwhelming response to our previous post. In reality, the encouragement has been ever present since our little blog debut. In our recent activity downtime, we reminded ourselves of how lucky we are. We are grateful to all of you.
Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. (Melody Beattie)
Introspection
For the past two weeks, Denise and I took some time to reset on a number of fronts. We realized how draining the past eight months have been and the dangers of maintaining our unsustainable pace. The goal has been to look inwards and appreciate all that we acomplished for the past several months, and especially for the five weeks living aboard Rachel J Slocum. I believe the missing ingredient has been Perspective.
The only journey is the one within. (Rainer Maria Rilke)
To achieve our goal and gain perspective, a change in scenery was also very important. We flew to California to stay with family. The COVID quarantine became more of a soul searching exploration. Certainly not boring.
To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world (Rudolf Steiner)
While sitting in a quiet, suburban southern California home (with a real shower, toilet and no musical shrimp), we didn’t break a sweat once. We didn’t lift heavy objects or trace unknown hoses. I did replace a toilet water supply valve, but that’s my only lapse. Instead, we used our safe haven and limited responsibilities to focus on us. To remember the great work we did in restoring our boat’s interior to a clean, cozy and enjoyable space. To marvel at how we managed to sprint for eight whole months and not fatigue our relationship - only our bodies and minds :) Finally, to account for all that we managed to learn in the short five weeks of adjusting to a tiny home where we are surrounded by things to learn.
Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. (C.G. Jung)
We are now that much closer to feeling comfortable not knowing what’s next, but being enthusiastically open to finding out. With these two weeks behind us, we will be making our way back to Florida.
Roadtrip
With renewed appreciation for our present and much of our self-confidence regained, we will be taking a roadtrip back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Our 3,000 mile journey in our Mini Cooper will double as a little vacation. We will treat ourselves a bit with new vistas and local cuisine. Denise will get a chance to spend some time behind the camera, which I know she missed. Most importantly, we will be back in adventure mode and, as a couple, stronger than ever.
We welcome your suggestions for sites and good eats along the way. Despite the COVID restrictions, we feel optimistic about the adventure ahead.
What’s next?
As hinted above, the answer we’re striving for is: I don’t know, but I can wait for it to reveal itself. It’s a tough fight when you spend a couple of decades under the impression of controlling your life.
For now, our decision to sell the boat remains. Feel free to look at the listing if you’re curious or interested. More details on this will surface once we are back in Florida.
Thanks for reading!
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