Are you toying with the idea of living the sailing life but not sure if it’s worth the effort? Do you worry that it might not be all it’s cracked up to be? Are you afraid that once you get the boat and start sailing there will be an initial high but like everything else in life your new lifestyle will become normalized?
If you’ve never changed your lifestyle before you can’t be blamed for having these doubts.
How many people do you know that lived lifestyle A and then changed to lifestyle B. It just doesn’t happen very often. Most people carry on living the same way they always have despite a change in circumstances – even a major change.
For example, when changing jobs or careers there will be a period of adjustment and at first, things might be exciting and new. Over time, however, the new job or career becomes normal and life goes back to being the same it was before. The job changed but you still go on living the same lifestyle.
It’s similar when you buy a new house and or move to a new town.
Once you’re settled, life will carry on roughly the same as it always has. You’ll watch the same TV programs, enjoy the same or similar activities, shop at the same stores and after you make a new social circle you’ll have the same circle of friends. You physically move but your life remains very similar to the way it was in the past.
Today I’m here to let you know that choosing to live the sailing lifestyle is not like a new job and it’s nothing like moving house or town.
In contrast, buying a sailboat and embracing the cruising lifestyle will enable (or empower?) you live a totally different life.
That might mean that you will ditch the TV, expand your range of activities, explore new routines, and have an overflowing ebb and flow of new and old friends coming and going all the time. You will also have the opportunity to travel the world seeing the most spectacular sights, enjoying new cultures, trying new foods, and partaking in new and unexpectedly amazing experiences. Additionally, you’ll become a sailor and whether you want to quietly or out loud you can call yourself CAPTAIN.
Not having made a lifestyle change before it might be difficult to fully imagine your life version 2.0.
Pretend, if you will, however, that your life and everything in it is thrown up into the air – your car, house, activities, routines, places you hang out. And then you’re thrown far away to new lands, with new people and a new lease of life. You don’t land with your house and car, you instead find yourself in a beautiful vessel allowing you to live and sail the deep blue seas.
Heading out into the cruising world will allow you to join a lifestyle that embodies outdoor living, exploration, adventure, marine life, new friendships, loads of experiences, and the type of memories that are so magical they’ll be etched into your mind and body forever.
Days are spent executing a passage, enjoying a jaw-droppingly beautiful anchorage with white sandy beaches lined with palm trees or heading out for a dive, or hike up a volcano with newfound friends from the anchorage.
Mornings are blissfully rewarding while watching the quiet glow of dawn sneaking up onto the horizon.
Evenings are spent celebrating a wonderful day lived as the sunset bursts into life with yellows, oranges, and pinks one last time before saying good night.
Your new and old cruiser friends will talk about good anchorages, where to find the best bakery, and what’s the solution to your latest boat issue. You’ll arrange sundowners on the beach with a few boats and decide who’s bringing the salsa and who’s bringing the chips.
On the beach, the small group will enjoy light conversation and at some point, someone will say:
Hey – aren’t we the luckiest people around? How could life get any better than this?
You will all look at each other, your heart fills with gratitude and you’ll almost feel anxious or even scared that this feeling won’t happen again. You then remind yourself, ‘Don’t feel anxious…this happens every other night. It happened tonight and this amazing feeling will happen again very soon.’
The thing is, is that you really don’t know what a lifestyle change is going to be like until you do it!
Simon, Sienna, and I lived in the UK before we moved onto our boat. Most of our time was spent indoors. We’d occasionally go for country walks or to the seaside. Our lives were predictable and routine. I took the train to the city, went to work, and then came home.
Simon looked after Sienna, went to toddler groups and we all passed out late at night in front of the TV. Our meals were ‘ready meals’ or we got take away. Every week we’d see our friends and family by visiting the same coffee shop, bar, or restaurant. And a couple of times per year we’d go on vacation.
Advertisers constantly sold us stuff we didn’t need. The health organizations foretold us of oncoming illnesses we should expect. The employment world made us believe that we had to do jobs we didn’t like in return for an eventual reward when we retire. Our fears of putting our daughter into the mainstream education system resulted in worries of conformity rather than creativity.
Simon and I felt like a round peg trying to fit in a square hole.
Our lives in the UK weren’t bad. We had what most people would label a great quality of life – we had a nice house, nice cars, great vacations, and a beautiful group of friends around us. We achieved success as society defines it but…
But we weren’t as fulfilled as we thought we could be. Something major was missing.
Had we never taken the leap to the sailing lifestyle we’d never been the wiser. But since we have taken the leap, and lived it for almost seven years, I can say that we weren’t really living the lifestyle that was true to our nature. We were living someone else’s definition of success rather than living the life that made us thrive. A big difference!
So – is the sailing dream worth the pursuit? Is it worth the effort to live the sailing lifestyle?
You surely can guess my answer 😉
When considering whether or not you want to make a go of your sailing dream, realize that it’s not a change of job or a new house. You’re not swapping out a section of your life, you’re swapping your life for another life.
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And if you want the unique opportunity to try-before-you-buy into the lifestyle, come sailing with us on Britican in the Caribbean. See, hear, smell, touch, and taste the lifestyle with us for a week or longer to determine if living the sailing life truly is worth the effort. 2021 is filling up fast! More information: Britican Experience.
| THE BRITICAN EXPERIENCE - A WEEK-LONG BLUEWATER CRUISING EXPERIENCE | |
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| "We have been following Kim and Simon on YouTube for a while now. So when they introduced the Britican Experience program, we were excited for the opportunity to experience time with them as part of our research before we make the leap into this different lifestyle that we're considering. From the outside looking in, the Britican Experience might seem like any other charter vacation where you get to see the environment of living in a small space and the freedom of being able to pull up anchor and move to the next lovely tropical paradise. The Britican Experience is about immersing yourself in the life and culture of a boat community and the daily practices of having a floating home that moves constantly, the trade-offs you make for this life, and the peace and serenity of a much simpler existence. You are enveloped in the experience as soon as you meet them! When we met the Britican family it was as though we had known them all our life. For us, the Britican Experience was really about a change in mindset. We became comfortable calling the boat our home, and it became routine to consider how to keep it safe, clean, and comfortable. We dined with great people, ate delicious food, planned and prepared for passages, fished, stargazed, chased rays and turtles while snorkeling, raced hermit crabs, trimmed the sails, steered into harbors, and made decisions every day due to the changing conditions and environment. After not too long we were in the swing of things, embracing the need to be flexible, not making decisions based on a schedule, and realizing that a crimson horizon and a cool sundowner are perfect introductions to a lifelong excursion of blue-water bliss. The Britican Experience is an affirmation, a reality check, a confirmation that this is the lifestyle and life that we indeed are going to pursue. It gave us the confidence that we could reach for and grasp what the Britican crew is experiencing every day. With heartfelt thanks to Kim, Simon, and Sienna for their hospitality, patience, wisdom, and, friendship- we look forward to sharing an anchorage together!" The Lander's Family. Check out our availability here: Click here for more information. | |