Adventures Await

As I buy gear, make improvements and otherwise transform F&P I remind myself not to lose sight of why.  My energy is finite and the many threads of my life seem infinite in their demands.  It is easy to get lost.

Frogs Rock

This winter has been a reminder that I'm not young anymore.  A sudden seizure during an outing with friends, emergency surgery, death of loved ones, sub freezing temperatures, loss of employment, loves and friendships fading away in time - all in the past six months.  Sometimes it feels all at once.

But what to do?  Cave into the warmth of a couch and consume whatever media is shoveled my way?  Avoid risks and discomfort?  Grip relationships like a fistfull of sand in the waves?  

“Not bloody likely” - Princess Anne (at gunpoint during her attempted kidnapping).

I read once that the secret of staying happy is to live like a student.  From that premise I’ve formulated a lifestyle based on learning, connections / community, and travel.

But they have to be interegrated, with a unified purpose.

I was, during the late 90’s, hypermobile by any standard.  Once, I was sitting at an airline terminal flipping through the stack of tickets for the week’s travel.  I counted them and to my astonishment there were twenty flights scheduled.  I wasn’t astonished by the number of flights, but that I had almost not taken note until just then of how many there were.  I traveled in pursuit of professional recognition and riches.  By most measures I achieved both and burnt out in ways that I still haven’t recovered from.

I’ve always sought knowledge, but my scope has been narrow.  Worse, I’ve hyperfixated at the expense of relationships and community. One step forward, two back.

Less than a week ago I heard from my lawyer, my divorce from Rachael is final.  And with that news, the last strong tether to the region is cut.  My goals here have been fulfilled and staying feels like inertia.

I have always had an ambivalent relationship with money.  A tool, a measure, and too quickly a burden.  Too often, at the height of my success, I found myself dating and fending off interest in the perception of a better lifestyle - and not any innate facet of my being.  It is easy, and unfullfilling, to approach relationships / romance in a transactional manner.  I know this for certain.

And so I find myself contemplating the weather (Freaking cold AF), relationships (existing friends are neglected and/or far away, potential connections thwarted by misaligned life stages), money (what is the point of working when I can live on what I have) and so on.  I have concluded that It is soon time to hoist my anchor and ramble onward.

Which is why I have bought F&P, a dinghy, an outboard, 1kw of solar panels, a battery bank and a ton of equipment.  This site is about the stepping stones to gosh knows what. 

The next iteration will be different.  I increasingly view marina's as lavish couches by the water.  A great way to waste away the years.  This year I intend to live at anchor and force myself to connect with community to thrive.  Failure is being a boat hermit, success is laughter and merryment on the water.

Come laugh with me.