I recently read a very honest blog post, written by a woman I really respect, about how things aren’t quite working out as she’d thought they would as she embarked on her new cruising lifestyle. Understandably she was not happy with a few things going on—all temporary but still not good—some unexpected health issues, the uncomfortably hot climate where she is right now, too much social isolation, and a bit of “cabin fever” staying on the boat at anchor with a baby. An intelligent woman, she was evaluating how she found herself in this situation and communicating to all her blog readers that she felt she’d made a mistake. Yin/Yang I expected to see a blog post in a week or two about how she’d changed a few things to improve on the situation. I then read with interest, a day later, her husband’s blog post which appeared to be written in reaction to emails or comments people had made about this lovely couple’s chosen lifestyle and path. His style, though different than hers, still was laying out the pros and cons of their decisions leading to this moment.
I can’t comment on whether they’d made a mistake—after all, one person’s dream life is another person’s nightmare. Even what I want in my own life one day can dramatically change the next. I don’t think anyone can be the judge of anyone else’s life choices—whether they appear to be successful or not. We all have our friends, family, and others who are often too ready to give advice. The bottom line, though, is that we are all alone in our journey through life and our understanding of whether we’re living the life we seek lies within us. When we follow the paths trodden by many people, we’re often surprised when we’re not happy with them.
The blog post by my friend reminded me that last year I authored a Quora answer on tips for living a location independent life here
The tips I shared on Quora are salient for wayfaring voyagers:
* Advice is always skewed towards the view of the person giving the advice. For example, the general advice from folks with little accumulated in the way of possessions, career progress, or money will tend to be focused on how to travel light with very little money. The advice from more established folks who have successfully maintained homes, possessions and career progression while achieving a location independent life will tend towards how to maintain a certain lifestyle or income. Be wary of all advice.
* Listen to no one save yourself on the matter of “where” your independent life should be or how long you should be there. Find the places you’d like to be, research them, and go there. This may, or may not, involve traveling all the time. It may be that you settle into a spot in the middle-of-nowhere or into a suburb of your favorite city. This is YOUR location independence, not mine nor anyone else’s.
* Lots of folks will try to sell you their dreams. Be careful of paying for seminars and courses to help you achieve your location independent lifestyle. Much of the same information is available for free.
* If you need income to support the lifestyle, soar with the strengths you already have–just think about how to tweak your work into a location independent version of the same.
* Location independent–It’s not about being frugal with money, it’s not about having too much stuff or making do with less stuff, nor about carrying too much of it around. You’ve just got to optimize your situation to get to the place(s) you want to be and living the life you want to live.
* Go for it.
David and I have found that not only will people try to sell you their dreams—they also want you to live their dreams: either by your following in their (sailing) footsteps or doing exactly what they think they would do if they were only “free” to live your life afloat. Seriously.
David and I may lie in bed some morning, listening to the grebes chirping on the water, hearing the lapping of wavelets on the hull, and staring at the Alaskan Yellow Cedar overhead glowing in the sunshine reflected off the water, and sigh contentedly about this life we’ve chosen. Or, we may stand on deck side-by-side in the night, tense with worry or regret, following an argument about how one or the other of us should have foreseen a calamity that was too close upon us as we sailed in a hostile seaway. Sometimes the unhappy moments linger into days of self-question and evaluation or sometimes the happy moments euphorically allow us to glide through many dreary days until another magical experience materializes. In the Goldilocks vein of things, we try different experiences on for size and continue on our path mostly finding the “just right.”
It is in the quiet moments of contentment that I am reminded of a favorite quote of mine by Henry David Thoreau:
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
