Help talk me off the cliff!

[got seashells?]

It was a very scary moment for us when we took our first jump. (we still have 2 hops to go). We did the retire, sell the house and move part last year. It was more of an adjustment for my husband (or so we thought it would be) as he had never lived more than 15 miles from the hospital he was born in. But we had done a lot of traveling and we just knew that we wanted to see more. We purchased a very small 2 bedroom house in St. Pete Fl and we purchased a power boat to play on for the next 4 years. Or until we find the perfect for us sailboat. As of right now we plan on keeping the small house for sort of a home base for when the boat will need to be serviced and for time with the kids and grandkids. So far I must say we have been so happy. The final box was put on the uhaul in 13 degree weather and when we left we felt giddy and excited about our decision. Like I said it has been a little over a year and we still have not felt any ting of remorse. Take that first jump and just keep on hooping toward the dream. When you look at all of the people that are in nursing homes living out their last says you start to realize that you never get to keep all that you worked for. They all had dreams and some of them even got the big house and all that fills them but they are going to the same place as their new bed bound roommate. I just hope that when that is my fate I have filled my memory bank enough to get me to the end!!

[JPA Cate]

A64pilot,

Of course, you could work again, if it mattered to you to do it. You're the kind of man who can make it happen, if you choose it.

The post about perspective shift is very perceptive. I've watched it happen for some friends of ours who were in commercial real estate. That man just had to always be doing SOMEthing. They left the States while we were back re-filling the cruising kitty, and I knew they'd be okay when she sent us a picture of her husband, in shorts, under the shade of a palapa in the blazing Mexican sun, utterly asleep, in the middle of the day. Previously unheard of behavior, for him.

There are few external demands when you adopt cruising as a lifestyle, and it's always fun to see "the other side of the mountain". If you've been that kind of a guy all your life, it ain't gonna change, mate!

Ann

[sailorboy1]

I've been killing my knees the last 3 days house painting as part of selling it! I did a little research and found out there are houses all over the world, so why the hell would I want to keep the one I currently have. I'm trying to figure out what to do with all my "stuff" and getting a trash dumpster is starting to sound like just the ticket.

I have 1 month 15 days of full time work to go, but who is counting?

[a64pilot]

I could work I guess, I have a few silly certificates, A&P, Inspection Authorization, HVAC etc, it was what I have made my living as since the early 80's as a test pilot that I doubt I could find employment as, but really I guess, if I ever have to go back to work, I will be drug back, it won't be because I want to.
I've seen several that work until they are no longer able, and die shortly thereafter. Often, they have to due to finances, but sometimes it seems as if they have nothing else to do.
I hope there is more to life than work, I've raised three kids, almost, lived most of my life below my means and have saved for retirement.
I'm tired, getting up at 05:30 in the morning to go to work and going to bed at 8:30 so I can get up at 5:30 has grown old. I am by nature a night person.
Wife is a Middle School teacher and while they only work 180 days a year, it eats her lunch, kids are not kids anymore, they do things that we never did and she teaches in a Rural School district. She is tired too, actually tired is a good way to label us.

When you make that decision to quit, it's tough to continue to work, and I made that decision more than a year ago. At first she was against it, but I believe now she has seen the light, she can't fully Retire until 60, so she won't Retire as that is six more years.
I feel that even if I could stick it out for six more years, I'd be too old then to begin cruising, and financially there is just no need, or shouldn't be anyway.
The last few years in the Army were tough but I stuck them out for the Retirement and I'm glad I did, just have to stick this job out for another year. I believe it will be a long year.


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[daletournier]

Originally Posted by solarbri

I go with the planless plan.
Don't over think it.
Buy a boat, any boat, and get out there.
The plan will make itself.
If the boat needs to be sold and upgraded later because you want to sail further than you thought, do it!
If you want to go back to land or end up doing a 6 month on 6 month off program, it's all there available!
I bought my first boat, a one of a kind folding trailerable 36'x24' catamaran 5 years ago.
Spent damn near all my money on the boat. Didn't know how I'd afford to go sailing. Didn't have much skills...etc.
After only one summer of sailing the boat up on high alpine lakes (2 one week trips), I signed up for the 2011 Baja Haha.
I'm currently sitting on my beloved cat with about 6 weeks left of my fifth winter cruising up and down the coast of Mexico.
I sail everywhere and often. I've sailed over 3,000 miles each year. This year will probably be over 4,000 miles.
I'm only 44 now, and have been pre-tired for 5 years. I have no retirement account. I work construction in the summers.
Last fall I sold my house. I'm owner financing (which is good for me-I'm terrible with money) and getting monthly payments for the next thirty years! This is the first year on the water that I'm not going home totally broke with credit cards being racked up just to get back home. Now, the only thing keeping me going back to land is to see and hang with my kids.
I couldn't have dreamt up a more satisfying lifestyle.
I'm sure the $ struggle and my trust in the magic makes this way more fulfilling than someone with everything planned out and with the $$$ to deal with anything that happens.
Rock on!!!



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Great post. You just start moving forward and things just work out. I'm a planner that has come to realize you just can't plan it all. Life will happen the way it does.

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[barnakiel]

As I suffered the same 'pains', I think it is OK to post again in favour of jumping the cliff, with a wingsuit (your boat and your new found cruising lifestyle).

Off all the people I know who got 'gone fishing' some stayed on their boats (like us, 13 years now), some went back to the Babylon. There was not a single broken life, we all feared change, we all went for it, we are all fine, mostly alive, and the alive ones are kicking.

Changing your lifestyle does not have to be permanent and it is OK to try and see how it fits you. If anybody blames you for trying to find happiness in your life, these are probably not people you want to have as friends.

My other thought is that it is ultimately up to what one really is. If you are a natural open air person, you will twitch and itch and, no matter what, you WILL give up any tight collar job and find yourself a boat, a van, a mountain hut, whatever. Then again a person who is born to live in a house and is happy in normal daily routine of 9-17 may go out and try adventure and find that's not what really drives them.

I think 'know thyself' is a result of taking up challenges. You will at a point know what drives you, you will be more of a yourself.

Wishing luck to all those who are thinking of jumping and/or not.

b.

[JPA Cate]

There are always little projects on boats, you never give up working. it is that the work is way more intimately involved with your sense of well being than working for an idiot is.

Everything that you make perfect before you take off is a potential tinkering possibility. Stuff eventually wears out, but there's also going to be lots of time for exploration of people and places. You're gonna have a good time.

Ann