Trying not to run aground

Life is not always what we expect it to be.  When I started my “now” I had a vision of what was in store for me.  I thought I had a road map that would guide me through my idyllic transition from a day to day life in an office to 6000 miles of road travel to finding the perfect sailing “home”.  Table and Chairs included! But recently we ran aground. Literally.  We were where we thought we were supposed to be.  Motoring our 45 Foot Sailboat right down the middle of a plotted channel and all of the sudden “thump” we stopped.  We tried moving backwards out of the area we were in and “thump” again!  We tried moving forward to literally plow our way through.  Nothing doing.  Many attempts to un-snag ourselves were fruitless.  We finally realized we needed help.

Being aground isn’t always a bad thing.  After 30 minutes or so waiting for a tow boat I realized I was in no danger.  Nothing horrific was going to happen to me while waiting and it was actually pleasant.  Much of my life has been just like that.  Looking back on day to day life I realized that we all spend a lot of time trying not to “run aground” and sometimes we simply live parts of our lives aground.  Ideally, life should be a progression of moving forward in some small way everyday.  Sometimes we just plod along going in small circles never making any forward headway not that this is necessarily a bad way to live.  I seemed pretty happy doing it for many years.

Recognizing the signs life gives us to know when we should be moving forward isn’t always easy.   We may not have run aground if we had watched the channel markers instead of sticking to the plotted course.  Being afraid to trust what is right in front of your eyes is something that is sometimes burned out of us after years of “living in small circles”.  Trusting yourself to take the first steps in a new direction (any direction) is scary and sometimes you need someones help to pull you through.

I am trying to live paying more attention to the signs than what I thought was my plotted course.  Making the transition to this type of thinking has not been easy.  On our journey we are meeting many new people who have lived their lives in this way.  Doing things much braver than I have ever conceived.  Listening to their stories makes me realize that anything is possible and while scary, moving forward can be fulfilling.

Are you living in small circles trying not to run aground?

 

 

We’re off to see the Wizard!

I thought I would ask the Wizard for Brains, but what I really need is a large dose of courage.  Courage to leave the home I have known pretty much my whole life.  Courage to leave friends, who I am afraid will forget me.  Courage to embark on a new way of life.

The whirlwind that started this journey down the “yellow brick road” was almost as forceful as a tornado.  6 months of selling everything we owned.  Cutting ties with much of the material “stuff” in my life.  Stuff that literally defined me.

From the time I was  very young a table and chairs symbolized who I am.  Those who have known me long enough will remember the Barbie table and chairs in the back window of my first car.  A plastic table, chairs and toy food all anchored in the back window of a blue 1970 Maverick.  I don’t think I really knew then why these things meant enough to me to put in the window of my car, but it was a sight to see!  I now think I was traveling with these things looking for my home.

I always made a table and chairs available to the people in my life.  Whether that meant casual dinner parties or full blown events. These physical comforts were somehow my link to the emotional stability I may not have been able to outwardly show to the important people in my life.  I could show people I cared by how well I set my table.  Home is where my table and chairs are and right now I have no table or chairs.

I find I do not miss the physical table and chairs.  The time in my life when these things are truly necessary is over.   My emotions are still swirling around in the tornado that will take us to Oz.  When we find the Emerald City I can have my table and chairs again.  But now, I am looking forward to traveling the Yellow Brick Road.  I hope that all of the important people in my life will travel the road with me even if they are not sitting at my table.