A post I posted yesterday on facebook has brought back a memory that I think is worth sharing as it was a pivotal moment in my young life, I believe that it helped to shape the person that I am today, and it has formed many of my decisions of how I want to live my life.
This is a photo that was taken in 2001 while I was kayaking in the Bahamas with my ex-husband for 3 months. I was 23 years old.
We lived off the land, spearfished for fish and lobster, ate conch, coconuts and whatever else we could muster up. We had staples with us like Rice and Corn, and we would paddle back to Nassau occasionally to stock up on some veggies and other food, but we mostly tried to live off the land. We cooked on an open fire, true survivor style……..BEFORE survivor even existed!
After paddling around the area of Nassau for a month or so, we decided that we wanted to attempt to make a crossing to the Exuma Islands, a chain that extended to the south east of the Nassau area. We made a 23 mile crossing on open ocean (we could only see land for 6 of those miles!) to get from one island to the next. We navigated with a small hand held GPS unit (they were brand new to the marketplace back then and very basic!), and the compass that was mounted on the front of the kayak.
It was a daring mission, and one that I can only imagine was attempted because of our youthful naivety and a trust in the universe that everything would be all right. I don’t know if I would have the guts to do this again! While there is so much more to this part of the story to tell, and I feel like one day I will write more about it, there is another part that I would like to focus on today.
Once we reached the Exumas, we saw on our maps that there were fresh water cisterns dotted along the islands, so we knew that we could fill our 3-5gallon collapsable water tanks with them if we needed to. But it turned out that this wasn’t necessary.
We started to come across boat anchorages where sailboats and others were anchored. As we would paddle into them, sailors would yell to us and wave us over, wanting to know where we had come from and where we were going. We didn’t realize it then, but what we had accomplished in crossing to those islands was pretty remarkable, and we gained much respect from the sailing community.
Once they would hear our story, they would inevitably offer to fill our water jugs from their desalinators, and many times would offer us extra food stores that they had, especially if they were heading back to the US.
We met one man on one of the islands while walking on the beach one day. He asked where we were from and we told him our story. He was surprised that we didn’t have a boat, and we showed him our tent and camp where we were set up on shore. He marvelled at this life we were living, and he asked many questions. He told us that he had some supplies on his boat that he wanted to share with us, and told us to paddle over later on to get them if we wanted. Of course, we were thrilled to do so!
The man was probably in his late 60’s or 70’s, and he had an absolutely BEAUTIFUL trawler that was decked out with all the bells and whistles. His family was there with him, including grandchildren, and one would think that he must be the happiest man in the world. It was clear that he had succeeded at life.
However, when we paddled up to his boat in our skimpy little kayak, he leaned over the railing and looked down at us with the most sorrowful eyes that I think I have ever seen. He said “Boy did I ever live my life wrong. I worked so hard my whole life to be able to finally retire and do the things that I always wanted to do, and now that I’m doing them, I realize that I am too old to do them properly. You guys really are doing it right!”
At the time we just sort of shrugged it off, yeah, we were living life all right, but we really, at that age, didn’t understand what the future held, or how difficult life could get. Now, in looking back, I can see how easily we all get side tracked with doing the things that we think are expected of us, and just living life according to the rules.
This man had all the things he wanted in the world, the boat, the things, the money, the family, but he had lost his youth. He had worked too hard and he forgot to enjoy himself and do the things he wanted to do along the way.
Too many of us are living our lives this way. Let’s use this story as a lesson. Let’s all get out there and live an exciting and exhilarating life NOW! There are no more moments to waste, the moments are passing you by every minute of the day.
Each of us has the ability to do the things that make us happy! We can ALL make decisions to pull the plug on our life RIGHT NOW, in order to go and find one that lights us up and gives us the energy to move forward.
I hope that this story can inspire you to live your life according to your dreams. I will admit, I got caught up in the rat race as well, but I also realized that it wasn’t serving me anymore, and I made the tough decisions to make some massive changes. I have reprioritized what is important to me, and am now following my bliss and doing only what I love!
Of course, there are hard days, and life isn’t perfect and rosy all the time, but I know in each moment that I am in charge of my experience, and if I don’t like something, then I change it.
Don’t be like this man. Don’t strive for all the riches in the world, just to arrive and realize that you missed out on so much along the way.
“The only thing you regret in life is the risks that you didn’t take.” ~unknown
Thanks for listening and have an awesome day!
