Cruising life appears to have two faces. And it seems true in so many aspects. Andy told you about our emotional ups and downs in his last blog post. But in addition to that, there are the extreme weather patterns for example. The sun gives way to an extreme downpour and minutes later you find yourself again in the burning heat. At night you lay in your berth and you either sweat, because there is no wind to cool you down, or you get almost blown overboard. That is also true for sailing, there are the sweet moments, the perfect condition “champagne sailing”, windspeed, wind direction and waves in perfect harmony to make you fly over the water. Or you get thrown left and right, hoping the passage is coming to an end soon.
In order to enjoy this perfect meal on board, this incredible moment when the sun just hits the horizon and you sip on your chilled Piña Colada, (usually the moment when you get your phone out to capture that perfect moment), you also had to overcome one or the other low.
But such is life, there is no bad without good and no good without bad. So we invite all the challenges that come our way to make us see and enjoy the brighter days and try to stay positive and present even when it seems to get rough.
Sending this from “paradise” must seem pretty arrogant and more so ignorant of all the big problems that humanity faces everywhere around the world.
Us, talking about challenges preparing a meal, when wars, poverty, disease and climate change are shaking the world. And yet it is our own “little” world of existence we can truly influence by our own doing and thinking. When we are talking about past sailing experiences, we realize that we keep remembering the challenging times, storms, anchoring problems, lines caught in the prop and so on. So what we remember at the end of the day are not only the perfect sailing conditions, the sunset dinners or the chill moments between the turbulences of life, but the turbulences themself that make us grow, make us stronger and make us enjoy and apreciate our time on this beautiful planet.
