ARE YOU CONTENT TO STAY DOCKED OR ARE YOU READY TO SET SAIL?

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."  mark twain

I read this quote and it really opened my eyes.  For ten years I lived on a sailboat with my family and we traveled to various ports along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and the Bahamas. We actually spent very little time sailing and quite a bit of time at anchor or tied up in various locales.

Leaving was always hard as we had made friends, learned where all the good shopping was and where the best places to eat good food were. In other words, it had become familiar. So, when the time came to leave, it meant putting the familiar behind and setting off for somewhere new.  Questions and doubts. Excitement and Fear all rolled into one.

But as we pulled into the new harbor with eyes wide open at the new vistas surrounding us, we always knew we had made the right decision. We inevitably made new friends, found even better places to eat and there were so many new places to explore (museums, libraries, fresh food markets). Of course, some places were not as memorable as some, but there was always something or someone there that would go into our memory as unforgettable. So we would wonder why on earth were we so reluctant to leave our last anchorage?  If we had stayed look at all we would have missed!

Then after a few weeks (sometimes a few months) the time would again come to pull anchor and move on.  And you know what?  The same fears and doubts would raise their lovely heads and the whole process would start all over again.

Why is change so hard?  We know from experience that almost always it leads to much better things, but we invariably resist it.  Here we are on a new lifestyle journey where so many changes are necessary. Changes in eating habits, changes in activity, changes in thinking and attitudes, most of all , changes in long established habits.  We fight it, we resist it, we try to deny it's needed. "NO!", we scream. "It's too hard. I just can't."  Is it can't or won't?

 If we stop fighting ourselves and give in to those changes and stay the course, we see that the new harbor is so beautiful and well worth the changes necessary to get there.  Our new bodies, new minds, and new attitudes only come when we step out in doubt and fear and make those necessary changes one small decision at a time.
Are you ready to set sail? Or are you content to stay tied to the dock? It's your decision.

The world awaits.