It’s similar to that advice you get when people say “choose your dream job, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Except I think this is an oversimplification. You will work. Every day. And it won’t always be fun.

But what you’ll find, when you’re working, is that there is a extra bit of motivation and keenness about what you’re doing that doesn’t exist in “some job” you work just for money.

Not all the work is fun. But all of the work IS rewarding… because you are working directly on something that gives you pleasure.

Living the cruising lifestyle on a sailboat is something you pick because it’s your dream. Your passion!

Yes, it causes you plenty of hardship and stress: things break, storms rise up, and sea states make you ill and lose sleep. Not to mention the bills for supplies, fuel, equipment and repairs seem endless and, sometimes, insurmountable.

But then, I ask you, if that’s the price of living your dream, would you do it? All things being equal, I’m thinking you would. In a cold minute.

Accept the whole truth of your dream, and you’ll never be disappointed

I think what you realize when you start actively pursuing something important to you is that… life is happening now. Every second. And every second you spend NOT working on or towards that one big dream of yours feels like pain.

Not the “no pain no gain” kind. The “what am I doing with my life” kind.

I’m not trying to bum you out with this, but I think it’s important, as it is something I thought about a lot when we made the transition to this life. I had to ask myself if I was ready for the realities of living on a sailboat, even though I wasn’t fully aware of what all those realities were going to be. I had to reconcile the motivation I had to live this dream with my willingness to overcome any hardships that would arise by pursuing it.

These aren’t always easy questions to ask yourself… especially when you can’t truly know how it’ll be, until you do it.