Change is HARD

I think we all know that’s an understatement… we’ve all been in these situations in life.  Standing at a crossroads and staring blindly into an unknown future.  We’ve all felt the fear and trepidation that can be wrapped in the abyss that lies on the other side of a big leap/step off a cliff in our own timeline. 

The current precipice we stand upon feels as big or bigger than any we’ve faced before, and those of you following along for a while know that we’re no rookies to big change...  

We spent the last year losing our business/livelihood to, for lack of a longer description, one man’s greed. 
That was clearly going to create ripples/waves in our life (losing your income stream can do that), and we have been adjusting/adapting as best we can:
 
1. We just sold our house back home, effectively releasing what remained of any semblance of home or home base for us (though we’ve only been there once - for a few days, in the past 6years. 

2. We’ve listed for sale our floating home, which we’ve lived and travelled on full time for those same 6years (short of a month of travel back in 2022)... the longest home we’ve ever known together or in our adult lives.

3.  We spent the last few weeks prepping/packing/cleaning the boat and then boarded an international flight with carry on bags only… with a still developing itinerary and zero idea what lies at the end only a few weeks ahead.

That… is a daunting list of massive life changes that would have sent the old me into the corner to assume the fetal position.  Oddly, and still surprisingly - that is not the case here. Does it feel “big”? Of course.  Are we spinning a bit from all the change, from the countless lists of things to do and to complete before we boarded the plane?  No doubt.

But do we feel scared or afraid for the unknown in front of us?  Somehow… no.

Maybe fear (or lack of fear) of change is simply a muscle that has to be exercised or a skillset that comes with experience/repetition. 

It’s now been almost 13years since we quit the rat race and ran away to find ourselves, to find our happiness and chase our dreams of freedom.  That first leap was clearly terrifying (for at least one of us) and the very reason this blog was created… to write about those fears and the realities of making change (while also sharing our travels/experiences/memories), and several of the steps along the way have been equally so.  We have now run out of money (or “bounced off the bottom”) a couple times over and each of those crossroads felt almost just as daunting as the first decision and “leap” into the unknown.

With each and every leap forward, we seem to find a bit more comfort and confidence.  It’s not that we had any more idea or knowledge of what was coming at each of the crossroads, but we are growing more and more faith in ourselves. In our ability to figure it out along the way. In our ability to reinvent ourselves, yet again.

That belief doesn‘t diminish the size/scale of the precipice, or the magnitude of what lies ahead, but it does somehow make it all more comfortable or least less terrifying. Instead of cowering in fear or trembling in the fetal position, we are understandably sad to be saying goodby to a lifestyle we have not only truly loved/embraced but once also truly believed was impossible for us to experience in this lifetime (much less to experience for several years while still young enough to enjoy/embrace it fully).

Instead of feeling lost in the unknown, we’re actually excited to see what comes next. We still have no known path forward, but we are also excited to see what comes next. Selling our house did not solve our issues, but it did provide some much needed breathing room. That, along with all of our planning/dreaming discussions as made us truly optimistic about what might be coming.

Change (and/or fear of it) seems to be like any other muscle... the more you use it the stronger it becomes. At this point we embrace change as opportunity. It's not always that clear cut and often still comes bundled with many, many other feelings and issues and problems - but the change itself is no stranger and nothing to be feared. Quite the contrary it seems, at least on our journey thus far.

If you're struggling with your own change (or the fears caused by it) and want some help navigating it - please don't hesitate to reach out.