We Bought a Boat!
This might be the craziest thing I’ve ever done!
I think we just bought a boat! I only say “think” because it’s all pending the boat survey, scheduled for April 12th, which seems forever from now!! Assuming all goes well, we will be the proud owners of a Hunter Passage 42 sailboat. We plan to travel the east coast of the USA and eventually the Bahamas with her. She’s a little older than we originally wanted to invest in (1990) and needs some updating, but we know she can be a beautiful boat as we’ve been watching a LOT of videos featuring the same year and model. These videos have provided inspiration and peace of mind during the arduous boat-buying process.
I want to share our story with you for three reasons today:
You can see how to move from just dreaming to taking small action steps today to achieve your biggest dreams tomorrow.
If you don’t have a big dream waiting to be birthed, I hope it inspires you to start dreaming bigger!
I want to be able to take you on this journey with us and see the exciting AND challenging parts. (like everything in life;))
This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment idea; it's something my husband and I have been dreaming, thinking about, and planning for years. As I look back on the path (hindsight is truly always clearer), we have not just “thought about” this but have been taking steps towards this big dream for a long time.
We’ve been making intentional decisions about our lives and careers ever since the dream was birthed in our hearts and souls for this crazy adventure. I believe it’s because of the action steps we’ve been taking that we now see this dream becoming a reality.
We planned waaayyyy ahead - It started with our house; when our boys grew up, and we became empty nesters, we decided we no longer needed to live in the country on 8 acres of land. So we sold our house & downsized as many empty nesters do. But what we did next was the step towards this goal to travel. Instead of purchasing another home, we’ve been renting for the past eight+ years. We knew we didn’t want to be tied down to another mortgage. (We do have 3 married sons, so when we need a place to live off of the boat, it’s payback time!)
We did the same thing with my husband’s truck - instead of buying or leasing for five years, he took a short-term 27-month lease when he got his current truck 16 months ago.
We created a deadline! Our lease is up on August 1st, 2023, and we’ve decided to make that our deadline to move onto the boat. (I won’t lie, the past 2 years FLEW by and it does freak me out a little that our deadline date is now only a few months away)
I created my business with living on a boat in mind. I knew I didn’t want to deal with products, holding appointments, or people needing me five days a week. This thought was one of the many that prompted me to retire as a network marketing/direct sales leader. I knew I would need to create a laptop lifestyle business. I do LOVE being in person and hope to fit in live workshops occasionally, but for now, most of my business is done via zoom. I can truly work from anywhere. I’m even taking this a step further now, as I will be creating a Discovering Your Calling online course for passive income). (more on all of this in a future blog where I will break down what you need to create a laptop lifestyle business)
We’ve been practicing and working our way up to this boat - We started with a 1976 19ft. Oday mariner in 2007 to see if I liked sailing. Since I did, we bought a 26 ft one the following year (the 19 ft was like being in a pup tent!) Eventually, we moved up to a 31 ft Hunter, which we loved but was too small for this big adventure. This boat we are buying wasn’t our first- sometimes you have to work up to a bigger dream or calling and test a few things out along the way.
We shared our dream with others - our kids, co-workers, and friends. They became “dream holders” for us. We couldn’t NOT do this!! They’ve been asking about it. This became our accountability. And yes, even though we now have six grandkids, every one of our boys, daughters-in-law, and grandkids (at least the ones old enough to say anything) are excited for us to do this. They plan on being on gramma’s and boom-boom’s boat for vacations, I can’t imagine the memories we will create with all of them!! It’s hard to share your most significant visions and dreams with others, as you never know how they will react. Some will become your dream holders, and some will laugh at your dream. But for us, even the doubters in the dream inspired us to keep striving for it!
We kept the dream alive by watching others do it. Where we live is like a live vision board. We live where the Erie Canal spills into the Hudson River, so all summer long, we see boats coming and going. We’ve met people of all ages and demographics and on boats from million-dollar yachts to 25 ft ancient sailboats. The one thing they have in common is they are traveling on their boats like we want to do. In the winter, we spend a lot of time watching YouTube videos of people living this dream. Knowing others are doing it reminds us we can do this too!
If you are still reading this, thank you for being a part of this dream with me today. My hope and prayer is that sharing in our dream will help re-inspire a dream in your heart. I’d love to be a dream holder for you.
If it feels right to you, share these two things in the comments below or email me:
What dream is in your heart that you’d love to achieve
What is the next best step you can take to start moving toward that dream?
I genuinely want to know, and I’ll be waiting to hear from you!
And keep watching for more news about the boat. This is just the beginning of a long process…
Listen to the full episode here:
PS… in case you are wondering if we are nervous about this big dream! 110% YES!!! Very much so!! It’s the craziest scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I’m scared to death! But my excitement outweighs the fear. I am choosing to live in the fun possibilities VS the fear zone.
PPS… If you are ready to dream bigger and create a thriving business & life in 2023, the 5 To Thrive Guide and mini-course was created for YOU! Download your free guide today, and you’ll be sent a bonus training to help you navigate your talents and create the life of your dreams!
