Philosophical bent...

[bcguy]

In my 50's have achieved the boat and freedom to cruise (single hander) so far just the BC Canada coast. After 6 months, I felt the "requirement" to go back to work which I have until next spring. Is this (work) a symptom of a malaise of modern man...(Pavlovian conditioning industrial society) or is this just a life change hump that cruisers must face & overcome. Or is it something as Don Henley sings... "learn to be still". Perhaps there has already been a good discussion of this and someone could refer me to the appropriate posts. Can't think of a time when I have had such angst over something I have dreamed about for so long... and now have. I am aware of the Saying... Be careful what you wish for because you may get it.

[Sunspot Baby]

I find cruising and the attendant work of navigation, maintenance, etc meets my need to feel productive.

The voyage, the other cruisers, and locals we meet are gratifying. If we truly have a need for self fulfillment, I can’t imagine a better way to achieve it.

Only Hertzberg’s hygiene needs and/or empty cruising kitty could make work a “requirement”.

George

[ssullivan]

Good thread, BC guy. I used to think like you, but had a drastic shift. The problem is, you haven't been kicked in the teeth by capitalism yet. I set up quite the fancy career and was dumped from it in 2001 when a number of factors aligned. It took that event to open my eyes as to what, exactly, an employer is. It is certainly not a safe, secure entity that has your best interests in mind. Like any company, it's out for one thing only: profits.


I suspect you probably haven't been out sailing long enough to forget about the need to work at an office, or you have a feeling of self-worth that is somehow tied to your job and/or working. It is very liberating once this feeling is gone. Surprisingly, it even helps you in your career.

So I'd say... ignore that urge to go back to the grind and keep on cruising. Head down south a bit. Stop into harbors and *volunteer* if you have enough money to last your lifetime. That is work, but it's work for a good reason.

Volunteering can keep you busy (if that's what you're looking for) and even help you find a kind hearted soul to cruise with in the future.

[delmarrey]

I enjoy work. And it doesn't have to be for money. But I won't turn $$$ down!
One gets pleasure out of seeing the fruits of one's labor. It's natural. Ask any skilled boat builder.

I have built specialized machinery that is still running 30 years later and will probably be around long after I'm gone. One takes pride in his accomplishments no matter what it is.

Work for some people is Hell. They don't like what they are doing but yet they stick with it. That, I don't understand. I guess it's a form of self-abuse.

My plan, once the boat is ready, is to cruise a while and work a while. But always keeping the boat at hand. I will never stop working until I stop breathing.................................._/)

[David_Old_Jersey]

BC

Kinda like my own (non Boat) experiances. - used to head off on holiday for up to 6 months a year and found that by then I was ready to come back "home".

Of course 5 minutes after starting work again I couldn't remember what was so wrong about that palm fringed beach in the tropics

I won't say I was ever "homesick" or ever actually enjoyed working.........just that it was nice to not be "enroute" anywhere (even though I never really travelled much once I arrived somewhere warm). It was however nice to have points of reference in common with other folk and also a shared history with freinds, it also saved a lot of repeated explanations. Of course I guess it also helped that their was (and still is) "stuff" that I want to do here. 6 months on dry land (even year after year) is not really enough to put down proper roots, I figure it would be harder afloat, where basically you have to rely on whoever is onboard a lot more than would be "normal" ashore. Of course different stroke for different folks.

Also 6 months at a go was about all my liver could take "back in the day", and about as far as I figured was wise in regard to the "Lost Plot Matrix" and being able to return (and function!) at "home".

The good side was that when on my 6 monthly travels / holiday I wasn't always skint like those chasing the "endless summer" living (existing??) on a Dollar a day (usually someone else's ). A rule that I guess would also apply to Crusing on a Boat. if not more so??


SS Ulli van

"It is very liberating once this feeling is gone. Surprisingly, it even helps you in your career. " - agree with you here, once yer realise that certain things are not actually important in the great scheme of life (and for most folk work is a means to an end - money to do "nice stuff", like boats - it's not about curing cancer. Unless yer work in a lab.....developing Meds for cancer ). I have developed an attitude of not being actually bothered workwise, and it was a surprise to me that this often comes accross as complete confidence - which in my game has seemed to work well............But feck it. if it works??


"The problem is, you haven't been kicked in the teeth by capitalism yet." - only a matter of time Op, only a matter of time

[Charlie]

"Never do a shitty job well."

[GordMay]

Two of the greatest gifts of the cruising lifestyle are:
Time and Independence.
Time to study, learn, and discover.
Time to think, reflect, ponder, contemplate, and speculate.
Time to gain knowledge, acquire skills, and develop new competencies.

A surprising survey* of adults, by the American Psychological Association, has shown that the most important factor to happiness and well-being is self-esteem. Also important were feelings of independence and competency, often brought about by high self-esteem. Surprisingly, common traits like popularity, power, money or luxury were rated the lowest.
The well-known psychologist Abraham Maslow, who charted out a hierarchy of human needs**, put self-esteem above basic survival needs such as food, shelter and clothing.

*APA News Release & Abstract: What Makes People The Happiest? Researchers Say Its Not Money Or Popularity
Full Article: http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp802325.pdf

**Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs: Educational Psychology Interactive: Maslow's hierarchy of needs

FURTHER READING:

A Theory of Human Motivation ~ by A. H. Maslow
Classics in the History of Psychology -- A. H. Maslow (1943) A Theory of Human Motivation

The Nine Basic Human Needs:
June 1997 -- Basic Human Needs

[coot]

Originally Posted by bcguy

After 6 months, I felt the "requirement" to go back to work which I have until next spring. Is this (work) a symptom of a malaise of modern man...(Pavlovian conditioning industrial society) or is this just a life change hump that cruisers must face & overcome.

Am I to understand that you feel like you should go back to work, but you do not know why?

Often, angst about something you are doing / not-doing is related to some prediction you make about how that affects your future. Do you feel like you will run out of money? Do you feel like you won't be able to get a job if you stay away too long (eventually leading to running out of money in the more distant future)? Are you perhaps one of those people who likes a set routine, and you know that getting a job will bring a routine with it?

[Starbuck]

Charlie posted:

"Never do a shitty job well."

from What is Your Life's Blueprint? by Dr. M. L. King, Jr.

And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don't just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn't do it any better.

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can't be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.

Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.

[bcguy]

Hello to all and thanks for your thoughtful and helpful posts.

I agree with all of them to varying degrees. Self esteem (Gord) was interesting to comtemplate. I suppose if one agreed with the argument and self esteem was received from past work, co-workers, friends and family then being away from "hearth and home" ...cruising, would be contrary to this "primary" need. I am also in part agreement with Mark about insecurity over money which is preached to us daily in consumer culture and by such sad spectacles as "homeless" folks....in other words "fear". I have sufficient funds for careful lifestyle aboard and as I find moments wherein I remind myself of this, I suppose this too is a factor.

Anway, this issue is resolving itself out internally and I thank you for your thoughts and insights... I am looking forward to getting aboard again in April and "ignore that urge" (Sean) which is the tenacity of conditioning routines of past decades.

Gary

[Charlie]

Charlie posted: Quote:
"Never do a shitty job well."


This quote has nothing to do with the quality of your work. It is a sound bite that requires some thought. It has everything to do with doing what you enjoy and not getting stuck doing something you don't enjoy just b/c you are good at it. I have a friend who had a job he was really good at. It took him 60 hours a week to stay on top of his job but he really didn't like it. He realized that he was missing his family growing up and took a lower paying less stressful job that he liked.