We can do adventurous, interesting things

Kainui, July 2021.

Our friend Tyler sets sail today on a round-the-world trip.

Having acquired a vessel suitable for the journey, gathered all of the gear, and plotted his course, he’s ready to go.

Many people have a dream of circumnavigating the globe. Tyler is actually going to do it. He has the skill and resources to make it happen. Just as important, he has the mindset. He has the will and belief. He has the confidence to ask for help and the humility to receive it. He has the courage and self-assurance to say, “why not me?” He has the determination and focus to follow through.

Without that mindset, the dream dies. For so many of us, the heavy debate over what we will allow ourselves to pursue smothers the ember of desire that is nudging us forward to take action. We can easily come up with a million reasons why our thing won’t work. We will save ourselves a lot of hard work and hassle that way, but we won’t get to do anything cool.

As far as I can see, Tyler has carried out the necessary steps to reach his goal without angsting around about whether he should do it, whether he can do it, or (ugh) whether he deserves to do it. It’s certainly possible that these moments of second-guessing are happening and I just don’t know about it. If they are, though, they aren’t preventing Tyler from taking action.

When I hang out with people like Tyler, I’m reminded of what’s possible. Even if we’re not going to go to the trouble of making every idea a reality, all ideas are fair game. There’s no concept that’s off limits, even an ice cream shop on a float on a mooring out in the harbor (it would be called the Ice Cream Float). The world becomes a giant playground, full of interesting opportunities.

I am pretty good at playing on that possibility playground, but I usually need to see someone do a thing before I internalize the idea that I could try it, too. It was meeting people like Kyla and Quinn that helped me to see that having a fully online business is a real thing, and you can run it from a foreign country.

Eric, Thumb, and Katie showed me that hiking the Appalachian Trail is doable (along with Libby, who is finishing her hike right about now — congratulations!).

And it’s been illuminating to work closely with people for whom it’s no big deal to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Tyler is a trailblazer—he’s the one that people like me are inspired to follow. Whether it’s a journey into homesteading, entrepreneurship, or traveling the world by bicycle, he jumps in and does it. That’s how I want to be. And witnessing Tyler’s example, I realize that I could be that way. Like him, I could choose to be.

If we’re waiting for someone else’s permission to live the life we want, we’ll be waiting forever. The wilder and more ambitious our desired path, the more concern or even criticism we will face from others. It doesn’t have to shut us down, and neither does the internal narrative that’s trying to protect us from discomfort and difficulty. We can venture forth anyway.

We may never have the approval or certainty that would make us comfortable, but we can still do adventurous, interesting things. If we’re willing to be uncomfortable and uncertain, the world opens up.

Bon voyage, Tyler. Wishing you fair winds and following seas. Come back and see us.