I’d Rather be Sailing
Posted on July 24th, 2008
Since I was but a boy I have heard the call of the ocean, beckoning me to take my rightful place in this world as a seaman. Unfortunately I was born inland with a deathly phobia of sharks. However, my longing for the sea has not waned and I remain facinated with the naval tradition even today. How does this affinity for all things aqua affect my everyday life, you might ask? How do I cope with this unrealized dream that burns deep down inside me?
Well, I listen to a lot of Jimmy Buffett, I watch The Hunt For Red October whenever it comes on TV and I take baths instead of showers whenever possible.
You might say I’ve given up on my dream of being a sailor. You might also say that I’ve lost part of who I am by not following this passion. You might be a jerk. But, as we all know, you can’t be everything you want to be in life. Some desires have to give way to others so that we may be genuinely successful at one thing rather than kinda good at many things. It’s how we deal with these lost opportunities that make us into one of two kinds of people:
1) Happy, well adjusted, relatively normal individuals.
2) Losers.
Here is my theory on how to make sure you end up as number one instead of number two:
First of all, you need to make sure your dream is achievable. For example, we all say at one point that we want to be an astronaut when we grow up. This notion is just ridiculous. Astronauts have to go through a crazy amount of training and possess an above average skill level. By odds alone, it’s clear that most of us will never achieve this dream. Plus, space is kind of scary. It’s so dark and big.
Also, the Challenger disaster comes to mind.
Of all the dreams you may have, you’re going to want to decide which is most important to you. Sure, I’m intrigued by the idea of setting sail for unknown lands and letting the wind take me where she will, but I have other dreams too. Dreams that are just as important to me and a lot more suited to my skills. Among these: Fireman, Dog Catcher, Highwayman, School Teacher, Writer, Comedian and Tank Driver. I was a Fireman for a summer and it was fun, but I didn’t want to do it for the rest of my life. I attempted to pursue the School Teacher angle but that wasn’t nearly as fun as it seemed it would be. While I know I would be an awesome Tank Diver, I simply don’t agree with what tanks are used for these days. Finally I ended up writing and trying to be funny and so far that seems to be fitting quite well.
You see, whatever you’re true passion is, you will end up doing it. It’s just a matter of LETTING yourself do it. This is why serial killers have such a rough time in life.
I’m looking at you Jack the Ripper.
Once you find yourself doing something that you love, you have to be persistent. If you want to be a ballerina and some jack-ass ballerina teacher tells you that you suck, you have to be able to continue anyway – even though ballerina instructors are known for their acerbic tone. While being persistant you also have to know that the image of what your dream will look like is probably not what it will turn out to be at all. In my dreams of being a comedy writer did I imagine myself on YouTube with some shlub named Andrew Menzies?
Yes, yes I did, but I’m the exception to the rule in that regard.
You also have to be prepared to make sacrifices along the way. Those sacrifices just might mean choosing between 2 or more dreams. Like me and my sailing. If ballerina boy from the example above also wants to be a golf course groomer, he’s got a tough choice ahead of him. Of course there is a chance that you can have more than one dream come true. I might just make it rich enough through writing to own a sail boat, pay a crew and live my Jimmy Buffett fantasy. But that would be a bonus at this point. I’ve made my choice in life and if I get to the point where I can be both a ballerina dancer AND a golf course groomer I’ll be very lucky.
The key to keeping a balance in your life and not getting hung up on the fact that your life is not working out how you’d planned is to keep your expectations low. And by low, I mean non-existent. And by non-existant, I mean vague. People who think they know exactly who they are going to be in 5 years almost invariably end up on somekind of anti-depressant. Life is so much more enjoyable if you roll with the punches while staying true to who you are. If you’ve always seen yourself having a family but no one will date you because you smother them with your insecurities till they get a restraining order on you – look into getting a cat (or a dog if that’s more your style). You see, the key is to make compromises whilst living your life for you.
In closing I’ll just say this: Sailing is really cool, but if a ballerina teacher told me I wouldn’t be very good at it, I’d pack my bags and go to a golf course where I’d eventually end up writing a funny story.
Think about it.
Tags: All Blogs, ballerina, bob woolsey, Comedy, dancer, dreams, golf course, restraining order, sailing
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One Response to “I’d Rather be Sailing”
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Nick Says:
July 25th, 2008 at 1:47 pmI disagree, I bet that serial killers don’t really have THAT rough of a time in life…