Anyone who knows me will be aware of my involvement with MIY Yacht, one of the largest yacht syndicate companies in the world. You may think that this is purely a business decision, after all the yacht industry has seen incredible growth over the last few years, even during the pandemic, so it is a sensible investment from that perspective.
While that is all true, it is also a matter of passion, I love boats and I always have done. Today a boat may be a 90 foot Yacht worth millions, but there really is something special about life on the water, and you can enjoy it too, even with an inflatable rib and an engine that cost a few hundred dollars.
What is it that's so special? The thrill? The glamour? The fun?
Freedom!
If you have a boat, the adventure could take you anywhere. There are no limits out on the water, go where you want, wherever your fuel or sea breeze will take you, see the beauty of nature surrounding you and just let the stress and expectations of daily life just float away. Travel for 30 minutes and you can be away from everyone and everything if that is what you want. You can spend hours without seeing someone else, or you can find a bay, anchor up and throw a party for complete strangers on other boats around you, the choice is yours. The water allows you to live exactly as you want, but it’s a freedom that you can control, you never feel lost. You may not have a plan, you may not even know where you are heading, but you can always have a sense of direction. Even if it’s just heading towards that funny mountain shaped ridge down the coast. A boat unleashes your freedom unlike anything else, but a boat also shows us that we can do better elsewhere in life too!
Whether it’s your job or your personal life, or just pursuing a hobby, we can all live life as if we are on those waves, with the freedom that brings. Life seems full of limits, you must follow a specific path, from choice of job to our choice of friends and even hobbies. Henry Cavill has had a remarkably successful career in acting, he played Superman, and is one of the favourite's to become the next James Bond, yet people who have achieved little in life mock him, because he is open that one of his hobbies involves painting miniature figures and using them in tabletop games.
This is an example of how the world tries to railroad us in certain directions. Henry embodies what life on the water is all about. He sees something he likes, he goes to it and enjoys it. He breaks out of the narrow confines of the path we are supposed to follow and sets sail in his own way. He knows that some will look down on his interests, but he understands freedom. Freedom is taking your own path to happiness, not following others.
This can apply to all of us, we can all learn to bring that attitude of the open sea to the way we live each day. You may not always know where the destination is, but you can decide a direction and enjoy the journey. Once you adopt that mindset of freedom, knowing that you can do and achieve anything you want, life becomes a more positive experience. Because like a boat, there is nothing to hold you back, you really can achieve your goals as long as you are prepared to keep pushing towards them. All you have to do is free yourself from the mooring ropes that tie you down, self-doubt, peer pressure and other negative influences, and set sail on your own journey in life.
A boat reminds us all of what freedom feels like, the joy of being able to head off in any direction, and the reason it is so joyous, and if you are new to it, so surprising, is because daily life can seem full of barriers to stop anyone doing that, even if they want to. But the reality is, you can create your own path, find a new direction and go out and enjoy the things you want to enjoy, you just need to convince yourself that you can.
Enjoy the freedom of the waves every day by unleashing your own positive vision, be what you want to be and see where it takes you.