Friday, June 15, 2012

Shackled By Our Dreams?

While we've been "living" aboard our new boat this vacation week... I've been trying to mentally prepare myself for some of the changes I will face as we transition from life on land to life afloat.  There are a great many internal struggles in progress in my mind, one of which is dealing with reduced income. 

I haven't quit my job yet, but I'm working on changing my mindset from buying whatever I want when I want it... to , well... NOT!  ( Thus the title of this entry )  Maybe "shackled" is a bit extreme, but for someone who has spent unwisely for years... it's a very limiting feeling to THINK about making a purchase and in many cases... to forgo the purchase altogether.

Now I will grant you that when you hear a couple of the examples of what I've NOT bought, you may think I'm a nut... ( a spoon rest for the galley stove, a sponge holder for the galley sink)  OK, maybe I AM a nut!  But I'm working on it!  I reminded myself that although I still have inches of lovely waterline to sink... I need to be sure that the things I do bring onto the boat are things we really need or at least things that will make a quantifiable  difference in our quality of life. 

Understand that I have chosen this path willingly and embrace it fully, it's still going to take a lot of adjustment, both physical and mental.  But for just a moment, when I was deciding not to buy those things (and a whole list of others), maybe I was seeing that as a negative.  (But I WANT a spoon rest...)  Thankfully, I was reminded by a Cruising Blogger that I follow... of something I had read years ago and have often related to others.

Here is a link to the blog entry that has my mind back on track again.  Sometimes it's good to hear your own advice coming back at you from someone else...  Thanks! Mid-Life Cruising!