I hear this sort of thing a lot, that life is short and people should
do what they really want to do etc.....However, i think many people
talk about doing things they really do NOT want to do as if they would
like to do them. Cruising can be stressful, like, "Will my anchor
hold..." When the opportunity really comes, many people will find they
really do not want to sail away because normal life really is
comfortable while life on a 27' boat will be fairly uncomfortable a
lot.
I have friends who spent years building their dream boat and finally
sailed away last year after defferring sailing for years. I was
shocked to see them back here recently and was told that they had spent
most of last year avoiding storms (many hurricanes) and the cruising
kitty was empty. They were back to look for jobs...........huh? I
wonder, did they find that the cruising life was really not that great?
That seems like a lot of effort to find that out.
Many people are tied down by real circumstances, like children who make
it very difficult to buy a 35' boat and you know that 3 kids cannot
live on a 27' boat. Children do not have to be the thing that ties you
down but they really do change your perspective on life and preceived
dangers.
Some of us (myself) talk a lot about cruising but are so in love with
our work that we would not be able to give it up even to sail. Life is
a constant compromise between our love of cruising and our love for our
work.
If a person constantly says " I would love to be doing ######## if I
just could" and then does nothing to achieve that dream does need some
waking up but I really see very few of them.