The Necessity of a Curious Mind, the Learning Curve of Having ‘Free’ Time, and the Unexpected Privileges of Cruising
While cruising requires constant effort, researching, and improving of one’s skills and knowledge, it also allows for some downtime to take up new hobbies. This new found downtime, while not as plentiful on a cruising boat as you may expect, means having a mind that is curious is crucial. Having downtime is a learning curve for many of us. As a special educator who is pretty active in my community and with friends, I rarely have time to devote to engaging in new hobbies, so any time on the boat when I was not actively doing something felt…well…a bit odd. At first, I didn’t really know what to do with myself, and like many of us, felt guilty not doing something ‘productive’.
At first I dove into books…fiction, historical non-fiction, science-fiction thrillers…oh my! I wasn’t a reader in my childhood, but adulthood helped me learn the excitement of reading and how fruitful it really is. After a bit though, I felt the need to do something different with my time; I wanted more than one activity to enjoy during our time out ‘at sea’. There is certainly nothing like hopping on a floaty with a beer and a book and spending the hot afternoon in the water reading, however, I wanted to diversify. I’m someone who gets bored with the same routine, which is probably why I was initially attracted to both teaching and to boating in the first place. But, how after years of not having any time to pick up new hobbies, was I supposed to pick a new one?
So, there I was, in the middle of Lake Champlain, hanging out at anchor on a beautiful summer day…bored. Ah! The horror! I felt guilty and uninspired. This was an unexpected but real challenge. It illustrated the necessity of having a curious mind while boating, for both safety and practicality, but also for my own entertainment and personal satisfaction. This pushed me to think about what I want to spend my time doing and to think what truly is important to me. It was the first time in my adult life I was not constantly busy. This was one of the unexpected privileges of cruising, and is how I became empowered to start playing an instrument – the mandolin!.
Learning any new hobby is intimidating, and I’m constantly thankful that our cruising lifestyle (along with the fact that Pat has about a thousand really cool hobbies, all of which he is amazing at!), pushed me to be creative and develop a much more curious mind that constantly wanted to learn and improve. While I’m not mandolin rock-star (hopefully one day!), I have gotten to the point I know a number of songs and actually performed, and have found it to be one of my favorite ways to spend time. Without cruising, I never would have been motivated or had enough time to pick up new hobbies, and I certainly wouldn’t be as critical around how I was spending my time. Now, even on land, I’m thoughtful around using my time to engage in things I’m passionate about. It’s just another reason I feel so lucky and thankful to have discovered my love of cruising, and therefore my love of many other hobbies that fill me with happiness and satisfaction.