As cruisers I’ve been asked; what has changed since cruising? For years I didn’t have an answer. It is rather like”seeing the forest through the trees”. Now; having been back in the states a few months I am able to suss out an answer; just a wee bit.
Before we left on this adventure we had an almost daily ritual. There is a sea wall in front of our building and it extends down the canal we would motor in and out of. We walked it often. Some might say strolled. In the summer I would jump rope at first light (Sometimes W/ too) and to cool down we / I would walk the sea wall. Many evenings as the Sun was setting we walked the sea wall.
Now that we’re back in our home turf we have returned to some of the old rhythms. We walk the sea wall.
The sea wall has gotten longer! Not physically longer. But my perception is that it is now longer. Obviously it has not been extended, it is my perception that has changed. To make the wall longer I must view time differently. Time has slowed down.
I don’t feel it only on the sea wall. Driving down several of the streets in my hometown; I’ve noticed it too. They are longer. The only explantation I can come up with is that I see time; and space differently. Don’t get me wrong. I have no actual data on this change in me. And the evidence is all anecdotal. But this feeling has dogged me since I’ve been back. It may well be because I sense time differently or it may be due to seeing my place in the Universe from a new vantage. Mother Nature, the oceans, and the heavens taught me something else.
On my past post I said we’d bought a car. Driving is more anxiety prone now. This may be influenced by a few other factors; new car, new shiny things in the car; the manual reads more like a college text, and more cars and trucks. But; I see everyone moving faster, all in a hurry. Before I never took much notice of them. Before maybe; I was the center of the Universe. At least my own Universe. Now I am surrounded by speed; and people. Too, I may drive a bit slower not feeling the need to “beat my neighbor to the next light”. I may too having aged a bit more view time; as some refer to it in the tropics “as elastic”. Whatever it is; my perception has changed. It changed without any conscious – external intervention by me. It changed because I went cruising.
Go Slow
Sail Far
Stay Long