Tear on the dotted line
Kevin’s preparations for this adventure have been a little different from mine. This was not intentional, although we both knew we would have different strengths to bring to the table, and because I am still actively seeing patients, I have a work schedule and non-trip related obligations. This is totally fine, although it does create this bifurcated reality between the now and the future. I am presently thinking a lot about taxes related to my new business, but listening to Kevin talk about wind and current situations as he looks at maps and practices charting. When we take Copper for a walk, he quizzes me on sail positions, what different lights indicate…and I struggle. It’s been over two years since I had any sailing classes or experience, and while I remember some intuition about moving the sail in response to different wind conditions, I also remember that my reaction was faster than my ability to to communicate my actions, and I really need to be able to think through and communicate what I’m doing.
I have some remedial sailing studying to do, in other words.
My friend Horace here doesn’t mind me practicing IV placement. He never screams.
And at the same time, figuring out vaccinations, medications we will need to travel, learning how to place an IV, licensure stuff, training Copper for life on a boat, emptying our storage units, and figuring out a workflow when we will sometimes have to move quickly in response to changing weather conditions. It is a big unknown for me: I had envisioned that we would be on anchor or at a marina for periods of time interspersed with traveling, and I would align my schedule accordingly. It sounds like, because it will take some real time to move from one destination to another, there will be more working while underway than I originally envisioned, at least for the periods of time that it takes us to move from one place to another.
My private practice is growing by the week, which is wonderful, and I’m also working by contract for two other mental health organizations. This means both that my income and schedule are highly variable, and my schedule is complicated with three different inputs in terms of scheduling clients. Currently I have it set up with blocks for different client streams to schedule in their own blocks, and my thinking has been that when we’re underway, I can close down that availability and open up other availability on other days when I’m not underway, but schedules and sailing are really tough as the weather is unpredictable and critical. This, in particular, has a big impact on mental energy for me, but I know it’s an unknown and I won’t know how it’s going to work until I’m actually doing it.
In the face of these very real challenges, my philosophy is that these are the details that are in service to the dream. I can’t let the details derail me; I will find a way to make them work for me. In the meantime, I am also practicing being present in the moment, enjoying this time living in Rhode Island, experiencing a slightly different climate (so windy!) closer to the ocean, with the ability to walk the dog on the beach daily and see out into the vastness and know that my perspective will look so different in the future. I am so curious what about me will shift with that new perspective, and I can’t wait to find out.