DON'T LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF NEGATIVITY. LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF
YOUR DREAMS!
You are never safe from negation. Unchecked
negativity can rapidly flush the achievements of a lifetime down the drain.
Negativity is an ever present and unwanted companion that continually
invites you to abandon your dreams.
Everyone moving in the direction of their dreams will suffer defeats and
sometimes feel their dreams are impossible. Negativity will attempt to
derail them on the path of achievement, and the temptation to quit will be
strong. Everyone wants life to be easy. They want either no opposition at
all or opposition to politely step out of the way as they move toward their
goals. This is unrealistic. People who achieve their dreams aren’t
strolling through life; they are climbing the mountain of difficulty, and
hard work and perseverance are the only way to reach the top.
If
you ever reach your dreams, it will be because you stopped listening to the
voice of fear and negation. You stopped looking at your limitations and
stopped constructing barriers that exist only in your mind.
When you decide to sail around the world on a sailboat, you encounter an
ocean of opposition. A crowd of naysayers and critics freely offer
unsolicited opinions and advice concerning your proposed circumnavigation of
the globe. Friends are sure you are having a midlife crisis. When you
write the check to pay for your yacht, they inform you that you have made a
down payment on an expensive funeral at sea. They tell you all of that
money could have been spent on a nice house, 100 channels of cable
television, and the help of a good therapist to get you over this foolish
desire to sail around the world. The easiest thing to find on planet earth
is someone to tell you why your dreams are too expensive, too dangerous, and
a waste of time. With cheerleaders like that, it’s amazing anyone pursues
their dreams.
It’s not just family and friends who question your judgment. During moments
of adversity, you wonder whether you are heading down a one way street in
the wrong direction. The voice of fear starts a powerful negative chorus
that repeats itself thousands of time, and if you start listening to its
message, your dreams will evaporate.
What would happen if you fall off the boat at night at sea? What happens if
a whale rams your boat? What happens if you hit a floating log, or if a
ship runs you down at night? What happens if a hurricane strikes? What
happens if you meet pirates or drug runners? What if your boat is struck by
lightening? What if your boat runs up on a reef and is destroyed on a
remote deserted island? What if you get sick when you are at sea? What if
you have appendicitis when you are one thousand miles from land? What if
you hit your head or break a leg? What if your boat turns upside down?
What if there is a fire or explosion on board? What if you collide at night
with a floating container that has fallen off a ship? What if you become
seasick? Who will stay awake at night and stand watch while you sail
offshore? What if your boat sinks and you lose all of the money you
invested in the yacht? What if you loose your medical skills while you sail
around the world? How will you ever be able to return to the practice of
medicine?
I
experienced all of these negative thoughts many times before I purchased my
yacht. Those thoughts could have stopped my voyage before it got started.
My dreams would have been stillborn if I listened to the voice of fear.
If
I listed all of the reasons why I shouldn’t sail around the world in a small
sailboat, I could write a hundred page document full of disaster,
difficulty, and despair. I know dozens of reasons why my dreams are too
expensive and involve too much risk. If I listen to the voice of fear and
negativity, I will sit at the dock and watch everyone else sail on the ocean
of their dreams.
Once I hoisted my sails in Fort Lauderdale and started my voyage, I had
dozens of opportunities for negativity to sink the ship of my dreams. On my
first night at sea, I experienced the most powerful thunderstorm I
encountered on the entire trip around the world. Surely, that must have
been a sign sailing around the world is a bad idea. It was a message to
stop the voyage in the Bahamas, anchor the boat in Chicken Town, and check
in to Hotel California where I could never leave, but at least I would be
safe.
When I reached the Panama Canal, the voice of fear again tried to cancel my
dream of sailing around the world. There is no need to transit the Panama
Canal and sail in the Pacific. Just stay in the Caribbean and have a
wonderful cruise. The Pacific Ocean is a vast body of water with reefs,
cyclones, and killer whales that could destroy my yacht. The voice of fear
told me to stay in the Caribbean forever.
After I arrived in the Pacific, the voice of fear started a new verse with
the same fearful chorus. It’s three thousand miles from the Galapagos
Islands to French Polynesia. You are at sea day and night for three weeks.
You don’t see any other humans for twenty-one days, and there’s no one to
rescue you if you get into trouble. Don’t go. Stay in Nowhere Land where
you’ll be safe.
After I arrived in French Polynesia, the voice of fear said to skip sailing
to the Tuamotu Archipelago. You will hit a reef as you sail through the
atolls. The passes through the reefs into the lagoons are too small, and
once inside you will be trapped. A storm could easily destroy your yacht
when it’s inside a potentially treacherous lagoon. Sailing in the Tuamotus
involves high risk. Skip them and sail directly to Tahiti.
After I sailed across the Pacific Ocean, it was necessary to sail twelve
hundred miles south from Fiji to New Zealand. It’s a big trip into higher
latitudes and the voice of fear again rippled through the cruising fleet.
The talk was of storms with special emphasis on the recent Queen’s Birthday
storm in which lives and yachts were lost. Sailing in the higher southern
latitudes presented new and unfamiliar risks. The voice of fear filled
everyone with a sense of foreboding. Sailing to and from New Zealand is
scary. Some mariners left their yachts in storage in Fiji to avoid the sail
south. Other sailors loaded their yachts on freighters and shipped them
home.
Several weeks after I arrived in New Zealand, I rolled the car I was
driving. I broke both legs, fractured five ribs, punctured one lung and had
internal bleeding. I was transfused seven units of blood, had three
surgeries, and spent two months in the hospital. Surely, this disaster
proved sailing around the world was a bad idea. The sensible thing would be
to sell the yacht, buy a plane ticket to Nowhere Land, and start watching
cable television where I would be safe and secure for the rest of my life.
Negativity can overtake you anywhere on the path to your dreams. I could
have stopped my trip around the world a dozen times before I reached New
Zealand. Surrendering dreams is easy. You can do it anywhere or anytime.
Most people will tell you that you are doing the right thing when you sell
your dream machine and join the ranks of the Life Long Disoriented.
Negativity is a stalker that never goes away; it’s your unfailing and
unwanted companion eternally inviting you to abandon your dreams.
Negativity is a dream
stealer. Don't listen to the voice of negativity. It will ruin
your life.
