The hard.
The sun was just starting to get lower in the sky and the ripples on the water twinkled brightly with its reflection. The breeze off the bay gently pushed my hair away from my face while soft island music played in the background. I had crisp, cold Diet Coke at my side – a true luxury in these remote islands. And speaking of luxury, I was fresh off a 90-minute couples massage and now, I had a calm Fijian woman tending to my calloused sailor’s feet, painting my toenails a bright shade of magenta, with a layer of glitter on top to boot. I could hear squeals of delight and laughter as Elliot ran around with his friends, playing hide and seek on the grounds of the cozy, casual and cheerful resort we’d found on this island of Taveuni.
I exhaled and thought, “This. THIS is what EASY feels like.”
You see, I’d recently come to realise that this adventure - this expedition – we are on is a lot of things. Beautiful. Meaningful. Sometimes a lot of fun…but very, VERY rarely would I use the word ‘easy’ to describe it.
Just that morning, after sailing in shifts overnight, we’d pulled into this anchorage and after anchoring, we’d found the waves to be pretty uncomfortable. They were on the border of worrying, in fact. Looking around, we figured that if we could find a spot closer to shore, we might be better off. And just then, we spotted a mooring buoy becoming available as a boat left, and it was much closer to land.
We quickly picked up anchor and inched up the bay towards the free buoy and attempted to pick it up. No luck. We couldn’t lift it far enough out of the water for us to reach it off the bow. So, still a bit bleary-eyed, Zena and I quickly lowered Happy (our dinghy) into the water and jumped in.
Zena steered Happy through the choppy water and David positioned Pure Joy as I hung over the edge of the dinghy, grabbing hold of the buoy. I held onto it as best I could, and Martin threw me the thick, heavy lines. One by one, I fed them through the loop on the buoy and then heaved them back to Martin for him to on tie on to Pure Joy. It was heavy work that needed to be done quickly, and the wind and water conditions had us struggling at times. But, we got it done. It hadn’t been particularly easy, so we all felt a sense of accomplishment when we realised that the water was indeed a bit calmer in this spot. There were high fives all around.
A bit later, we decided to go ashore to explore Paradise Taveuni Resort. The amenities for sailors had been rumoured to be incredible, and we wanted to see if these tales were true.
Sure enough, shortly after tying off Happy at the dinghy dock, were greeted by the bend-over-backwards friendly staff. They were offering us cheap and delicious cooked meals, refreshing drinks, fresh fruit, veggies and baked goods, laundry and rubbish services, a pool and EVEN a spa. Our mouths gaped open and we laughed in delight as we learned of these offerings.
We’d been scraping the bottom of our freezer and our imaginations for meals on board for a while now. We would have been grateful for a cheese sandwich. But THIS? This was beyond our wildest dreams. This was EASY. And we were here for it.
And that’s what I was reflecting on as my toes started to dry. This place was a moment of EASE, and I was going to soak it up, every last second of it.
A voice with a tone of urgency interrupted my little moment of zen.
“Excuse me. Whose boat is that?” One of the staff had come into the area overlooking the bay, where I was sitting, along with several fellow sailors, including David.
“Which one?” several of us asked.
“That one. The one that is floating away,” she pointed.
Something inside of me knew before I even laid eyes on her. It was Pure Joy.
Everyone in the vicinity sprung to their feet, including me in my wet toes.
“Joy, I need the dinghy key,” David instructed in his signature calm-yet-direct Captain Voice.
I pulled everything out of my bucket bag until I found it and handed it over. I ran after him and several other friends, down to the dinghy dock. In all, about 6 sailors on 3 dinghies raced off to catch up with our floating home as it started to disappear towards the horizon.
Once Pure Joy was re-anchored, and the entire rescue team had returned, David and I reflected on how lucky we were over some spicy margaritas. Lucky that the mooring had decided to break during the day when we could see what was happening. Lucky that Pure Joy hadn’t hit any other boats on the way out. Lucky that we’d been nearby and with friends who could and would drop everything to help when it happened. Lucky to be in a place where spicy margs were on offer to take the edge off after that debacle. And lucky that my pedicurist was happy to repair my smudged toe.
**
So, what am I learning?
Well, that out here, and perhaps in some seasons of work and life, ‘easy’ is rare, and it is fleeting. And that’s more than okay.
Because ‘the hard’– it’s where the magic happens, even though it usually feels anything but magical at the time. It’s exactly where we learn and grow.
In the beginning of this expedition, I resisted ‘the hard’, the discomfort of it all. A LOT, and with all my might. I was very easily frustrated by ‘the hard,’ even angered by it. I was determined to become masterful at avoiding it. Because it scared me. That was draining and at times, all-consuming.
I think I might just be learning to accept it now. And I’m noticing that ‘hard’ is pretty sustainable if I’m not afraid of it.
You might say I’m more at ease in ‘the hard’ than I used to be.
Because I trust - myself and ‘the process’ - more than I used to.
And it’s changing everything.
CURIOSITY PROMPTS
If you’re in a season that feels hard, create a bit of space for yourself to dip into these questions and see what you learn.
What exactly feels hardest right now?
What scares you about that?
What might be possible if you could be even a little less afraid of that?
What might be holding you back from TRUSTING more? (Trusting yourself? Trusting others? Trusting the Process?)
BONUS CONTENT
If you want to follow our trip around the world or catch up on the latest places we’ve visited, head over to Instagram and check out the Highlights on our profile. ( @sailingpurejoy ). And feel free to subscribe to the Sailing Pure Joy newsletter as well! (Note, I’ve repurposed the above for the latest installment, but normally it covers where we’ve been and what were doing on the expedition.)
WRITE YOUR NEXT CHAPTER
My work as a Leadership Coach continues from the high seas! If you are thinking about how to write your next chapter, feel free to check out ways to partner with me HERE.
In all curiousness,
Joy
P.S. If/when the spirit ever moves you or you have questions - always feel free to get in touch and let me know what’s coming up for you!
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