Trip of a lifetime and it’s impact
As many of you know, this summer the Law family embarked on an adventure that has been a dream of mine for years – bringing a boat up the Inside Passage and across the Gulf of Alaska to our home port of Whittier, AK. On it’s own it is a pretty amazing trip but by bringing 5 children with us for the first 1000 miles to Sitka, 3 being 18 month old triplets, that truly made it an honest to goodness adventure for me and Cathy. Along the way I shared the story at Sundog Adventures and this article is not so much about the trip but a chance to share how the trip has impacted us now that we have been home for several months.
First of all, it was a real blessing to take 2.5 months away from full time work and tackle this journey as a family. It is amazing how long it actually took to break from our old patterns and settle down so that we could enjoy each other and the experience. One of the questions I get asked is if I had any epiphanies along the way. I love that word, sounds so intelligent but it is a good question. Don’t we all ask it of ourselves? If we were to take a little time with just ourselves and/or family, would we have any deep thoughts or realizations about our lives, our careers; the big questions like why am I here, what is my purpose and such? With 8 hours a day at the helm traveling at 7kts I had lots of time to ponder, dream and wonder, so I thought I would just share some of the thoughts and ideas that rambled through my head.
Some Epiphanies along the way…
- Fear drives way too much of our thinking and action. Fear from what others think, fear of failure, fear of the unknown. Any adventure or journey requires facing fear.
- It is important to try things that are beyond our current skills and abilities, to jump into ideas or actions that could end in failure. It is way too easy to stay with what is known and safe.
- A cliché I know, but it is all about the journey, not the destination. At 7kts with over 1500 miles to cover if all you have on your mind is the end destination you will be one unhappy person.
- Make time for your family – why is this such a fight? One of my favorite authors said something along the lines of “good things are fiercely opposed.” I’m sure you’ve noticed that making time for family is opposed and often hard to prioritize as we fight for our careers, health and all the daily things that just have to get done.
Relating to Sundog Media…
- I want only to be a part of great quality projects and will do whatever is necessary to grow a company with that as its focus.
- Slow things down…I would rather make less money and enjoy who I work with, be proud of the work we produce and have the time for myself and my team to properly balance career and life.
- Only offer services in areas that we can be exceptional in. Our niche is narrowing down to design, development, hosting & management of custom WordPress websites.
The most important conclusion…
In the Bible story of Solomon he tried in his own wisdom, with unlimited funds, to find out what brings joy and after trying everything under the sun he came to the conclusion – “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” I am not a Biblical scholar, but the idea relates to my topic here – unless we are connected with the Creator Himself in a meaningful way than we are missing the point. After all, the creation simply points to the Creator. Our world is filled with stories of rich people, amazing athletes, famous actors that have everything and are still unhappy. So if we have in our minds that wealth, health, career success is what we need to be happy or content we will eventually, like Solomon, arrive at the same conclusion.
If you are still reading thanks and I hope that some of the thoughts along our journey inspire you or bless you in some small way.
From the Sundog Crew
Joe, Cathy, Caleb, Joshua, Daniel, Gabriel & Josiah Law
