⛵ VOYAGE #08 — Intentions in 2021
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⛵ VOYAGE #08 — by Nick Jaffe — Jan, 18, 2021
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Intentions in 2021 #08
Welcome to edition #08 of VOYAGE: 2020 was a complex but excellent year for me, and I would feel a sense of remiss if I didn't consider the important lessons I learned for use in 2021.
Catch up on previous editions here.
To me, the theme of 2020 was compression: The minutiae of all of our life decisions, condensed into a single year.
Relationships, finances, health and our very cores were stretched like an elastic band between the fork of a slingshot. For some, the elastic band catapulted them forwards while for others it simply snapped. Very few (perhaps other than the big tech and the economic elite!), truly escaped either scenario... 2020 was certainly not a year of mediocrity — it was a year of extremes and quite an adventurous year in many ways — the adage that it's only adventure when something goes wrong certainly rang true of 2020.
Did your elastic band break or did it push you forward at an unexpected rate of knots?
As many of you know, I was effectively on a 2 year mission to drive most of the way around the world, restarting my life (again) as a full-time traveller and creator. Some people mistook my wanderlust for escape, or as a means to find myself. It was neither — traveling is hard work and I've spent more than my fair share of time in introspection. One does not question why a seagull goes to sea, and I've always wished to be granted the same grace. I was simply living my life — seeking out new latitudes while creating stories and being part of other peoples stories.
During my efforts sailing, I came across many old men who had lived by the seat of their pants. I imagined they started out this lifestyle quite happily, perhaps escaping something; perhaps rejecting something; until one day it became the new norm. Then, soon enough, life accelerated and voila! They're in their 60's living on a boat alone in the Caribbean: Friends are transient, family has forgotten what you look like and your thumb and forefingers are brown with tobacco stains, because most of your days are spent in the cockpit smoking, watching the world go by and waiting for cocktail hour as soon as the clock passes midday. Before long the anchor chain has rusted itself into a solid rod of steel, barnacles on the bottom of the boat have created an entire living ecosystem, and all the junk donated passing yachtsmen is strewn across the decks, dropping ones waterline to such a degree it's now possible rinse a coffee cup from the cockpit without leaning over.
I've always wanted to avoid that scenario. But I still quite like the idea of smoking a pipe full of Captain Black when I'm 75, seated in the cockpit of some old wooden clunker, my thumb rubbing across a dried varnish drip on the teak cockpit coaming, my skin wrinkly with decades of UV exposure, my eyes a little bit watery from gazing at a bright blue ocean — but not at the expense of everything else. There is such a tremendous and broad gamut of life to experience. I love so many things I can't keep up. I love sitting in the water on my surfboard hassling for a wave. I love working leather with my hands. I love seeing the world through the lens of a camera. I love thinking about data storage redundancy and HTTP requests. I love truth and honour and activism and privacy. I love weird people. I love business. I love materials. I love good people who make an effort to be better people. I love loving, being loved and being in love. I love being alone. I love not being alone. I love my friends. I love having a home. Ad infinitum.
Are there degrees of love? And if someone loves everything, do they spread themselves too thin? This is what I spent 2020 really thinking about. I love a lot of things but what do I really really love? I was confronted with time (again). There is a concrete relationship between how much you can love (in a physical sense) and how much time you have left. Many a religion has already discovered the only love that transcends time, is immaterial love.
2020 highlighted my cerebral approach to planning, risk-mitigation and flexibility. I was proud of myself in that respect. Sometimes one asks oneself if their life-decisions can withstand stressors. I feel as though mine did. I felt a little stuck physically, however this sense was something shared in global solidarity. Otherwise, I felt a great sense of freedom through a combination of good choices and the other elephant in the room: Luck.
I did feel very alone though, and not in the alone kind of way I like. I think people who enjoy being alone, only like it when it's their choice. 2020 highlighted this as one of the things I needed to focus on to be full; to avoid being that transient old man in the anchorage.
So after an unexpectedly introspective year, I think in wrapping up last year, what I look forward to in 2021 is a trifecta of intentions:
- To focus only on the (material) things I really really love and come to terms with letting go of some things.
- To be more expressive (less perfectionism; less cerebral, to release).
- To focus on love itself (immaterial).
What about you?
Recent outputs
- My brother recently visited me in Tasmania for Christmas, and soon after went on an epic packrafting mission through the western wilds of the state. I made him this little pouch out of XPAC sailcloth and Aquaguard waterproof zipper.
- I refreshed my personal About page.
- I began a new adventurous collaboration which I will talk about in the coming months.
Recent inputs
- For some reason sea shanties are on trend this week, here is one on the Yamaha YM3812 chip
- Animals interrupting wildlife photographers
Elsewhere
My primary Instagram / Website & work / YouTube Channel / Workshop Instagram / Airbnb / Twitter
Reach out
If there is something you'd like me to riff on in the next edition or delve into further personally — simply reply to this email.
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