Curve Balls

One week before we were supposed to be in Florida to get on our boat, Dave sat in a minimally appointed hotel room outside the hospital for a biopsy to see whether cancer had returned. Curve ball. That next week would have a major impact on whether we continued as planned or pivoted.

Life is all about curve balls and pivots. Some are still hittable pitches and some “break your ankles,” as they say. The secret to hitting a curve ball is only to swing at the “bad” curve balls. A perfect one is not hittable. The way we look at this: there is only one perfect curve ball, and that is death. Everything else is hittable — it just depends on your attitude toward it.

For us, faith plays a big part in managing these curve balls. We believe we are the paintbrush and God is the artist. In other words, there is a bigger plan than just sailing around the world. While that is our plan, we give in to the notion that it may be much bigger than that. If a hard medical chapter is part of that plan, we submit to whatever is in store. If it is not, we are obviously glad about that.

Every batter in baseball knows a curve ball is coming. The great batters know how to hit the poorly thrown curve ball. The point is, we should all know the curve ball is coming and prepare for it — mentally, physically, financially, spiritually, emotionally — to limit how many get thrown our way, and to be as ready as we can when one is. As an example, if you eat poorly and don’t exercise, you shouldn’t be shocked by a major curve ball. You and I both know that curve ball would not likely have been thrown had we better prepared for it.

You own your outcome. Curve balls will still come. Ownership is how you meet them.

As you start preparing for your own journey around big blue, ask yourself: how can we prepare for — or prevent — the curve ball? Be the best version of you in all the things above, and beyond that:

1. Get the right training: sailing, navigation, weather, etc.
2. Practice/drills: man/woman overboard (MOB), weather (reefing, etc.)
3. Safety: personal flotation (PFD), safety lines, life raft (with regular inspections), EPIRB, being conservative with decisions, knowing how to use everything before you need it, everyone trained (not just one person), etc.
4. Medical: have a medical kit and know how to use it; stocked with everything you may need including prescriptions; do you need insurance; have a plan/money to get home in an emergency; etc.

Curve balls are an inevitable part of life. Prepare now and set yourself up as best you can for a better life and a better, safer journey.

If you’d like to discuss how we prepare — Dave and Beth — schedule an hour with us. We’d love to help.