Every plan will face hiccups and the key to finishing is embracing challenges. Equipping yourself with a Plan B can help you complete your goal.
| Embracing Challenges Sailing: Cats are Seasick |
| End of My Sailing Adventure |
| Embracing Challenges & Reviewing Plan B |
| Embracing Challenges Without a Plan B |
| Embracing Challenges on the Water |
Embracing Challenges Sailing: Cats are Seasick
Recently my husband and I went on a sailing adventure that had us both embracing challenges on the water.
In preparation for our three-and-a-half month sail down the east coast of the U.S. to the Bahamas, we’d been bringing our two cats on the boat with us for short sails. I did find it strange that our five-year-old cat, Whiskey went and hid in the basement when it was time to go. It was as if he knew we were going sailing and he was protesting.
The sail started as usual, with my husband and I on the deck raising the main sail. I could tell it was going to be an adventurous trip to Toronto from Niagara as the waves were rocking the boat and making our job challenging. I tightly gripped the deck with my feet as I moved along the boom to make sure the sail was unobstructed as it went up.
As soon as I was done I went below deck to make sure the cats were settling in as the boat was rockier than our previous sails. They were lying close by each other on the bed of the v-berth. I could tell something wasn’t right.
Sally Tomato was panting and Whiskey seemed unsettled. The boat rocked us and I knew the effects were worse below deck but that’s where they were most comfortable. Sally Tomato moved closer to me and I saw she had peed on the sheets. Then Whiskey pooped and threw up. Sally then vomited and pooped. Whiskey moved to the side of the bed and started frothing at the mouth. I yelled out to my husband for help.
Everyone acted quickly and the decision was obvious. We made a plan to turn around and head back to shore. The sails went down and we motored in to Port Dalhousie.
End of My Sailing Adventure
While our cats recovered quickly I knew this meant the end of my sailing adventure. The cats were not coming on the boat again. The bottom line, they are land-lubbers. Leaving them for nearly four months was not an option. If there’s something I learned from my time doing animal rescues it’s that pets are like family and you commit to them for life. This was always my husband’s adventure. Although I love sailing, and I love adventure I needed to review my Plan B.
Embracing Challenges & Reviewing Plan B
A Plan B is a set of alternatives to your goal that acts like a buffer in embracing challenges. For example, when I did the arduous Presidential Traverse in June I set out to do all twenty-three kilometres and seven peaks in one day. I had to go with Plan B after traveling much slower than expected after I hit my head.
Goal: Finish Presidential Traverse between seventeen and twenty hours Plan B: Finish Presidential Traverse in two days
I also had a Plan B for the second day:
Goal: Finish Day #2 of the Presidential Traverse in five-and-a-half hours Plan B: Finish healthy and strong, regardless of the time
I had thought that the second day would go much smoother after I had time to rest. I did not expect to run into more problems in the mountains, but I did. You can read about my going the wrong way on the second last mountain here.
Embracing Challenges with Seasick Cats and Plan B
Embracing challenges with seasick cats was easier when we reviewed our goals and alternatives. Both the weekend sailing plan and the plan to sail to the Bahamas meant we were reviewing two Plan B’s. The first was to fulfill our goal of sailing to Toronto on an overnight adventure. After dropping the cats off back home and arranging pet sitters, we returned to the boat and sailed to Toronto.
While I would have loved to have our cats with us on the overnight to Toronto, our initial goal was not possible. We enacted our Plan B and still achieved our goal.
Sailing Adventure Plan B
Altering the plan for our big sailing adventure to the Bahamas was a bit more difficult to accept. I had to go over in my mind what my goal was since retiring in June.
Retirement Goal: Adventure travel with my husband and the cats
After discussing what this meant with my husband we came up with a list of what our Plan B discussions have been over the past several months.
- I follow the crew down the coast with our cats in our trailer
- I buy an RV, which is better for the cats to travel in and follow the crew down the coast
- I drive with the cats down the coast, staying in different cities for a month at a time
- I stay home until my husband returns in December and together, with the cats we head on a road trip to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico (I fell in love with San Miguel on our trip there last November and we had planned to overwinter in this art haven before the opportunity came up to go sailing)
- After my husband returns from sailing we use our home as a base and continue to venture out on short adventures around the globe (and hire pet sitters while we’re away)
In the process of writing this article and contemplating all of our Plan B’s, a thought occurred to me:
There are cities I’d love to go back to…
After the discussion,, I realized that I didn’t put time parameters on my main goal of adventure travel. While I was working toward the next adventure travel with my husband and the cats to happen in late August, that didn’t seem possible. And I do have a lifetime left for adventure travel.
Embracing Challenges Without a Plan B
If you don’t have a Plan B (or even C, D etc.) then embracing challenges may be more difficult. Obstacles en route to goals are inevitable and there’s a good possibility that you may not complete your goal if you don’t have alternative plans and perspectives. The reality is that we put a lot of emotional investment into our goals. And it hurts if they become out of reach.
Consider the scenario where we train hard to do a big hike. Hiking is not just a physical pursuit. It also involves time:
- Route planning
- Investing in equipment and clothes
- The cost of getting to your destination and spending money on accommodation
- Being able to pursue your goal on the limited vacation days we have each year
Fear of Failure
Fear of failure is also something that affects how we react to situations. We all hate to fail.
Failing does allow us to learn and to come back stronger the next time. The way to buffer this is both to embrace challenges and recognize that obstacles in any pursuit will be inevitable.
Read more about this in my article Obstacles to Achieving Goals
If we start with a Plan B, C, D, etc. then we are more apt to complete our goal without feeling like we failed at our pursuit.
“The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried”
Unknown
See more inspirational adventure quotes
Embracing Challenges on the Water
Our sail to Toronto from Niagara involved more embracing challenges than just seasick cats.
After arriving in Toronto at eight at night, we settled into our slip at the marina with a celebratory drink. The views of the city at night were spectacular!
We had a late-night dinner in the boat. This dish “Assassin Spaghetti” with pan-fried noodles was awesome and filled the bellies of three hungry sailors.
We took a look at the weather charts and it looked like a big storm was moving in for our return sail on Monday. We decided to head home the next day instead. Winds looked pretty strong even the following day but at least the rain would hold off.
Our sail was wild and lively as we were cambered in the water for half the trip!
I can’t remember sailing like this before in my limited experience in my twenties crewing on yachts in Australia. Our boat was cutting through the waves as they splashed with such fervor onto our deck. Halfway into our six-hour journey we had enough of the intense sailing and camber so took our Genoa sail down and reefed the main sail for a smoother ride.
I was quite happy when we arrived back at our home marina. In some way, I couldn’t help but think this was a little bit of revenge from the cats to experience, to some degree, what they experienced in the rough waters.