Sailing Past Our Limitations: The Opportunity to Reframe and Change Our Lives
Aboard the Star Clipper ship in Costa Rica. February, 2025.
I have gotten car sick, seasick, and air sick my whole life.
Family vacations (disgustingly) sidetracked, snorkel trips aborted, group travel anxiety-provoking and often embarrassing.
So, when I was invited to lead yoga aboard a clipper ship cruise in the Pacific for 7 days, of course I said…
YES!
Wait, what?!
Something told me it would be OK. And maybe, I’d even enjoy it.
I was excited, made plans, and as the day got closer… started freaking out.
What was I doing?! I mean sure, it looked cool when my friend was doing it but she seems OK on boats. It was a great opportunity to expand my audience as a yoga teacher, meeting people who like to travel, on big adventures, and do yoga. People I might not otherwise meet. But who did I think I was trying to do this?
I’ll tell you who. I’m someone who has learned not to assign permanence to past experiences. Not to allow those experiences to become ineffable character traits. Someone who has learned to tap into and trust her intuition. Someone who says I feel like I can do this. Sure, I might be wrong but what if I am right? And what if I missed it and didn’t even know…
So, I packed my bags, half with the perfect items, half with stuff I wouldn’t use because it was so hot, and off I went. (With Sea Bands and a month supply of Dramamine because I am not completely insane!)
I recognized and acknowledged the doubt, told myself there is only one way to know, and to Costa Rica I went.
And it was all PURA VIDA, right?
Ha! Not the first 12 hours…
I got to the ship and sat down at dinner in the dining room with people I’d never met before, took two tiny sips of soup and excused myself. The rest of the night was not great. Neither was the next morning. I had 7:00 am yoga to lead and it was sketchy. Not the best class I’ve ever led for sure.
But, over the course of the next 24 hours, I weaned myself off Dramamine and the Sea Bands, started eating full meals, even stayed on the ship for 48 hours straight instead of going on excursions, having cocktails, leading better and better yoga classes, writing and getting a little work done, and having fun.
I also learned to tie sailing knots, learned about the technology on the bridge, did workouts, and found… I LOVE SAILING. The wind in the sails, the drama of seeing water all around, the challenge of yoga postures on a moving ship… I literally could not get enough.
It’s a great story – good for you, Betsy. We love that for you.
But what does this have to do with the reader?
Well, I want to reinforce for you that we don't have to limit ourselves by assigning past experiences some kind of permanence as attributes of our personhood.
When we think: I am always seasick.
I reframed it with: I have been seasick in the past but I'm a very different version of myself now, let's see where this goes, I feel like I can do it.
(Worst case, I come back tan and thinner and don’t do it again. Having succeeded on this project, I am decidedly not thinner!)
When we think:
I'm fat.
I'm sick.
I don't manage time well.
I can’t manage money.
I’m so clumsy.
I never remember anything.
I don't like/do X,Y, Z …
We can reframe it:
In that past I have been/done… ,
but this version of me right now is/can be/could try…
I haven't always known how to do this, but I am learning…
Seriously, though, when a kid says they don’t like something, we tell them to try it again because tastes change. This is good advice that adults often don’t offer ourselves or take. But we can be evolving, growing, and changing too! Especially when we open ourselves to the possibilities.
What limitations do you want to sail past? And just where do you think that can take you?
Pura Vida and Much Love XO
Photo credit: a nice passenger on board who snapped this shot of me.
In the past, I have been terrified of heights. Here I am suspended over the Pacific on a cargo net. It was scary, I did it anyway. And wow, was it spectacular!
