Greetings from the Great White North! (Minnesota, USA)
Allow me a few moments to share the story of how Yachtlegend came to represent a cosmic shift in the way I live my life. My name is Zak and from 2008 to 2013 I was living someone else’s life. Not in a creepy, stalker kinda way, but in a ‘do all the things I’m supposed to, check all the boxes, get a ‘practical’ degree, 9-5 job, climb the corporate ladder, blah blah blah’ kinda way. Don’t get me wrong – in many cases it’s a great plan. But it was never my plan. It was, however, easier, more normal, and made those holiday conversations with the scarcely seen relatives oh-so-easy. But whogivesashit about easy. Whogivesashit about normal. But if you’re reading this blog you already know this.
Life in NYC had nearly sucked my homegrown, country soul from my chest and I couldn’t bare to see it happen any longer. So after venting session #483 with that friend we all have, I was ready for a leap, for something new. (Thank god for those friends, btw.) This particular friend also happened to know some people who were launching a yachting business. Say what? Sounds fancy!
Enter YachtLegend. What’s that you say? All inclusive, luxury yachting in an exotic locale? I wanted in.
A few emails and lots of ‘soul searching’ later, I made that commitment to do something different. Here’s the victory email I sent shortly after:
I just sent $1,000 to a complete stranger for a sailing trip half way across the world in 6 months, which is contingent on me quitting a job and moving, prior to going.
DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A GROWN-UP.
A few short weeks later I quit that awful J-O-B, packed up my closet-sized apartment, and drove back to God’s country (Minnesota, USA in case you’re wondering). What an incredible feeling! And all thanks to YachtLegend (sorta). The point isn’t that you have to quit your job to go sailing; the point is that if you’re inspired to do something great, find a way to make it happen.
So enough about me, let’s talk about you. You’re here at this very moment, on this site, reading this blog. Maybe you like yachting or maybe you’re searching for some inspiration of your own. Either way, you’re here because you intended to be. And now you’re faced with a decision. But don’t be fooled – the decision before you is about so much more than yachting. Seriously. This is something amazingly different.
Others will tell you about how beautiful the scenery was, about how freeing it felt to sail the open seas, and about how insanely interesting their fellow yachters inevitably were – and it's all so true. But for me, this journey was one of self-discovery, a lighting of the path towards self-actualization. (It was also about a whole lot of the rope swing. Seriously legit.) It all sounds crazy I know, but I absolutely mean it. Do amazing things + be with amazing people = boom you’re amazing. It’s #science.
Whatever your situation, whatever your circumstance, it often takes a leap to do something truly incredible. You can rarely just ease into these things, and they never ‘just happen’. Sometimes, big things seem daunting and scary, but oftentimes your life is just one brief moment away from something deeply meaningful. To really live is to crave the things you’ve never had, to be homesick for the places you’ve never been. If that speaks to you, you’re already one of us. So take a leap.
Set your mind on a new course, your heart on a new adventure. –Some guy on Twitter.
Z
YL Alum
-From a coffee shop in snowy St. Paul