I chose fun over drudgery – and ran off to live at sea

-

After a miserable 2014, I knew I had to make more time for myself – and my beloved boat

I don’t make resolutions. But one year I made an exception. It was 1 January 2015. It was the only nod to self-improvement I have ever made – and it changed the course of my life. Very seriously, I resolved to have more fun. I had been inspired by the American folk legend Woody Guthrie, whose 1943 resolutions had come to light, a list full of such gems as “dream good” and “dance better”. Yes, I thought. Focus on what brings you joy – if that isn’t improvement, I don’t know what is. (I would humbly suggest this is even more pertinent as the cruel joke that is 2020 comes to a close.)

I had had a tough year, having taken on a difficult project on top of a demanding full-time job and spent the months leading up to Christmas working so hard I barely slept. When I did sleep, I dreamed of the ocean (unsurprisingly, given I was writing a book about sea nomads in my spare time).

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3n0lSKf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ply in the sky: the new materials to take us beyond concrete | Fiona Harvey

-
Concrete is everywhere, but it’s bad for the planet, generating large amounts of carbon dioxide. Creative alternatives are in the pipeline They call them plyscrapers: the sudden emergence of tall buildings constructed almost entirely from timber. Vancouver , Vienna and Brumunddal in Norway have all claimed recently to have the tallest wooden building in the world, and now Tokyo has its own designs on the informal title. Related: Share your photos of beautiful or ugly concrete Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2UeDOmU
Read more

‘Help us or LSO fails’: Sir Simon Rattle’s plea over Covid and Brexit

-
As the orchestra prepares to welcome back live audiences, the conductor urges ministers to act on new touring rules in Europe Sir Simon Rattle and his top team at the London Symphony Orchestra have appealed for government support to help them survive the difficulties created by Brexit and Covid. The orchestra depended on international touring – much of it in Europe – for 40% of its revenue before the coronavirus, with tours cancelled by the pandemic . Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3tQnObB
Read more

The 20 best songs of 2020

-
Our writers considered hundreds of contenders – and here are their picks of the year. Listen to all 390 tracks they voted for on our playlist Delivered from a nightmare: why our No 1 song works so well We kick off our end of 2020 music coverage with Guardian critics’ favourite songs, with our album of the year countdown starting tomorrow. As ever, each critic votes for top 20 songs and albums, with points allocated for each placing, and those points tallied to make these lists. There were 390 songs voted for in all – we’ve put ( almost) all of them in a Spotify playlist . Please share your own favourite songs of the year in the comments below, and we’ll hopefully see you in a festival field in 2021 … Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3liPlhp
Read more