Breaking away is proving harder than I thought.

When I met with my real estate agents the first thing they told me was that to get maximum value out of my house, I had to renovate the kitchen which is the only room I hadn't renovated in my 1980's era original house. So here I am 5 months later, 75% of the way through the renovation which I'm doing on a budget to be able to maximize the sail boat fund.

I want to break free first and foremost, and hopefully sail around the world once I tune up my skills, which are decent, but not trans-ocean caliber.  I've accomplished my first goal of being able to make a very solid living with a laptop and an Internet connection. I haven't even come close to liquidating everything yet but I have been making some sacrifices, a short list of which I have included below.

These are very first world problems, and I recognize how lucky I am to have to deal with them.  I bought first house in '96 which I renovated and upgraded through 5 others in 9 years while living in them under construction to land in my current waterfront house of my dreams which I've lived in just as long.  The goal in all of them was to move forward with my financial goals, and share them with others.  It even cost me my first and probably only marriage.

It will be my same goal on my floating one.  I have no desire to live exclusively on a self made isolated island of privileged expats.  I want to spend less time working and sit around camp fires, risk catching a disease far from healthcare, cook with strangers eating food I've never seen, and play guitar with people I just met.

That said I know I will have to lean heavily on the community of experienced cruisers because nobody makes it in this world alone-especially when you are crossing oceans.  I can't wait to join the club, and look forward to participating in the virtuous circle.

A friend of mine told me a story about some friends she knew that broke my heart.  They bought and owned a ~50' sail boat which they day sailed for years.  Then they moved on board chasing their "sailors lifestyle" dreams, and bogged it down with so much stuff they boat never left the slip again.  I'm not going to let that happen to me.

I've been doing a lot of reading on the topic of circumnavigation and one of my inspirations right now is from "Captain Fatty" who bought and rigged his first boat, liquidated his belongings, and was left with 2 boxes of stuff he thought he couldn't live without.  He ends up deciding to chuck them concluding (paraphrasing) "Do you want to hang on to this stuff, or do you want to sail around the world?"  Six months under way later he couldn't even remember what was in the boxes.  (I'll add a link to your book Cpt. Fatty when I have time to get back to this - You're the man).

I know I'm not through the toughest part of the paring down process yet, but here are a few sacrifices I have made. As I wrote them down I can't help but think- "Do you realize how many people would love to have these problems? What exactly are you running away from?"

The answer is I'm exhausted by the grinding down of my spirit in corporate America. Everyone and every organization is so lean it isn't fun any more - even when you're well paid.  I'm not going to let chasing the Jonses and consumerism take priority over my need to do something amazing with my life- even if it kills me.  I'd much rather die in my 40's chasing dreams than drooling in a wheel chair in my 90's trapped in a body that doesn't work, tormented by regret of the things I didn't attempt to do.

2014 "Sacrifices" to date

1. Doing 90% of the work on renovating my kitchen in my "off time" in parallel with a consulting gig that takes 50-60 hours per week.
2. Taking my first vacation in 2 years.  This may not sound like a sacrifice, but it cost me heavily $ wise, but enriched my life experience account.  Getting the down time verified I am on track with where I am headed.
3. Renting my guest room on AirBnb to cut down on my mortgage expense.
4. Sold the motorcycle and deposited 100% of the funds into the sail boat war chest. 
5. Passing up the Porsche 911 I've been dreaming of owning for over a decade, and was so close to buying I paid to have it transported to Jacksonville.  Conclusion: Do you want a Porsche or do you want to sail around the world. 

My eyes are resolutely fixed on the prize. Ever forward.