novaturient: Desiring or seeking powerful change in one’s life, behavior, or situation.

Have you ever yearned for big change in your life, but it never felt like the right time, or you felt too afraid of what you might lose? Or have you found the courage, dealt with the losses, and created a life that was once beyond your wildest imaginings?

I have. Sometimes I think I must have lost my marbles… or maybe I finally found them.

There has always been a tiny hopeful flame flickering and whispering away within me, even when I felt without hope or direction. Its message is:

I am empowered to fully participate in change and in the creation of a beautiful life experience, and to help others do the same.

I had to do a lot of eye-opening and ear-clearing to hear it. Now I feel I have something to say, and I’ll use this blog to say it with kindness, humor, and love.

I was introduced to sailing by a man I was in relationship with. The first time he took me sailing, I fell in love. It felt like coming home. I took the ASA 101 Basic Keelboat course, participated in more than a dozen bay sails, and now I’m a goner. The relationship didn’t work out, but I will be forever grateful to him for introducing me to the love of my life — sailing.

I was in IT and technical support for nearly two decades and loved it for awhile. I was genuinely curious about how computers worked and eagerly taught myself everything I know… until I caught the seven-year itch. Even after that, I enjoyed making someone else’s day by solving their technical problem and teaching new tricks. The profession paid enough to keep a roof over my family’s head with just enough extra to indulge us in a bit of mindless consumerism. But after years of sitting at a desk in a windowless room typing away on a computer all day every day with an aching neck and arms, technical support lost its luster, and I craved more time outdoors.

Even in childhood, I’ve always had an adventurous spirit. From age ten to eighteen, I was fortunate enough to live with and learn from horses. For the first two decades of my adult life, this adventurous spirit was well-tempered by the blessings of motherhood and employment. While raising my sons, I managed to stay connected to my love of adventure by hiking, trail running, backpacking, hiking up 14’ers, and running in road races ranging in distances from 5k to a full marathon. Now my sons are grown men. They are free write to their own stories, and so am I.

I am fascinated with the subject of change. I have noticed that the proportion of pain related to change is in direct relationship to our resistance to it. We get so attached to our comforts, labels, possessions, and relationships that we forget that in the end, we will lose all of it to change. We drive ourselves batty with fear of change, and our unwillingness to accept change leaves us feeling victimized by it. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t grieve. Grief is normal and healthy. It is to say that we can grieve while remembering that the vacancy of loss is also an open workspace for us to create something new.

I also want to explore more deeply the subject of intentional change, and the choice to continually direct mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual effort into changing and growing for the better. This is not only to improve our own life experience, but to improve the experience of those we meet along the way. The effort is so worth it, and the fun is in direct relationship to our acceptance and desiring of it.

I believe that large bodies of water and the outdoors hold a power to help us through change. Time in nature heals, recharges our batteries, quiets the mind, and allows us to find clarity and direction. My time on the water has helped guide me to the conclusion that I want to make sailing and creativity my way of life.

I’m becoming the author of my life experience and the captain of my own vessel. Her name is Novaturient.

As of this writing, Novaturient is not an actual sailing vessel. One day, when the time is right, she will be, and I will be ready for her. For now, Novaturient is the concept by which I navigate life. It is the embracing of change. It is the art of welcoming renewal and deliberately creating beautiful new experiences. I want to introduce that art to you.

At this point in my life, I simply have to live true to what I know and what I want. This change was inevitable and unstoppable as the passage of time itself.

Hello, dawn. Let’s go sailing.