Before the modern world came into being this must have been what it was like for almost everyone. I am jealous. My life as an airline pilot keeps my sleep schedule jumping around as I am in Buenos Aires one day, Moscow the next, and I find my body does not adapt so well any more, causing me to always feel like I did not get enough sleep. I long for the day when I can leave it behind and just enjoy the rythem of the natural day while living somewhere warm on my boat.

Så fint skrivet. Jag vill också vakna tidigt och vara alldeles utvilad. Jag måste ta tag i det!

Och jag uppskattar verkligen er blogg. Vackra bilder och kloka tankar.

Early to bed and early to rise makes a sailor healthy, wealthy and wise. I'll let every one choose for themselves how they wish to define healthy, wealthy and wise. Personally, any time I'm on the water I have all three. Thanks for the great blog!

P.S. We're still waiting for winter to go away here in Minnesota so we can launch our boats for the upcoming sailing season. Thanks for the warm weather photos.

Alex & Taru
Contentment - a beautiful thing - what the body needs good sleep & a good work out during the day - plenty of warm silky saltwater and sunshine. 99.999999999% of people on the planet wish to be where you are now physically & spiritually - smile upon a sunshine - "osibissa"

Your post reminds me of the Jimmy Buffett song "Coast of Carolina" with lyrics that include . . . "These days I get up about the time I used to go to bed
Living large was once the deal
Now I watch the stars instead
They're timeless and predictable
Unlike most things that I do
I tell the wind and my old friend
I'm headed home to you.

Yes the modern world makes most of us to some type of slaves in my opinion. Most of us have to work for someone else/corporate businesses and sacrifice a part of their health, mood, sleep, physical and/or psychological well-being for a company or someone higher up in the hierarchy and that is in a way devastating for the person affected by the stress/pressure - but in another way it might give you the freedom later on in life, if you've made enough money that is. Like I assume is your case for example, Brett. As much as your life might be tiring for your body now while you're still working as a pilot, as much will you probably be able to look forward to a nice retirement whenever that sets in. So partly it is destructive - the whole stressful carrier thing - partly it is good and will reward you later on, if you were one of those who made/saved enough money during your working years. Your blog is great BTW.

I also agree with Capt Puffy, it is most certainly up to every individual to define what happiness means to them. My truth might not be everyone else's. One could just wish that everyone makes the best out of their lives while they still have the chance - and not let themselves become victims of the society, or anything else for that matter.

Mr Doit: Yes one doesn't need much else than that, right? It is funny how we get trapped in and manipulated to believe that we need a certain amount of materialistic possessions/cars/houses/gadgets etc etc to be happy, when life in fact could be just so simple as you just mentioned. The less things, the less stress and complications. And the less worries, the more time and space for peace and harmony. At least that's the case for me. Probably there are many who would claim the opposite: that the more things they own, the happier they are. I was like that once myself, till the day I realized it was not real happiness, just... materialistic happiness.

We rural people have a saying for people who sleep after sun-up: "You're burning daylight!". It means you need to take full advantage of the the day. But as a result, you aren't always the best partier at night.

WANDERER

"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm
foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.
"I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it."
What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the
cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.
What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.
The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.
Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?"
- Sterling Hayden (Wanderer, 1973)