Follow Your Dream
8 Sep
As threatened, I mean promised, it’s time for one of those infrequent stories at RoatanVortex.com—my inspiration is two-fold:
1) I’m submitting an application to an accredited University Creative Writing Course and need to tell them what I’ve been up to for the past five years. So found myself hanging out on the website to refresh my memory.
2) While subliminally spending time on the Island I noticed the “visit counter” was at 504,129 hits and counting… holy crap!!!
Now, as we all know, these high-tech (free) website hit-o-meters are extremely accurate—within a few thousand or so. But what caught my attention and inspired the “holy crap” was the fact that RoatanVortex.com exceeded HALF A MILLION views and I missed it. Not only that, more importantly, people are still searching out “Paradise.” That makes me smile.
I remember, what seems like a life-time ago, when an avid diver just returned from a vacation, came into my office (yes, in those days I had a real job and office) and talked fondly of his time spent on Roatan. I had never heard of the tiny island in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Honduras before. From that moment, in 2004 (the year) I was enthralled, obsessed, mesmerized by Roatan; I had to know everything about it—was determined to move there—and the day came when I did.
For close to five years I lived on Roatan. Met people I would have otherwise never come to know. Lived a life including sandy beaches, tropical warmth—all year round, exotic landscape, an appreciation for simplistic day to day living, and learned more about what really matters in life than if I had not taken the leap; was inspired to give more than I thought I was capable of, and in return received more than I could have ever imagined possible.
Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Yah sure, but you left Roatan.”
Yes I did.
It was time for me to move on. That doesn’t mean I’m done living the life I once thought I could only dream of. I am a vagabond, a free-spirit by nature. I know that and look forward to my next adventure which will have me spending the winter in British Columbia, Canada. In the spring, perhaps: Spain or England, maybe Portugal, how about Thailand—I don’t know; maybe I’ll stay in BC for a while.
The difficult thing about moving on to follow my dream—my life path, is to lose contact with acquired family, friends, and foes. That’s right, even the foes, come on, we’ve all got them—they add a certain spice that only a foe can provide. And although I may never see any of them again, to have never known them would be worse.
If Roatan is calling you… GO FOR IT!
Embrace the journey into the unknown, leave your comfort-zone of sameness—let yourself experience all it has to offer. You may decide to stay for a day, maybe a week or two, a year, or even a lifetime. Whatever time frame it turns out to be is irrelevant—when the Roatan Vortex pulls you in—resistance is futile!
Okay, I stole… I mean, borrowed that line from the Borg… fits well don’t you think?
Thanks for continuing to check out RoatanVortex.com I’ll let you know when the “hit-o-meter” counter reaches another milestone. And if you’d like to read a few of my favourite Roatan Vortex stories without wading through them all here (more than 100) visit “Roatan Vortex Classics” at CastleMuse.com