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It's never too late

Posted by: OAR, 09:23 PM GMT del 28 Aprile 2012

OAR crew Roz Savage explains what inspired her to leave a comfortable life behind and set our to row across the world's oceans.

"There was a time when I was living in London, doing a job that didn’t seem in tune with my values or my abilities, but I thought I needed a certain level of income and this job was the only way I could see of achieving it. I felt trapped. I would sometimes escape by reading books about mountaineers, polar trekkers and other adventurers. And yes, I would envy them.

It was this envy that gave me a clue my life wasn’t going the way I wanted it to. One day I did an interesting exercise – I wrote two versions of my obituary – the one I was heading for if I carried on as I was, and the one I really wanted. The contrast was startling.

It took another 3 or 4 years of gradual changes before the two obituaries started to converge, but I’m getting there.

The first step was to figure out what it was that I envied. The freedom? The adventure? The personal challenge? The opportunity to get fit and healthy? Or was it just that the grass is greener, and I simply wanted an escape from my current lifestyle?

And so I asked myself; if you want to do something about it, what’s stopping you? If you really, really, really wanted to do something about it, why would you let anything stop you?

As George Eliot said, ‘It’s never too late to be what you might have been’.

Here’s a little ditty I made up whilst on my maiden voyage across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Antigua...

As I row across the sea
I’m very happy to be me
Life is simple, life is free
Oh what better way to be!

There are many ways to live your life
Some are easy, some may bring strife
But do not say, when you are through
There’s still so much I wanted to do "

Follow Roz' latest adventure with Andrew Morris, the Olympic Atlantic Row.

Categories:OAR rowing Roz Savage adventure envy

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The Perfect Adventure

Posted by: OAR, 08:58 PM GMT del 28 Aprile 2012

The adventure is as much about the journey as it is about the destination.

Having rowed across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, OAR crew Roz Savage is well accustomed to the life of adventure. Roz explains her theory on what constitutes the perfect adventure.

"An adventure should involve the achievement of some external goal, ideally at the end of the adventure. This is problem with mountains – once you’ve reached the summit you still have to get back down. This is at best an anticlimax and at worst the point at which it all goes disastrously wrong.

To heighten the drama, there should be a period of stuck-ness, around two-thirds or three-quarters of the way through, when it seems that obstacles will prevent the achievement of the goal… followed, hopefully, by a triumphant conclusion.

Throughout the adventure there should ideally be little highlights – special moments of beauty to inspire and encourage the adventurer, to be remembered and appreciated when looking back.

And there also have to be tough times. This is the crux of the matter. The adventure should, as well as achieving an external goal, allow the adventurer to achieve a personal objective – to either discover or develop at least one desirable character trait. To do this they will have to step outside their comfort zone, and this by definition causes discomfort and despondency.

My hypothesis is this:

The degree of suffering is directly related to the distance outside the comfort zone. The greater the distance outside the comfort zone, the greater the personal growth will ultimately be.

This is good news. It means that bad times are actually good times, because in the end they make it all more worthwhile. It also means that if circumstances conspire to frustrate the external objective (capsize, sinking etc), the adventurer may well have achieved the personal objective so all is not lost.

This certainly sums up what I hope to get out of my adventures."

The next challenge for Roz Savage and crew mate Andrew 'Mos' Morris, is to row across the North Atlantic Ocean, home to London in time for the start of the 2012 Olympic Games.

Stay posted for updates on the OAR adventure.

Categories:OAR Roz Savage adventure rowing North Atlantic Ocean

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Andrew Morris and Roz Savage will row over 2000 miles across the North Atlantic Ocean, home to London in time for the start of the 2012 Olympic games.

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