What the ocean taught me about human drift
A little over five years ago, before turning 50, I sat down and wrote out a list of life goals and themes for the next 25 years of my life.
Some were simple. Others were strange.
Live more outdoors than indoors.
Push myself toward discomfort instead of away from it.
At the time, I didn’t realize the list was less about adventure and more about correction.
Like a lot of people, I had spent years building, achieving, producing, and optimizing my career and success.
I shaped the kind of life that, from the outside, looked full. But underneath it, I had started to feel a growing disconnect from my family and from myself. I was moving fast, but not always in the right direction.
I call it human drift.
The scary thing about drift is that you often don’t feel it happening.
Then one day you look up and realize you’ve slowly drifted away from the people you love, the values you care about, or the person you intended to become.
That realization became clear during my recent ocean rowing expedition: a solo, non-stop, 1,750-mile row from Monterey, California, to Punta Mita, Mexico.
Over 18 months, I trained........
