BunsGettingFirm
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2004
- Messages
- 1,502
I was tired and bored on a Sunday, so I surfed the net about my favorite day dream: cruising. I found this article Proafile | Cruising Blues and Their Cure that is applicable not just to sailing but also to any dream activity that you think is beyond your grasp (ER anyone?) that will make you happy as a clam soaking in tropical water for ever and ever. Here is a quote from the article:
The same is true of cruising. You can see just so any beautiful sunsets strung end on end, just so any coconut palms waving in the ocean breeze, just so many exotic moonlit tropical nights scented with oleander and frangipani, and you become adjusted. They no longer elate. The pleasant external stimulus has worn out its response and cruising depression takes over. This is the point at which boats get sold and cruising dreams are shattered forever. One can extend the high for a while by searching for new and more exciting pursuits, but sooner or later the depression mechanism must catch up with you and the longer it has been evaded the harder it hits.
It follows that the best way to defeat cruising depression is never to run from it. You must face into it, enter it when it comes, just be gloomy and enjoy the gloominess while it lasts. You can be sure that the same mechanism that makes depression unavoidable also makes future elation unavoidable. Each hour or day you remain depressed you become more and more adjusted to it until in time there is no possible way to avoid an upturn in feelings. The days you put in depressed are like money in the bank. They make the elated days possible by their contrast. You cannot have mountains without valleys and you cannot have elation without depression. Without their combined upswings and downswings, existence would be just one long tedious plateau.