How to make magic happen in life | 3 minute read

My favourite class in high school was Writer’s Craft. As part of it, we kept a journal of sorts, that our teacher called our “Intimate Places of Truth.” In them, we’d write whatever we wanted: What we felt, what we hoped to achieve in life, that sort of thing.

I’ve since misplaced my Intimate Place of Truth and, with it, the thoughts of an angsty teenager. However, one thing I remember writing, as part of a bucket list, was “read The Old Man and The Sea at sea.

This week, 20 years later, I was able to cross that off the list. And it all started with a series of “yeses”. Let me explain.

In early 2023, Andrea asked me if I’d like to do an adult learn to sail program at the Bay of Quinte Yacht Club in Belleville. The prospect of learning to sail was intimidating and the 1.5 hour drives every Monday after work were a bit of a commitment. But I said yes.

After the classes were done, we were asked if we wanted to join the club as members. It was an additional yearly expense but, we decided we wanted to continue sailing, so we said yes.

In August of that year, we discussed buying our own boat. We found a 1983 Aloha 8.5 — a beautiful 28-foot boat that was a little outside the imaginary budget I had set for myself. “Should we just buy it?” Andrea said. I said yes.

At the sailing club, we’ve gone on to meet several friends. One of them, Josh, set out for The Bahamas from Belleville in October of this year.

It was a sailor’s bucket list trip. Much more ambitious than my own little goal.

He asked Andrea and I if we’d like to fly down for a week and sail around the islands. The week we were invited to join was an especially busy one at work and with my own business, so it required a lot of late nights leading up to it. But, of course, we said yes.

And that’s how a series of yeses, that easily could have been no’s, led to us having the trip of a lifetime — including diving for conch, 8+ hour ocean passages, eating lobster we (Josh) speared, swimming among sea turtles, exploring empty beaches, and, you guessed it, finally reading The Old Man and the Sea at sea.

I’m sitting in the sailboat as I write this, drinking hot coffee and getting ready for our final day here. And it’s got me thinking: It took a series of chances to lead to this. And I’m glad we took them.

It’s often easy to say no to things in life. We have obligations and only so much energy. But the magic can only happen when we say yes.

The pebble

The challenge

This week, say yes to something. A dinner date, an invite to a show, a trip to the Bahamas to sail around for a week — whatever. Go make some magic happen.