A lot of people feel trapped by circumstance, by the expectations of others or the perception that they need a lot of money. They would like to have a different direction in their lives, but they're held back by fear or desires that are incompatible with that freedom.

Roz Savage

Categorized in : People Expectations Perception

Compared with the awesome might and eternal power of the ocean, no human being can fail to be reminded of their own insignificance.

failing ocean might

Be mindful of the link between present action and desired future outcome. Ask yourself: if I repeat today’s actions 365 times, will I be where I want to be in a year?

links want years

Despite what I had acchieved, I don't for a moment think I am any braver or better than anyone else. This is how I attempt to explain what gives me the stregnth to do what I do; when that thunderbolt of an idea first hit me and inspired me to row across oceans, it filled me with a sense of purpose so strong that it overcame my fears. Even when boredom, frustration, fatigue or despair threatened to overwhelm me, it was that powerful sense of purpose that kept me going.

powerful ocean strong

The bigger the challenge, the bigger the sense of accomplishment... by Roz Savage

The bigger the challenge, the bigger the sense of accomplishment when you get to the end of it.

accomplishment ends challenges

I don't own designer clothes, or a sports car, or a huge house, but I am seeing the world, experiencing amazing things, and I have become an environmental campaigner.

clothes car sports

When you stand at the bottom of the mountain and look up at the mountaintop, the path looks hard and stony, and the top is obscured by clouds. But when you reach the top and you look down, you realize that there are a thousand paths that could have brought you to that place.

mountain clouds looks

"Stepping outside your comfort zone is supposed to feel uncomfortable because we're in new and unfamiliar territory. Being uncomfortable is a sign of success, NOT of failure! So if we are uncomfortably outside our comfort zones, then than means we are growing!!! And THAT is cause for celebration!" (modified from a passage in Roz Savage's "Rowing the Atlantic")

savages comfort mean

My advice is don't keep asking yourself if you can do something. Just get out there and do it. You can really surprise yourself.

surprise asking advice

Like riding a bike for the first time, sometimes you just have to go for it. If you keep looking forwards and maintain your momentum, it will probably go well. But if you start to doubt yourself and look back, you are more likely to suffer a major wobble followed by a crash.

riding suffering doubt

I am a rolling stone, never in one place for very long. by Roz Savage

I am a rolling stone, never in one place for very long.

rolling stones long

I have learned to acknowledge and appreciate the 98% that I have achieved instead of the 2% that I didn't.

i-have-learned appreciate acknowledge

I'm not claiming to be anything out of the ordinary. I am not especially big or strong or brave or intrepid.

strong brave ordinary

I just used to have a really normal life, working in an office. by Roz Savage

I just used to have a really normal life, working in an office.

normal used office

Ocean rowing is very much what you make it. Rowing technique is pretty irrelevant on the ocean. It's the psychology that's important.

psychology ocean important

Fall down nine times, get up ten. by Roz Savage

Fall down nine times, get up ten.

get-up nine fall

A few years ago I wrote two versions of my obituary, the one I wanted and the one I was heading for. They were very different. I realized I needed to make some big changes if I was going to look back and be proud of my life. I am making those changes, and now I have a life worth living.

proud two years

The Milky Way swooped diagonally across the heavens, reminding me of my utter insignificance, and at the same time my complete interconnection with everything. I was just a tiny speck of consciousness, and yet I was consciousness itself.

tiny heaven way

So let's raise the tone of the debate. Too often at the moment we look like schoolchildren squabbling over a toy - our most precious toy, the Earth. And the danger is that as we pull in opposite directions in our global tug of war, the Earth will end up broken - or at least unable to sustain human life. That is the worst case scenario - or maybe, from the Earth's point of view, the best.

views opposites war

I have learned to accept that, in the present moment at least, things are exactly as they are meant to be, and although I cannot control the future any more than I could control the wind and the weather, I can manage it and influence it in a positive way.

weather attitude wind

It's amazing how resourceful you can become when you're in the middle of the ocean and there's only one way to get to the other side.

ocean sides way