I’m writing this post for the second time today.
Just as I was adding the images and final touches to my first version, the page refreshed and when it came back, it was blank.
My heart beat faster as I registered the lost hour of work but then I remembered…for this to be a big deal, I must make it a big deal.
So I’m choosing to move on, get the second edit done and get this post published in the next 25 minutes so I can get out and watch the school fireworks display with my kids.
Today’s post is a little different anyway – in that it’s a podcast.
When I first started exploring the subject of joy, there was a woman I knew I wanted to talk to.
Tanya Hackney, author of “Leaving the Safe Harbor: The risks and rewards of raising a family on a boat”, lives a life that would inspire some and terrify others. I sit somewhere in between. I’m utterly inspired by her but know her life would completely terrify me!
Tanya is someone whose life experiences have made it essential for her to be able to roll with life’s punches and, as a result, making her the perfect person to talk to when it comes to learning the art of letting go and living life more joyfully.
In our conversation, we explore life, death, the universe and everything – and also God and how Tanya’s faith plays a roll in her ability to navigate life’s harder moments with joy, love and grace.
This is one of the most thought-provoking conversations I’ve had on the podcast to date and Tanya really helped me explore some of the concepts I’ve been writing about over the last 3 weeks in a way that made them more tangible and made me think about what’s truly possible.
About Tanya
Tanya Hackney graduated with a B.A. from Middlebury College in 1997, where she majored in English and double-minored in French and Education. She married her high school sweetheart and taught kindergarten in Atlanta, Georgia before transitioning to homeschooling her own five children aboard sailing vessel Take Two. She’s lived aboard, traveled, and written for the Take Two Sailing blog for the last fifteen years.
She has always had a bad case of wanderlust, having taken countless road trips as a child, spent a semester in Paris during college, and honeymooned in Mexico. In 2021, she published an award-winning memoir, Leaving the Safe Harbor: the Risks and Rewards of Raising a Family on a Boat. In her free time, she plays the ukulele, paints landscapes, and kayaks.
Connect with Tanya
Three things I took from our conversation
I learned so much from my conversation with Tanya but here are the top 3 lessons I am taking away:
- Faith in someone / something bigger than yourself can provide many necessary things for a joyful existence, including:
- A philosophy by which to live
- A safe place to release the stuff that feels too heavy to carry alone
- Comfort during life’s hardest times
- We think we own our stuff but eventually our stuff owns us
- When we accept what IS, we can sometimes find joy even in the most harrowing of circumstances.
More on these things in later blogs.
