“At 28-years-old my goals were met,” said Jeff Fray, Psychologist/Consultant. “I had my doctorate and had built up a practice that included 8 or 9 counselors. That was when I realized I was living life on a treadmill.”
Even though Dr. Fray looked like he had it all, he found himself trapped like a wild animal in a cage and the bars that kept him in were those of insecurity, money, fear of failure and rejection and lack of purpose.
“I certainly wasn’t experiencing life to its fullest,” said Dr. Fray. “I was in a rut. I thought I had purpose, but what I really had was ambition. I had a plan in my mind of how things were supposed to go. What I have learned is, when people have ambition instead of purpose they have a vision for the future, but if that vision isn’t working, they often wind up manipulating people to fulfill that vision to which they have attached their sense of worth and purpose.”
In 1999, Dr. Fray decided he was tired of living in the cage. He and his wife made a radical decision. They sold their home, camper, cars and the practice he worked so hard to build and purchased a 50-foot sailboat. After 18 months of getting prepared and equipped they set sail on the journey of a lifetime.
“It wasn’t an easy decision, but beyond a shadow of a doubt it was the right one,” said Dr. Fray. “For a year and a half we sailed with our 3 children who were 4, 9 and 12. It was an opportunity to re-engage as a family. We had just 300 square feet of living quarters, but we had a huge backyard. We home schooled the boys, which led to some interesting moments for sure!”
Other than a one-week chartered “test-sail” the Frays had never sailed before, the first several weeks were literally baptism by fire.
“Our first night out of the harbor we were up all night saving a boat from sinking,” said Dr. Fray. “One week later, we saved another boat. Within the first two weeks, our alternator broke, which meant we had no electricity and our hot water heater rusted through. We missed our turn into Georgetown Harbor in the Bahamas and took the boat up on a reef. The only thing that saved us was the tide was coming in and the current moved us off the reef.”
While the Frays had their sights set on sailing to the Dominican Republic and many other places, after the adventures of the first two weeks, they were tempted to stay put.
“The harbor is beautiful and there are hundreds of other families who live there and home school their children,” said Dr. Fray. “One night new friends came over to our boat for dinner. They told us that this harbor is known as chicken harbor and is where the dream of the southern Caribbean gives way to the good enough. In my quest to find purpose, I realized this was a critical piece of information. Life is hard. When we get to a safe place that is better, like Chicken Harbor, it is tempting to say, ‘Safe is good enough’ and you end up missing out on the ultimate purpose for your life.”
The Frays stayed in the harbor one week to make repairs on their boat and then headed out. The first night they ran into another storm and were tested again. As time went by they persevered many other trials including adjusting to living in very close quarters.
“In 300 square feet, we had to learn to honor and respect each other,” said Dr. Fray. “You couldn’t escape conflict. We developed our team at a whole different level. Every family member had a role to play. Our 4-year-old took the first watch every night with his mom. The 9-year-old was our mechanic and our oldest was the first to get his dingy license so he was captain of the dingy taking us back and forth to land. We all had a sense of purpose.”
The Frays’ year and a half adventure included touring uninhabited islands where Christopher Columbus landed, hiking to huge water falls in the Dominican Republic, and exploring the remote coast of Venezuela.
“It was amazing,” said Dr. Fray. “During our time at sea I came to the realization that my purpose is to do the next thing wholeheartedly the rest of my life. While I don’t recommend everybody do what we did, I can tell you it gave us the opportunity to examine our priorities, recalibrate to God’s purposes and discover our purpose, which gave us a road map for the future. Six-years later our family is still impacted by our sailing sabbatical.”
A new year is upon us. Is the rudder of your life ambition or purpose? Are you trapped in a cage? It is never too late to make changes. The beginning of a new year presents a great opportunity to establish a new direction or build on an already existing strong foundation. Don’t be afraid to enter uncharted waters, which may be the course to new-found purpose in 2009.
