Going off on a big adventure lends itself to interesting stories. People want to live vicariously through it, especially if its about someone they know in real-life. Its also very easy to write about an adventure, already full of unexpected twists and turns along with wonderful new discoveries. But at some point, all good things must come to an end.

With any great story, the end is marked in an exciting and memorable way. It leaves a reader with the feeling of satisfaction and closure. Its the “Happily Ever After” stamp.

But what happens after the ‘happily ever after?’

In all great non-fiction adventure stories, it seems that nobody ever talks about this. Our adventure, the Jake and Jill story (volumes 1, 2, 3, so on) is real life. And life goes on even when the story “ends”.

People ask us the same question all the time’ “What’s Next?” As soon as we came back from 18 months of sailing expeditions, people were so eager to hear about the next thing. After Iceland, the next thing. After New Zealand…you get the picture.

Its natural to want to keep a story going. When its REALLY good, we always wish there was more to it. The first stories that I remember falling in love with (like most of the world) was Harry Potter. Not just because the tale is so deliciously wonderful, but because there was always more to look forward to. (This is why I love series-books.)

When an adventure ends of its own accord, then its easy to get closure from it. But when it takes an unforeseen turn, it might not feel like the ending that was expected, or an ending at all. Even if a person plans to do something for years (or a whole lifetime) and succeeds, followers of that journey will want to know what’s next. And thats the part of our story that I want to talk about.

There’s a time that I like to call the in-between. It comes at the end of one significant “adventure / transformation / shift” and before the next. Its a time of reflection. And its absolutely necessary if one wants to maintain a sense of their new, evolved being. Its not particularly exciting, and thus, there’s not a lot to say about it. Its not the part of the story that makes readers feel inspired, but it is the reality. Its what MUST COME next for normalcy to ensue.

Put yourself in this scenario: You go off on a vacation for a few weeks and its such a whirlwind of fun and excitement. Yet, by the end you find that you can’t wait to get home to rest and recover. Your body is tired from all of the changes to its routine. You likely ate more unhealthy food, drank more alcohol, stayed awake later or slept a lot less. Your world was in a sense, turned upside down for those few weeks. You get home and you say to yourself, “I need a vacation”.

You need to reboot in order to feel normal again.

Our world makes up that scenario 1000 times over. It took years of planning and then years of experiencing one life-turned-on-its-head existence to another and another. Because its lasted for so long, it quite literally changed the fiber of our very being. We became strangers to ourselves.

A lot of physical and mental energy is expelled from such shifts. When we came back from sailing, we were absolutely exhausted to the very core. We had no idea what to make of our world anymore, because we were completely different. I’d relate it to something like PTSD. In a sense, that’s how we felt. We were traumatized to come back to an old “normal” world that we left. Everything felt foreign. Fast-paced civilized life surrounded by technology made us uncomfortable. Dealing with crowded places or performing daily tasks like grocery shopping was difficult. It was a case of over-stimulation to our now, very sensitive nature. After living in solitude and simplicity for so long, normal life was overwhelming.

It took almost 3 months for things to begin to feel somewhat “normal” again. But then, normal was something different for us.

Six months after we returned from sailing, we went on a another huge adventure. This time it was to the other side of the globe, to experience life as a true outdoorsman. Thru-hiking for 6 months with everything we would need to survive on our backs was daunting to imagine. We went in with zero expectation. We came out completely transformed, YET AGAIN. So much change in such a short span of time is difficult for anyone to wrap their head around.

This time, we didn’t give ourselves any in-between time. Our bodies were severely depleted and broken down. We could barely walk much less function as “normal” civilized humans do. Yet we decided to hit the road for a 3-month, 12,000 mile expedition across the country, focused primarily in the Pacific Northwest. And it was great in almost every aspect except that it was also exhausting. The entire time I was secretly hoping that we’d find space to STOP. I needed a break from adventures. I was tired of living off the land (or out of the van) for the better part of a year.

So, to answer the question, What’s next for Jake and Jill?; we’re living in the in-between. We’re aboard our sailboat because its our home, for all intents-and-purposes. We came back because we needed a place that was our own and a space to reflect on everything. This is one that we hoped to bring us back to neutral, save some money and plan for the next big thing.

It hasn’t been all roses. Its taken months for our broken and under-nourished bodies to recover. Sleeping patterns are still pretty out of whack. We battle against weather (such is boat life), a lot of discomfort and a lack of many creature comforts that most people don’t even think about (heat, running water, air conditioning, bathroom, bedroom, normal kitchen with all amenities, access to stores for anything you could want or need, a house that doesn’t move constantly, etc.). Thank goodness we’ve been blessed with amazing friends and some great times too!

Life, our life, is not always the wild and wonderful story-book adventure promised to the readers. Its made of the in-between, which can cause its own detours and roadblocks. But from those, reflection happens and the next big journey’s pathway is alight. Funny enough, ours is just around the corner.