That Golden Globe Race: Delights of the Ordinary No. 6

“The most excruciating thing, though, had been maintaining a normal life…”

-Haruki Murakami, Men Without Women.

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Once upon a time, in the year nineteen sixty-eight, when the digital newspaper was non-existent, The British Sunday Times made an offer of £5,000 as a publicity campaign to whosoever could sail around the world solo and fastest. It was named Sunday Golden Globe Race.

Technically a race, it was severely flawed :

• first, anyone could enter it,
• secondly, there was no qualification,
• and then the maximum number of participants never finished the race.

Out of the lot, the two players Donald Crowhurst and Bernard Moitessier, who never completed the race became quite popular – one ended up killing himself and the other had a mid-sea epiphany.

Mr Crowhurst’s boat had a technical failure mid-way and could go no further so he fooled people by sending false notes that he has sailed the world and is returning. Just for this voyage, he has gone for heavy financial investments to equip his boat for his sail and a lot of money was at stake.

With his fake around-the-world voyage, severe anxiety about financial ruin, and signs of mental illness he threw himself into the sea.

While Mr Moitessier was tremendously dismayed by the publicity hype. His love for sea and sailing was pure joy and the promotion around it made him sick from the pit, so he quit the race in between (despite being a skilled sailor) landed in Tahiti and made it a home for himself for years.

Anyone alone at sea for nine months will begin to lose their mind!

“But their stories are important because ordinary people so often struggle to find balance between external and internal measures of success.” - Morgan Housel

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I don’t mean to give you the idea that life is a voyage and we all are sailing, but it will be good if you could see it that way!

In life and even in finances there are very few sure things. Plans can go kaput, future strategies can go wrong, savings evaporate and life mayhem can lead to crazy decisions.

When our idea of success is constantly rewired and reframed by our cultural settings the assertion and how we agree with our life and finances can show in our personality. Since most of us do not know what we want we cannot define success and will always look outside to set our standards of it.

'Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires.'

Rene Girard, the originator of the Mimetic Theory.

It is in this flawed imitation of success I find sparks of ordinary fading away from the front of our eyes. The present disguises itself as future worries, and we are a ball of anxious sparks in and out. And I suppose we are dealing with so much cyclical waves to let the lethargy enter our sinews, we start to look for things of success that are far and beyond. What is now matters not much!

Can’t we get sick of ordinary lives?

Even a voyager gets sick of the sea and has to find ways to talk to dolphins and birds and imagine mermaids!

Essentially none of us has it charming. We may have easy sometimes but not charming. And that is the very pursuit to seek the touches of laughter in the everyday.

I believe seeping into those ordinary spaces where we are so meaningfully balanced that it may spark delight in us. Yet we are not alone on this planet. Our hierarchical society spreads at the length and breadth of our lives. A network of people who would, if not dictate, guide and believe in us. And it is always a challenge ‘whom to listen to’ and ‘if we are doing right.’

It will always be. You will never escape from that. But what should never be is that we start to see people and their successes as invincible and brood over our consequences. That will be devastating.

Can we find meaning in the tiny movements of life?

When I speak of living the ordinary we can be as dazzling as the northern lights and as dainty as dandelions. I believe in you that you will share your collage work step by step, you knitting each stitch, your spanner rotating some degree every time, your eyes tilting to see inside the microscope, or your brain scanning small financial gains in your business or finding thrill in the excel spreadsheet. Where ever you are it is the ordinary behaviours that fetch the aplomb of living.

What is the source of such strength and joy in the ordinary repetitions of daily life?

From what I glean: a profound sense of engagement with the people around us, child-like curiosity, natural endurance, believing that good and bad are both transient, that in time we all change and that, as Victor Frankl puts it “you always have the capacity to choose your attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

And here are some great links and sources I found :

To delight scroll: Thandiwe Muriu Instagram account makes for a vibrant visual treat. It is the opposite of monochrome vibes. She is a Kenyan artist who says, “I often take everyday objects found across Kenya and reimagine them as colourful accessories in my work. My goal is to unveil the hidden beauty that a simple household object can hold.”

To watch: If you haven’t then you should watch Berne’ Brown’s film Call to Courage on Netflix. She has a humorous way of speaking deeper truths about courage and vulnerability.

Also, watch Sir Michale Caine recite the Rudyard Kipling poem ‘If.’ As much as this poem has made me a fan of Kipling, Sir Michael Caine’s narration is like a music to it.

Our entire lives will never be impeccable but it will create stretches and bridges for others to move through. If your inner disposition is printing new waves of thrills and joy and continuous laughs and silly giggles amidst the crazy success-driven life, then you are good to go.

May the weekend bring to you extra freshness so you may sail through the waves and find the sunshine warming your cheeks.

Anugrah | Paint My Word