Farewell Vienna

One of the things I’d been looking forward to this year was  taking up invitations to speak at conferences in Vienna and Jakarta.  A couple of weeks back I wrote to the organisers of those conferences to notify them I would need to withdraw,  for over the last couple of months I have experienced a substantial deterioration  in physical health that makes international travel very difficult. My meds give me peak periods during the day when my body movement is very good, but during the troughs it is difficult to move around. Moreover some days the peaks are long but other days it is the troughs that linger. Managing the this across time zones, jetlag and long flights is not really feasible.

My physical deterioration means I have also made the decision to sell my boat. My life since childhood has involved boats. The splash of salt spray across the face while motoring across the bay, the gentle rocking of the boat under a sunlit sky while moored fishing, and the all-nighter in which I get to witness the sunrise from the vantage point of my boat have been delightful experiences. I am a classic Myers Briggs extrovert – I get energised being around people – but the one place I could spend hours on end on my own was out on the water. Saying goodbye to my Haines Hunter will be more difficult than saying goodbye to Vienna.  I will miss the opportunity to visit Vienna, but I will grieve the loss of my autonomy on the water.

It seems to me that from the day we are born life is a continual process of  saying goodbye and welcoming the new.  We say goodbye to the womb but enter an amazing new world; we go to school, make friends, find a sense of place,  then say goodbye to the school years as we enter the adult world of work; when I married I said goodbye to the single life and began life as one part of a couple; when we had children we said goodbye to life in which the household was just us to begin life as parents; we finish our years of working and say goodbye to something that gave us great meaning and enter retirement; as we grow older we say goodbye to people we love as they pass away and welcome newborns into our world.  With each goodbye comes the pain of loss, wistful memories, and things for which to be grateful. Yet each goodbye also brings a hello filled with possibility, new discoveries and fresh horizons.  For me the key to navigating these changes is to accept that one era has passed, to look back with gratitude for  what I was able to enjoy during that phase,  to allow myself to wistfully remember the good of those times, yet to look forward to the new things to embrace, new experiences to be had, new dimensions of the journey to be found.

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Andrew Dawkins
Andrew Dawkins
6 years ago

Thank you Scott. Moving and thought-provoking.

Scott
Scott
6 years ago
Reply to  Andrew Dawkins

Thanks Andrew

Steve Taylor
Steve Taylor
6 years ago

Thanks very much for sharing this Scott, I appreciate your honesty and courage. I’m also sorry you can’t go to Vienna and that you have to sell your boat. Thinking of you, Steve

Scott
Scott
6 years ago
Reply to  Steve Taylor

Thanks Steve

Vivian
Vivian
6 years ago

Thanks Scott for your insightful reflections. Letting go is difficult but learning its lessons essential as we navigate the inevitable goodbyes that life brings us. Blessings. Viv

Scott
Scott
6 years ago
Reply to  Vivian

Thanks Viv

John Piovesan
John Piovesan
6 years ago

Thank you Scott,
you have been giving us an invaluable legacy that we would be so much poorer for without your effort. You inspire many after you!

Blessings!!

Scott
Scott
6 years ago
Reply to  John Piovesan

Thanks John. Am genuinely surprised but humbled when people find my stuff helpful.

Andris Heks
Andris Heks
6 years ago

Hi Scott, The words, uttered by Wilson in Douglas Stewart’s ‘The Fire On The Snow’ ring true about you: ‘We dreamed, we so nearly triumphed, we were defeated As every man in some great or humble way Dreams, and nearly triumphs, and is always defeated, And then, as we did, triumphs again in endurance. Triumph is nothing; defeat is nothing; life is Endurance; and afterwards death. And whatever death is, The endurance remains like a fire, a sculpture, a mountain To hearten our children. I tell you, Such a struggle as ours is living; it lives after death Purely, like… Read more »

Scott
Scott
6 years ago

Hi Andris. I have never come across this poem but it is very good. Thanks for sharing.

Shane Clifton
5 years ago

Scott, I’m a little late to this party – but your experience resonates. Sometimes, the “hello filled opportunities” can be hard to find, but beauty unmasks itself if you look hard enough.

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