Roosters don't fly... no matter how much you want them to! Oh sure - they hop around a lot and occasionally flutter up to a branch, but for the most part, they just make noise. It's not their fault really - it's what they are designed to do. They are not eagles, or even butterflies. They are roosters and roosters make noise.
I'm currently sitting in the OBX - alone. Though I'd invited numerous people, who like our friend the rooster, tend to make a lot of noise about vacations, travel, retirement, and freedom, none of them were actually free to join me.
Of course, I understand. There is always a "logical" reason for staying put: Jobs, kids, grandkids, volunteer work, housework, husbands, girlfriends, packages being delivered, visitors arriving, and repairmen coming - I think I've heard it all.
Yet as I sit alone in an absolutely beautiful 12 bedroom waterfront home, I think I've finally figured it out... Most people are roosters - and roosters don't fly.
As a nomad, I am wired differently. My wings are strong and powerful. I need to fly, and as a result, I protect my freedom at all cost. I am not in a relationship. I rarely volunteer. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to get me to commit to anything trivial more than a few weeks out - I simply can't promise that I'll still be in town. Nomadic freedom has a price - a pretty high price in fact, and it's one that many are simply unwilling to pay.
The same is true for most nontraditional roles and lifestyles, I suppose. How many people have said: "I'd love to write a book someday" but have never picked up a pen? How many would be athletes, restaurant owners, and entrepreneurs are actively sacrificing everything for their dreams? Of course many are, but not everyone who squawks is willing (or wanting) to fly.
Perhaps it's ridiculous that it's taken me so long to get this message: Not everyone who squawks is wiling (or wanting) to fly. Honestly, I feel sort of silly now... but, I'd believed them. When a friend tells me that they want to retire, get away, take more time off, or even exercise more, eat better, get a new job, I believed them. I'd offered support, make suggestions, and quite frankly, wait for it to happen. But as I sit here watching the sunrise over the ocean alone, I finally understand that doers and dreamers are not always the same. And while many will pay lip service to a nomadic life, few (perhaps very few), actually want to fly.
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