A Journey Mindset
Maidentrip
“I want simply to learn about the world and live freely.“ Laura Dekker
Why go to school, when you can sail?
A few years ago I saw a documentary called Maidentrip, it immediately entered my top 5 recommended movies.
The movie’s synopsis is pretty straightforward: it’s about a 14 years old Dutch girl that decides to sail around the world on her own.
The movie impacted me deeply and left me with some fundamental questions about life and human potential.
Tutoring
Working as a math tutor for the last 7 years gave me the opportunity to explore the mindset of teenagers (14–18 mostly), trying to understand how we construct our belief systems at an early age and how difficult it is to “hack” them when we want to make changes.
This movie was my number 1 pick whenever a student of mine asked me: “do you have any movies to recommend me?” I always mentioned right away: this is not an entertaining movie, this is a nourishing one… big difference!
At what age can we become independent?
“I was four when I first stood at the helm on my own.”
Most people don’t leave their parents house until their 20’s, Laura sailed for 519 days around the world from the ages of 14–16.
I couldn’t watch this movie without feeling a bit embarrassed… this girl was demonstrating that the whole template we have for growing humans in a petri dish called “school” is a joke. Laura educated herself and actively crafted her independence.
Learning to take care of yourself should be the number 1 objective of the education system, doing it as creatively as possible is a survival necessity. Being creative in life is not a luxury it’s a must. This 13 years old had a dream: sail around the world. To achieve it she had to find sponsors and facilitate this dream economically. At the beginning of the movie Laura shares how she wrote letters to sponsors, explaining her dream.
While most kids write to Santa, Laura wrote to sponsors… fucking sponsors! (Yes I’m excited…)
A good question to ask yourself on a weekly basis:
When was the last time I wrote someone about my dream/project?
After figuring out the economics of her endeavor Laura had to face a 10 months court battle with the Dutch government to let her take this voyage. (Yes, sailing around the world deserves the fancy word “voyage”)
Most people wouldn't fight a 10 months divorce case… this was a 13 years old kid who wanted to sail!
“I love what I’m doing. I love sailing, I love the ocean.”
When you love something as much as Laura loves sailing, fighting a 10 months case in court is a test of your conviction. In this case, there was no real match-up… Laura won by sheer will.
By the regular narrative life throws at you she should’ve been doing algebra equations at school while losing all hope for being creative in life. She decided to assert herself against the script she’s been given and claim her freedom.
Why do we need a house?
“A house is kind of scary.”
Watching the movie gives a clear sense that Laura isn’t interested in her life being static and not exciting, so she constructed a life around movement.
Sailing is the complete contrast of having a house, it’s a mobile unit that gets you from A to B. A regular house keeps you in A, basically restricting motion and sheltering you from change.
“As soon as I get on my boat, something inside me changes. Then I really feel what living is.”
The “home” for Laura is not the boat, it’s sailing. It’s the idea of the boat, it’s the freedom that comes from doing exactly what she wants and loves.
Who can do incredible things with their life?
“I wanted the storms, I wanted the calms, I wanted to feel loneliness.”
As I was watching the movie, I kept looking for Laura to distinguish herself as a “special person”, but at no time did she stand on one harm, breathe fire, or built a rocket ship… she’s a regular teenager.
The movie is not exciting, there is no compelling story, but yet I was fascinated by it. How someone completely normal can produce such independent behavior at this early age has made me stare at the screen with amazement.
The key to her story is doing. Laura just does what she wants to do. She moves in the direction of her desires. With no superpowers… she just does. What is distinct about her is that she will not settle for anything else other than the life she wants for herself.
The Quest Mindset
People usually read a 1000 books before they even scratch her proactive nature. Laura wants to do something, and she figures out how to do it.
Challenges arise, and she learns how to navigate them along the way. The quest she’s on is bigger than any single step. At some point in the movie, there is a scene where Laura says goodbye to a couple she traveled with for a few weeks and then she delivers an incredibly insightful line:
“When you meet other sailors, you know that sometimes you will sail in different ways.”
This would be a lesson that a person will usually learn after a few breakups, or a divorce at the age of 40. Laura is practicing change on such a level, that she can tap into some Buddhist insights without reading any books on eastern philosophy… (pretty sure she was busy snorkeling, rather than reading the “Dao Te Ching”)
My Own Journey
After being on the “road” for the last 8 months, I can relate to this movie from my own experience. By no means am I doing anything close to sailing alone at sea… but as I’m writing this post from my Airbnb room at Valparaiso (Chile), I’m processing this movie from a different point of view.
I’ve experienced enough changes over the last year (Europe, Canada, USA, South America), to taste the freedom and hardship Laura had faced in this movie. I learned that freedom and hardship are complementary elements in the human experience, the tension between the two composes the quality of our experience.
The movie delivers a clear message beautifully: To have, you need to give. You need to sacrifice.
Laura sacrifices her time with her family, her life in Holland, and her comfort zone, to feel free. She gives everything to have the things she longs for the most: freedom and fulfillment.
This movie is the best depiction of what “success” should look like: messy, not glamorous and focused on doing… simply doing.
The Ted talk and the book that came afterward were a by-product of one thing: doing. No special gifts or superpowers... For a girl that did an extremely abnormal thing with her life, she strikes me as the most normal teenager I’ve seen.
If it was possible to synthesize Laura’s mindset into a pill, people would be taking it more than Ritalin, caffeine, and any other performance enhancer out there.
Super focus/intelligence is not the ultimate tool in life. Having a “doer” mindset is more valuable than how much one can sit and solve equations. (not to trash equation solving… I actually love it)
Maidentrip
This movie should be administered to any student/human on earth to bring up some key questions about our journey in this world:
- At what age can we become independent?
- Why do we need a house?
- Who can do incredible things with their life?
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