My first husband passed away at 26. My mom at 51. My father-in-law at 71. Those losses taught me that putting anything important off until “someday” is a risk I don’t want to take. 

Several years after I was widowed, I married Steve, who had always dreamed of living on a sailboat. So when I said, “maybe we could live on a sailboat someday,” I caught myself — and we started researching our options.

At the time, I worked as a therapist with a 9-to-5 job in an office and writing was my side hustle. In 2013, I wrote an article that went viral and landed me a book deal with a major publisher. I kept my day job until about a year and a half later, when sales took off and my book started hitting the bestseller lists. 

In July 2015, I quit my job as a psychotherapist at a community mental health center to write full-time, which meant I had the flexibility to work from anywhere. As I got to work on my second book, Steve and I started looking for a boat slip.

We searched online and put in an offer, sight unseen, on a slip at a yacht club in the Florida Keys. We purchased it for $106,500 using the money we’d saved from my book advances. We spent another $10,000, to the best of my memory, building a tiki hut on the small piece of land that came with it. 

We bought a 53-foot Pearson sailboat directly from its last owner for about $80,000, as I recall. It’s a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom boat with a cozy galley kitchen that we got for a great deal because it needed some cosmetic work.

We packed up some clothing, our laptops, the dog and the cat and made the move from a house in Maine, which we still own, to a sailboat in the Florida Keys in December 2015, knowing we’d never truly feel ready.

We kept the house assuming the sailboat would be a short-term adventure, and that we’d return if it stopped being fun. We don’t rent it out, given its rural location, and we still pay property tax and insurance. A decade later, we’re still living on the boat full time and spend just a week a year in Maine.

Here’s some of what I’ve learned from boat life so far — the costs, the tradeoffs, and why I haven’t looked back, even though we’ve always had the option to head back to land.

While buying a slip and a boat required a significant investment that took years of savings to afford, our monthly expenses are now relatively low.

Here’s the breakdown of our average monthly bills on the boat:

• Internet: $202
• Cell phones: $222
• Electricity: $91
• Hull cleaning: about $150
• Property taxes: $109
• Boat insurance: $167
• Yacht club dues: $238

Total: $1,179

The yacht club dues cover things like water, cable TV, holding tank waste pump-out services, and trash pickup. It also gives us access to coin-operated laundry and showers (for those who prefer to use facilities on land). 

We hire a professional diver to clean the hull each month to prevent buildup of algae and barnacles. I usually pay that expense in cash and it’s worth every penny.

We’ve made some improvements to the sailboat over the years: a new ceiling, updated bathrooms, and new air conditioners. Tasks like painting the deck and painting the bottom of the hull are part of routine maintenance. We do most of the jobs ourselves so the costs are minimal. 

As a therapist, I was well aware that the environment plays a big role in mental health. But I still underestimated how much happier I’d be when I traded in a windowless office for an ocean view. I still work full days, but now I have a flexible schedule and more opportunity to spend time outdoors.

Research consistently shows that just being near water and spending time in nature lowers cortisol levels. By the time I moved onto the boat, I’d prescribed nature resets to my therapy clients for years. I just didn’t realize how much I needed the prescription myself.

Being surrounded by nature — from manatees and dolphins to ocean water and palm trees — helps me feel more alive. I exercise more too; it’s easy to convince myself to go running in the evenings when I know I get to catch a beautiful sunset or to take a walk when there are herons and land crabs to see along the way. 

Using the environment to build mental strength is something I’ve since written about extensively in “The Mental Strength Playbook” — but back when I first moved, I was still living the research myself.

Living a simpler life also means reduced decision fatigue.

Since a sailboat offers less space and mostly built-in furniture, I’ve eliminated entire categories of decisions, like what to buy, where to put it, and how to maintain it. 

With less space than a house, there’s also less cleaning which means more time to do things I love.

While moving away meant I was creating more physical distance between friends and family, it also led to opportunities to spend time with them differently.

My dad and my sister just visited for 10 days. When we lived closer, we often got together just to catch up. But last month, I created new memories with them. We watched sunsets every night, saw dolphins, and swam at nearby beaches. 

While there’s a lot to be said for a predictable, consistent routine, novelty is one of the most underrated drivers of well-being.

Living on a boat guarantees you’ll never stop learning. I see sea creatures I never knew existed, like parrotfish and hawksbill sea turtles. I learn new skills, too, like how to install a water pump for the air conditioner. And I get to try things I’ve never done, like going snorkeling at a coral reef. 

I won’t pretend it’s always easy to live and work on a sailboat. When the air conditioner fails at midnight, or a storm rolls in and the boat rocks so much it’s hard to sleep, the romance fades a bit. But those moments are the exception.

Just yesterday, a mother and baby manatee swam past while I was drinking my morning coffee. I’ve lived here 11 years and seen this hundreds of times, but I still reached for my phone to snap a picture like it was my first sighting.

That’s the thing about living this lifestyle: Every day feels like an exciting adventure. I’m glad I didn’t wait for “someday” to make the move.

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, clinical social worker, and host of the Mentally Stronger podcast. She is the author of several books including “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do.″ Her TEDx talk “The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong” is one of the most viewed talks of all time. Follow her on Instagram and LinkedIn.

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