I quit my job, cashed out my 401(ok) and sailed…
More than 600 nautical miles off the coast of California, 29-year-old Oliver Widger is reinventing his life with his cat, a sailboat and a dream.
“What would I tell myself before embarking on this sail? Man, you got an insane amount of work ahead of you. You’ve got an insane amount of work ahead of you,” Widger advised Fox News Digital in an unique interview.
“Even if you scroll down to when I first started posting on TikTok, that person is completely different. And that person had already quit, but that person’s completely different than the person I am now,” he continued. “I am unrecognizable in comparison to who I was a year, a year and a half ago. A completely different person.”
Widger – also recognized as @sailing_with_phoenix on social platforms – features tens of 1000’s of followers every day as he actively paperwork a once-in-a-lifetime voyage from the Oregon coast to Hawaii with his cat, Phoenix.
About one yr in the past, Widger made the choice to quit his 11-year profession at a tire company, liquidate his 401(ok), promote all his belongings to buy a sailboat and journey the world. He claims he was drained of working the company America “rat race,” and a power neck damage catalyzed a longtime aspiration.
“I run the risk of going paralyzed. I’ve got, it’s called Klippelfel syndrome. And so I found out three years ago, I got diagnosed with it. And so all of my cervical vertebrae are fused, and they’re missing all of the disks,” Widger stated. “The way the doctor described it is, I have a spine of somebody who’s like 115 years old… hearing that kind of just shook up my world.”
“Once I got rid of the idea of money being an equation, and not caring about money, everything kind of worked out,” he stated. “I’ve made every single bad financial decision you could possibly make. I liquidated my 401(k). I basically funded this on credit cards with just a shady plan, as far as how I’m gonna pay it off, but it worked out.”
He bought a circa Nineties sailboat and has lived on it for the previous yr, warming up his captain abilities before embarking out into the open ocean. As of Tuesday, Widger is 13 days into his journey and anticipating to attain his vacation spot by May 25.
“I didn’t know anything about how to sail. I didn’t know anything about how to maintain a boat, I didn’t know anything about social media, and I did all of it, and I learned all of it at the same exact time,” he mirrored. “So I just neglected every single corner of my life and only focused on those things, and I ate rice and beans for a year straight just to save money.”
Oregon man Oliver Widger quit his job to sail around the world with his cat. TikTok/@sailing_with_phoenix
Widger liquidated his 401(ok) and promote all his belongings to buy a sailboat. TikTok/@sailing_with_phoenix
“I went viral on the same exact day I set sail. So the past nine days have been just absolutely insane, you know what I mean? ‘Cause I’m crossing an ocean, and then I also went viral at the same time. And it’s like these two crazy things,” Widger added. “It’s just a weird feeling, but it’s incredible, man.”
Widger’s household and mates have supported him since he made the crusing choice, and now, so are TikTok customers around the world. He began a GoFundMe with a aim of $10,000 to repay credit card debt, but has more than $30,000 in donations immediately. Internet strangers have even created accounts to observe Widger’s coordinates day by day.
“I anticipated being in debt by the time I get to Hawaii, and spending six months to a year working there to pay down the debt… So all I gotta do now is get to Hawaii,” he stated.
Widger on his sailboat. TikTok/@sailing_with_phoenix
Widger’s only companion is his cat Phoenix. Instagram/@sailing_with_phoenix
Widger stated he was drained of working the “rat race” in company America. Instagram/@sailing_with_phoenix
“It just feels so good to put positive energy out in the world,” Widger expanded, “like people finding inspiration in it too… I think a lot of people feel trapped and a lot of people can relate. And they just see it, and they see it is possible.”
The newfound captain hopes the worst of the passage is over, after going through a damaged rudder during a unstable ocean storm. Widger claimed it was “the most violent thing” he’s endured, with the sailboat taking on some water on its sides amid waves as massive as “a two-story building.”
“I am in the middle of the ocean, you know what I mean? And I can’t put my guard down and kind of just relax… my guard has to be up… something about that’s really cool, and it’s terrifying. The ocean’s absolutely insane,” Widger famous. “Right now I’m not terrified, but like when my rudder failed… it couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”
Widger has racked up hundreds of thousands of views documenting his journey to Hawaii on social media. Instagram/@sailing_with_phoenix
Phoenix the cat on Widger’s sailboat. Instagram/@sailing_with_phoenix
“I was getting thrown from one end [of the boat] to the other, constantly,” Widger continued. “I definitely came out of that situation a different person… but there’s no option, right? It’s like, I either fix that problem, or at some point the boat capsizes or the rudder snaps off or something crazy happens, and I sink and that’s it…. you just have to do it. You have to figure it out. And it’s so pure.”
“There’s no time to worry about useless things when you’re literally on the edge.”
When he reaches Hawaii, Widger pointed out that he’s most trying ahead to taking a bathe, doing laundry and having fun with a burger with a cold beer. But for now, he’s dwelling his “modern-day American dream.”
“All of this was impossible to me, like every single thing I’ve done, in my mind, was completely impossible and unattainable. And somehow, I did it. So you don’t need to be the smartest guy in the world, and you don’t need to know everything or have everything figured out because it’s possible… to chase your dream. It is truly possible. And even if you don’t think it’s possible, it’s possible.”
Stay in the loop with the most recent trending topics! Visit our web site each day for the freshest life-style information and content material, thoughtfully curated to encourage and inform you.
