The tall ship brings together a physical struggle to match the breaking of the mind, particularly in someone like me, with no previous sailing experience. Night’s watchkeeping, miserable sleep, every muscle in the body being called into play, blisters forming on hands, aching shoulders, stomach going into a floating wobble, time and space losing relative sense, destabilized ego and security system.

Although I felt very small, a tiny speck in the surrounding blue vastness, the voyage was about introducing a simpler way of life. Fewer distractions gave a chance to recalibrate, to set attention on what I have and where I am – not on what I miss or don’t have.

I liked the physical aspect of sailing.