A New Jersey photographer sold her beloved home to live and work on a luxury cruise ship after she was suffering from “overwhelming” debt.
Sue Barr, who is in her 60s, left her life in the Garden State and embarked on a nautical journey to live on the high seas, capturing the joys and elation of passengers as a master photographer.
“The ocean made everything worth it,” Barr wrote in an essay for Business Insider. “An unobstructed sunset on open water can shift your entire mood. Each time we reached a new port, the world opened again.”
Barr raised her son by herself in their New Jersey home and realized she needed a change in her life when she became an empty-nester as her son graduated and moved to Florida.
“The house no longer supported my future. What once felt like a comfortable sanctuary had become a moneypit, its growing debt reminding me daily that I could not afford the life or the freedom I wanted,” she said.
“I had built a home to raise a confident and independent child, and I had done that, but holding on to the house was keeping me from evolving into the next chapter of my life, a chapter filled with creative possibilities that debt made impossible to pursue.”
Her financial troubles also prevented Barr from experiencing the world.
“My debt was overwhelming, and all I wanted to do was travel, but I couldn’t get out from under it,” she told the Daily Mail.
“Every time I had a little extra money, it wasn’t enough to actually make a dent. It felt like playing whack-a-mole,” she added.
Barr said she dug herself out of her financial hole and was able to undergo much-needed dental work in Brazil when she sold her home.
“The physical and financial weight I had carried for years began to lift. Brazil restored my confidence and reminded me that reinvention was still possible.”
During the South American trip, Barr rediscovered her joy in photography and began looking for jobs at sea after a friend got a position as a sommelier on a cruise ship.
She accepted an offer for the position with the cruise line and passed her Seafarers certification, which required extensive medical tests and “functional” exams because of her age.
Barr was stationed on the 15th deck and brought her joy that outweighed her tiring commute from her windowless cabin below deck and the ancient programs and equipment she used for the job.
“I climbed endless flights of stairs each day. The ancient programs, cameras, and equipment made my days long and tedious. But above deck, the ocean made everything worth it.”
Her traveling office took Barr to three different continents in just six months and gave her the joy to “smile without hesitation.”
Barr says her world opened up with every new port she stopped at as she explored the world.
“My creative mojo began to gel for the first time in a long while, and I realized I was able to absorb so much only because I had let go of so much,” she wrote.
An injury sidelined Barr for months, but it gave her time to search for homes back in New Jersey, including an apartment in Asbury Park with an ocean view and rent she could afford.
“It felt like the universe was giving me the chance to finally act on my hopes and creativity,” she said.
“I had let go of everything that once held me back. What I gained was freedom, the freedom to create, to travel, and to smile freely again, with my camera as my ticket forward.”
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