I think the reason the decision to leave on a boat would be so easy for a young person to make is because for them it is about fun and excitement, novelty, etc, and they haven't yet learned (or been trained) to avoid risk, to fear, to make compromises, and other such things. Adults are the ones who have learned to negotiate, but sometimes it is hard to understand what has been gained by our ability to compromise, or to even remember how or why we learned to do it.
Risk. 1. the possibility of incurring misfortune or loss; hazard.
Hazard. 1. exposure or vulnerability to injury, loss, evil, etc.
Compromise. 1. to arrive at a settlement by making concessions. 2. to reduce the quality, value, or degree of something.
Concession. [see Concede]
Concede. 1. to yield.
Yield. 2a. to give up, as in defeat; surrender or submit. 2b. to give way to pressure or force. 2c. to give way to argument, persuasion, influence, or entreaty. 2d. to give up one's place, as to one that is superior.
Surrender. 1. to relinquish possession or control of to another because of demand or compulsion. 2. to give up in favor of another. 3. to give up or give back (something that has been granted). 4. to give up or abandon: surrender all hope. 5. to give up or resign (oneself) to something, as to an emotion.
Tenacious. 1. holding or tending to hold persistently to something, such as a point of view.
Persistence. 1. the act of persisting. 2. the state or quality of being persistent, persistency. 3. continuation of an effect after the cause is removed.
Persistent. 1. refusing to give up or let go; persevering obstinately.
Uncompromising. 1. Unwilling to grant concessions or negotiate.
"A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his suffering" - Gurdjieff