By Daniel Day
I walked around the store for a few minutes while my wife looked at swimming goggles. I bought a pair for her for Christmas, but they didn’t fit well. She wanted a different pair, and I volunteered to accompany her on the exchange. It was a good husband move, “Sure, honey. I’ll go shopping with you.” What I didn’t know was, that all of the fishing gear had gone on sale, and now my sacrifice looked like an opportunity to look at hooks and lures. We’re talking 50% off or more on everything fishing—Christmas had come again!
I left my wife on the goggle aisle, and started looking through the gear. I picked up different sized weights, and examined a few new lures. The more I looked, the more a desire within me began to grow—I needed this stuff. Have you ever felt that way before? Most of the gear I looked at was on sale for a reason—who needs size 6 fishing hooks in Western North Carolina? By the way, a size 6 hook is nicknamed an “Octopus hook”—I don’t think I’ll find any eight-legged seafaring creatures in the Upper French Broad. So why did I want size 6 hooks? Because they were on sale, and they were related to fishing, and I might need them in the ocean one day.
Recently, I was listening to an interview with, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. Chouinard was describing how he learned to fly-fish, and that specifically, he had given up trying to stay up-to-date with the 1000s of different flies on the market. Instead, he decided to choose one fly—in a few different sizes—and master it. According to Chouinard, he’s never caught so many fish in his life.
I think my experience in the sporting goods store and the experience of Yvon Choinard illustrates two important things about life and fishing.
1. The good life comes to those who practice contentment.
As much as I want to believe that my next lure will be the one that catches all the fish, it probably won’t happen. Why? Because other than a brick of dynamite or a shot gun, there’s no silver bullet for catching fish (see what I did there? “Shot gun” and “silver bullet.”) It takes time, skill and experience. Instead of shopping for more hooks, I need to spend more time on the water, faithfully practicing what I already know. Yes, it’s a good thing to understand when and how to use a few different lures, but have you looked in a ‘normal’ angler’s tackle box lately? There are more than a few lures. I think all of us could learn to practice more contentment, and I bet we’ll find that we—like Chouinard—catch more fish.
2. Fishing—just like most learned skills—is most effective when we stop trying to be a jack-of-all-trades and simply master a few techniques.
When I’m tempted to purchase a lure from a TV commercial, I need to remember that it took a week of fishing for them to put together that hour-long special. There’s no quick fix or “tricks of the trade”—there’s a faithfulness and patience that leads to more fish in the boat. Does that mean we stop learning? Of course not! But buying isn’t learning. Buying is buying. What if we adapted Yvon Chouinard’s experience into a challenge, and used 2018 as the year to master one or two lures? Instead of spending half of our fishing trip digging around a tackle box, what if we dumped it out and left ourselves just a few options? I think it might be worth the risk.
And what if we applied these two principles to more than just fishing, and tried to live our lives this way? What if we practiced contentment and were faithful with all of the tasks we have to do today? We might find that life—and fishing—becomes much more successful.
**If you decide to take the challenge, let me know on Facebook: @danielryanday or shoot me an email: connect@intentionalChristianity.com. I’d love to hear how it works out. Maybe we’ll start a revolution, and catch a bunch more fish in the process.
Daniel Ryan Day is the author of two books, including his most recent work: Intentional Christian (now available). He’s also the COO of Cascades Mountain Resort, Old Orchard Tavern and Asheville’s Fun Depot. Daniel lives in Fairview, NC with his wife and three kiddos. Connect with him on Facebook, Instagram or at intentionalchristianity.com.