There’s a reason people say Hindsight is a Wonderful thing.
And not just because you can learn from your mistakes and are unlikely to repeat them.
Because let’s face it… Who doesn’t repeat their mistakes?
How many times have you got fried sunburnt and swore never again – only to get fried sunburnt 6 months later?
Or hungover as hell after a few too many beers with old friends, recall how you swore you’d stop at two.
Yeah right!
No, I’m talking about a different kind of hindsight.
The kind where you look back at hardship, so you can look forward in hope.
Huh? You may ask.
What’s this got to do with fishing Moods?
Well, nothing.
Yeah, we all know that fishing is good for the soul and getting out into nature is great stress relief.
But what about if you find it hard to get out of bed in the morning because you feel so s#^t.
Today, in these troubling times, I want to talk about getting up after you’ve been kicked down. I want to talk about how to deal with life when you feel trapped, when all your hard work seems to have been in vain and when you think there is no way out.
Because plenty of people are in this position at the moment.
And I want to assure you that I too have been there!
It may seem like you’re the only one, but no-one gets through life unscathed.
From green zones destroying my livelihood in 2006 to Cyclone Yasi destroying my livelihood again in 2011. In the process, I lost my first marriage, access to my kids, my house. Hell at age 44 I was forced to move back in with my parents for 6 months.
Embarrassing.
But you rebuild.
You go through the stage where you don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. You rely on the support of family and friends. You don’t want to get out of bed in the morning.
Until you do.
And you rebuild.
Then it happens AGAIN!
But each time you look back in hindsight and remember how you felt the last time. That it passed. That the bad times ended and the good times began.
Like the seasons.
As I have aged I have learned to look back with hindsight more quickly – to see that there is almost always a rainbow in the clouds.
So instead of cowering under the bed like a frightened puppy, I can wander outside and enjoy the lightning show. Knowing this too shall pass.
It’s what has made me who I am.
It was in the midst of such a storm that we had to pivot from charters to online courses. It was not a choice it was a necessity.
In fact, if it wasn’t for the hardship I would not have our virtually COVID proof online business Fish Smarter.
I’d be seriously struggling to keep my head above water like other tourist operators at the moment.
And at the time of our pivot to online courses, it was damn HARD!
We didn’t just have a bright idea one day and with excitement made it happen.
It was a terrifying leap of faith. It was another really dark period.
My best mate had died of melanoma and I was really struggling fishing all day every day in the sun. Getting so dehydrated I repeatedly suffered from kidney stones and it became obvious charters were no longer a long term employment proposition for me.
But I had never done anything else except fishing!
Plus I was only just getting back on my feet from the previous setbacks.
Karen too was pushing the proverbial uphill. After leaving a secure dream job as a marine park ranger in Brisbane and moving all the way to Cardwell for a similar position, Karen was informed the Marine Parks Cardwell base was being closed. We had only just (2 weeks before) bought a house in the area.
Yeah, not happy Jan.
The chance of us selling the house in Cardwell was zero – so we were stuck.
Trapped – in paradise haha.
Didn’t seem like paradise though.
But thank Goodness we both had the benefit of hindsight.
We looked back at other times when we thought all was lost but somehow made it through.
We knew we had to push through both the anxiety and the depression. The financial insecurity.
So we dug deep. I worked charters by day and edited videos by night. Karen learnt to build websites and set up the template for our courses. We were doing this while still working full-time, knowing we had to prepare for the inevitable. It was worrisome and often our home life was… tense.
Primarily because we had no idea if online fishing courses were even a viable proposition. Not too many people have succeeded in making a full-time career from fishing and no-one in the world did online fishing courses. We had no idea if all this work would be completely in vain and put us even more into debt.
Had we known about the fun, feeling of achievement and success our online courses would bring us, the community that would grow up around us, we wouldn’t have worried.
Had we known about the rainbow in the clouds we could have enjoyed the storm and lightning show.
Instead, it nearly destroyed us.
So I suppose what I am trying to say is…
Hang in there.
None of us has a crystal ball and we can’t know where this path called life is leading us.
Sometimes we get so set in negativity we can’t see the forest for the trees.
As you get older you realise how little you really do need to have a happy life.
Especially living in Australia where it is relatively safe compared to much of the world.
Some days I just thank my lucky stars we have a tap with running water. Hot running water.
Even the poorest of us are in the top 1% richest people on the planet.
It is so easy to forget how lucky we are when things don’t go to plan.
Our heads swirl with anguish about how we will lose what we’ve got. Or worry we’ll never get where we want to in life.
And we focus on the knockdowns. Instead of looking for the things we can be grateful for.
So if you are struggling to cope with the changes happening in the world today. If you have lost your job, can’t imagine how you’ll ever pay your mortgage or even ever get a mortgage. Perhaps there is an illness in the family.
Just hang in there.
And know that most times there is a rainbow in the clouds.
Every human being on the planet has undergone hardship of one way or another in their lives, so put aside your pride and ask for help if you need it.
And take it from an old fart who has lived a bit. If you’re doing it tough, hang in there. This too shall pass. Maybe even reach out a hand to help someone even less fortunate. If you look you can always find them.
Or do some exercise. I have a punching bag in the shed and when people piss me off (or rip me off as has happened recently). Or even just bag us in a nasty way on social media when they don’t even know us. I just beat up my punching bag. Such a good release. It helps me let it go.
Karen says resentment and anger eat you up inside and I’ve found it to be true. It’s like drinking poison expecting someone else to die. Let it go if you can.
Cheers,
Ryan
P.S. We have found our new videographer and he will start at the end of October. I’m so excited about the new content we will be making for you guys. Not just courses but cinematic fishing adventures so you can come along and enjoy them with us. So stay tuned.
P.P.S. Sorry, we have no fishing tip for you this week. We have been flat out with the hiring process, organising our move to Cairns plus a quick trip to Brisbane. No rest for the wicked they say! In doing so we caught up with fishing and boating advocate Mark Robinson MP (Member for Cleveland Brisbane) and he passed on some great contacts to help us raise awareness that fishing helps with PTSD, stress and anxiety.
P.P.P.S. And if you haven’t done so already come follow us on >> Instagram.
Our new videographer is also an award-winning photographer so there’s gonna be great snaps on there soon. AND we are trying to get to 10,000 followers and only have a few to go so if you’re on Instagram please drop in and help us out.
Thanks for taking the time to visit our site and reading this blog. We really appreciate it.
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