Whatever Wednesday
In my never-ending search for a meaningful Wednesday column, as meaningful as the Monday Morning Sidewalks, Wednesdays have undergone many name changes here, over decades, at Texas Fly Caster.
But Wednesdays, as they now exist, aren’t what they used to be are they? It used to be in the five-day-workweek, worker’s Wednesdays were a sign of hope. The weekend was in sight. It is hump day. Maybe there is hope after all, hope for a fly fishing weekend, a football team or some other weekend bracketed event.
The Seven Day Workweek
For me? In my adult working life, I never had a typical five-day-workweek. Shooting weddings on weekends required ramping down, and then a quick ramping UP on Saturdays, and occasionally Fridays. A lively studio with portrait sessions coming and going – all week long. It was never normal. Nowadays? My “gig-life” leaves my schedule shot through with #8 birdshot as a rule.
The fly fishing life is much the same, but even less interested in what day of the week it is. Pile on a HEAVY layer of expectations from YouTube Channel viewers who EXPECT a fresh episode of FISH PORN every week (did you catch that link!)? And you have my recipe for a seven-day-workweek. I’m not complaining! But these long weeks, and my penchant for avoiding big water on weekends, leads to today’s newly minted Wholistic Wednesday.
The Wholistic Fly Fisher’s Wednesday
This week’s Wednesday is just an introduction to the series intended for fly fishers to learn as I learn – how to extend the physical and spiritual life a fly fisher needs to add years to their enjoyment of the sport.
As you read Monday, on the Sidewalk, today’s brief dip into my Wholistic Fly Fisher’s life has come to include a reviving of my efforts to be more giving in ways I had never considered or have rarely had the opportunity to give in my fly fishing life. Having that feel-good feeling at the end of giving back is not what I am after, although … honestly, it does feel good at times!
No, what I am really after in these upcoming events is less complex. It is simply being with and around people. Isn’t it amazing how difficult that one thing is to accomplish these days. I say, “these days,” but some of us in the crowd reading this recall the term “being put out to pasture,” and what that meant. That, friends, is a saying I NEVER hear anymore. Do you?
Today’s Wholistic Fly Fisher TIP is: Refuse to allow yourself to even wonder if you have just been put out to pasture! Don’t let other people’s refusal to connect, or disconnections make you think there’s something wrong with YOU! There is something wrong if you think that. Connecting is, arguably, more difficult than it has ever been in North American history — face-to-face connecting. And this problem (some say “issue”) is critical and it crosses over into fly fishers of ALL ages.
Reconnecting Is Hard
Reconnect. If you feel disconnected? It is never too late in life to reconnect, inject yourself into situations and crowds and clubs and classes and charities that restart that lost, missing or dormant part of your life. Reconnecting comes in as many variations as there are trout flies in a small stream box. Yes, it isn’t easy. If you are looking for a way to connect – to fish, to people, to events and to life? Join the huge crowd who are looking too! You can start now though, just by speaking up and looking for the opportunities to reconnect that are all around you and me.
The Next Wholistic Wednesday – I tell what clued me in to my disconnections.
Category: Body-Mind-Soul, Fly Fisher Health and Wellness
