It's Not As Bad As You Think

Let's talk for a minute.

You've been telling yourself you'll get out this year. Dove opener, quail season, that stretch of river you keep meaning to fish before it gets too cold. You've been telling yourself that since February. And here we are again, closing in on September, and you still haven't put a single date on the calendar.

We get it. There's always a reason not to. The job's busy. The kids have something. Your buddy's schedule never lines up with yours. It feels selfish, almost, to block off a whole Saturday for a field or a stream when there's so much else asking for your attention.

Here's what I want you to hear. It's not as bad as you think.

Think about the last time you actually did it. Actually got up before the sun, actually stood at the edge of a field with your dog whining beside you, actually let a whole morning belong to nothing but the birds and the company you were keeping. Did anything fall apart? Did the world end because you weren't answering emails?

It didn't. It never does. What happens instead is you come home a little more like yourself. And the stuff that felt so urgent the day before is still sitting right where you left it, waiting patiently, not nearly as important as it pretended to be.

That's the trick your brain plays on you. It convinces you that stepping away is a risk. Most of the time it's the opposite. It's the thing that keeps you from burning all the way down.

Sure, we're talking about dove fields and quail coveys because that's what's coming up on the calendar. But honestly, this isn't about the birds.

It's about your dad, who isn't going to be walking fence rows forever, and who would love nothing more than an afternoon with you and no particular agenda. It's about the friends you've had since you were kids, the ones who'll show up for a hunt even when they won't show up for much else, because that's just how you two talk to each other. It's about your own head, honestly, and how much quieter it gets when you're standing in a stream somewhere with a rod in your hand and nowhere else to be.

Field or stream, whatever your version is, it's really just an excuse to be present with the people or the quiet you don't make enough time for.

Stop waiting for the perfect open weekend to fall in your lap. It won't. Go pull up your calendar right now, while you're reading this, and pick a day. Dove opener. First Saturday quail season's in. An evening in September when the water's flowing and the light's good.

Then write it down. Not pencil it in. Write it in stone. Treat it like it matters, because it does.

You don't need to wait until things slow down. Things are never going to slow down. You just have to decide that this is worth doing anyway.

The season's almost here. It's not as bad as you think. Go put it on the calendar.