The doing is often more important than the outcome. – Arthur Ashe
Earlier this week I fished a piece of river that I fish a lot. This time I did so by myself with equipment that would be more common 100 years ago. This wasn’t a statement to a confusing world that moves too fast. It wasn’t a protest to the pervasive nature of personal electronics or to all of the modern conveniences making our lives “easier”. I did it because I could and it was a lot of fun.
It was an absolute joy to slow down, physically and mentally and do something I really love, in a place that is about as good as it gets. I was able to fish water that is crowded all summer virtually alone. I spent most of the day drifting dry flies over selective trout lost in the act and not particularly concerned about how many fish I caught or even how big they were. Towards the end of the day I was able to meet up with a close friend and fish until the sun was setting ending a great day.
I was keenly aware of the equipment I was using, when it was designed and how it was constructed. This was a time long before space age construction materials, computer aided design software and long, long time before the metric of a products success was how well it went ‘viral’ on social media. This stuff simply does what it is designed for. And it does it very well.
I am lucky to realize that even the less popular or understood paths lead to very rewarding results and that the journey is often much more rewarding than the destination.