Lessons From a Vacation

I spent the weekend on a much-needed vacation camping on the Hiwassee River in Tennessee, and I tried my hand at Fly Fishing for the first time.

I can see how people get addicted to fly fishing. It’s more than simply knowing the fish and their habitat. There is a definite element of artistry involved. When you’re fishing with a regular rod and reel, it’s a matter of finding the right bait. After that, it’s just trial, error and a great deal of patience.

But when you’re fly fishing, you have to finesse the lure into behaving like a real bug. It has to look just right, light on the water just right, float on the current just right. It’s not enough to simply try and fake it. It’s not even enough to know what to do on an intellectual level. You actually have to become the fly.

It is very intuitive. If you over-analyze it and lose the rhythm if the cast, the line starts doing strange and terrible things over your head. More than once this weekend, I found the tiny but well-armed fly racing straight toward my face, flinching just in time to feel the breeze as it hissed past my ear.

When I’m thinking about the fish, that’s when I lose it. But if I’m tuned into the fly and what it’s doing in the moment, the fish comes all on it’s own.

What the hell does this have to do with blogging? Re-read this in your own voice, but substitute people for the fly/bug, sale for the fish, audience for the line and credibility for your face. I and Me are still I and Me. Or in your case, you.

In the end, if you’re not being real, things are simply going to end in misery, with no payoff to show for it.