It’s July and I feel a sense of pressure. I’m thinking of food plots and practice shots. I’m thinking we are two weeks from August, and August is thirty days from opening bow season in Kentucky. I’m thinking I’m not ready for this. I’m thinking no one cares if I’m ready and time doesn’t stop or even slow down for anyone, no matter what the circumstances. I’m thinking how do others do it? I’m thinking I’m wasting time thinking. All my friends are feeling the same crunch. They are moving tree stands, setting out cameras, and scouting new locations. Acorns are beginning to form and we should know very soon as to which trees will hold an abundance of these delicacies. That is one thing we still can’t determine with great accuracy. Yes, we can fertilize those trees, but Mother Nature still calls the shots when it comes to temperatures and amounts of precipitation. Most trees run in two to three-year cycles, but again, frost and rain amounts can throw these successions into a free-for-all. So, we scout, watch, and wait right up until the very last possible day – even until opening day, because it’s better to be late and sure than early and guessing. In this case it’s better to be a day late to the party but know you’re at the right place than to be early to the neighborhood and unsure which house everyone is meeting.
I wish this luxury was available for more important areas of my life. I mean don’t you wish you could look ahead at the results before taking an action? What if you could see if your investment would be profitable before you invested? What if you could know beforehand the girl you’re dating would be the girl you married? What if you could see your future before you pursued that particular degree or occupation? If we could do this, would we always choose the sure thing over the unknown? Let me ask another question. Would you choose great success with great pain, or mediocrity with no pain? To be honest, I think each of us may choose differently and we would most likely be influenced by our present situation. Again, the problem is too much thinking and not enough living and this happens when we forget to live in the present. Regret is fretting over the past. Worry is fretting over the future. Neither will get my food plot ready nor give me a steady hand with my bow. They will only make me waste more time thinking. And you too. Live in the moment. It needs you right now.
Gary Miller
gary@outdoortruths.org