During tough times we often feel that life is hard. All these decisions we have to make can drag us down. It can seem like rocks and boulders block our way – we may even recognise that we put some of them there in the first place. But a simple change of perspective can make all the difference in our experience.
An inexperienced fisherman was out on a fine river looking to catch a trout. He ran upstream and downstream looking for the best place to fish, not really knowing what to look for. He picked a fast flowing, shallow area where he could see the fish running and started to cast his fly. He tripped and stumbled, cursed his luck and poor decision making and caught nothing all morning.
After lunch he came back and tried a different approach, choosing instead to enjoy himself by watching the reflections in the cool, deep pool that lay just below the rapids he had fished in the morning. He cast his fly, relaxed and thought about his family and friends and the wonderful meal that they would have later that evening, regardless of whether he caught the trout.
Within minutes he landed his first fish.
It was the same stretch of river on the same day; just a different perspective. And the fisherman knew that even though he had caught his first trout, that was not what he had truly learned that day.
That fisherman was me, perhaps 15 years ago, in Yorkshire with great friends. I often recall the memory and thought I would share it with you.