Thoughts inspired by fishing (kind of)

I’ve been watching a lot of Mortimor and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing lately. It’s a show about two comedians in their sixties going to beautiful parts of the country to fish and chat rubbish (entertaining rubbish of course).

Watching them nestled on the banks of idyllic waterside locations brings back some great memories from my youth. I have vivid recollections of long summers spent fishing the local ponds with my brother and friends. We would head out on our bikes with our rods resting on the handle bars, and a tackle box held precariously in the other hand. More than once it led to a crash site containing a heap of tangled line, wriggling maggots and assortment of leger weights.

Despite the accidents, we found great joy in learning to fish and occasionally being rewarded with a memorable catch. Certain catches are imprinted on my memory so clearly I can visualise the very spot it happened, and what the fish looked like.

My first ever fish for example…

A whopper of a Rudd no bigger than a fairground goldfish at a location we called the moat. No, this particular ‘moat’ wasn’t circling a grand castle. In fact it was more like a wide ditch in front of a very normal house. Despite the less than regal location, it holds very fond memories.

Reconnecting with a younger version of myself

Even though fishing was fun, for whatever reason, it’s been years since I’ve fished. However, I know I will fish again someday.

One of the things pulling me back is the reconnection to my younger self. I’m of the belief that reconnecting with your younger self at various times throughout your life is beneficial when it comes to not losing yourself to the craziness of life.

I’ve found that when something challenging happens in my life, my mind immediately goes back to my youth.

Generally speaking, childhood is the time where people are fearless and have less worries. Not to mention the optimism. Anything feels possible as a child and positivity tends to be the default setting. Those younger years are where your foundations are built and will always exist.

I was very blessed to of had a very happy childhood. As a result, thoughts of those times are comforting. Through my struggles I definitely found comfort in thinking about my early years.

Not only that, but it’s a great reminder of how much life you’ve lived between childhood and where you are now. Whatever challenges you’ve faced along the way you’ve managed to deal with. Therefore, history shows any current problems will almost certainly be delt with too.

How will you stay connected?

That’s why keeping that connection between the adult you and the child you can be important. Your childhood may be behind you in a literal sense, but you can bring it back to life and give it relevance by using it to keep you level headed during tough times.

So my advice would be, find something that keeps that connection alive. It could be something as simple as listening to a playlist of songs that remind you of your youth, watching The Goonies for the 50th time (trust me it never gets old), or fishing for that whopper of a Rudd again.

Reconnecting to those foundations can make experiencing those tough adult problems less lonely when by your side you’ve got your younger self to boldly, innocently, and optimistically tackle (fishing pun intended) them together.

-Peter