After I left home and started to live on my own, I began to reflect on my growth throughout the years. I thought about what has empowered me to move forward, and in what ways it has. I found my answer in fishing.
These are the basic fishing steps that I learned from my father. First of all, pick a place you would enjoy spending several hours outdoors and a place you will have a high probability of catching fish. Then, look for reedy and log-filled beds in lakes that are close to sudden drop offs. Bugs generally congregate in cutbanks and tiny inlets, as well, making them popular feeding grounds for fish. Thirdly, get an appropriate fishing line and variety of hooks. Find out what people fish in your area and research on what the fishes feed on to have the right bait. Tie your hood on your line, attach weights, and bobbers. After all the preparations, you just need to wait patiently. Every step seems easy and straightforward, but there is a bevy of sophisticated strategies and tactics in each step.
Ever since I was a little girl, my father has wanted me to learn how to fish. I did not like the idea that he tried to make me to learn something that I was not interested. I told him, “I do not want to always follow your path. Fishing is your passion, but it does not have to be mine.” My father never forced me to go fishing with him ever since, but I still did, just as his companion. I only watched him fishing, but I did not waste my time on the shoreside. I went with him every weekend; that spare time allowed me to wait and think. I took the time as my self-reflection in the week. I would examine the things I did well and something I need to improve, as well as setting up my goals for next week. Slowly, I started from helping my father to try to fish by myself again. I kept my self-reflection routine while I was waiting for fish to hook.
Now, I live in a different country. It becomes harder and harder to ask for help from my parents just through communication, but I am already prepared. I summarized and turned the fishing steps into my life lesson. I call it “PPP, OPAC”; it stands for Planning, Preparation, Practice, Optimism, Patience, Accepting failures, and Celebrating success. “PPP” is the foundation of everything I do, and “OPAC” is the attitude. Every time when something goes wrong, I would first determine whether my foundation is firm. If it is, then my attitude is probably not following “OPAC”. Sometimes I just lack of patience, and sometimes I lack of all. At other times when I want to give up, I think about the younger self who always wanted a bigger fish; I regain confidence.
I am amazed by how much I learned from fishing with my father. I never thought my dad was doing anything but just taking me fishing to have fun. In retrospect, however, I now understand that he was— consciously or not — imparting some useful lessons about life. I realized that it was fishing that allowed me to take a break from all the hustle and bustle in my city life, accessing my true emotions and who I really am in nature. It is the fishing steps that developed perseverance in me, which has helped me break through many barriers in life. Now, I do not have the opportunities to go fishing with my father every week, but I would still take the time to restore my memory and imagine that my father sits next to me on the shoreside at the crack of dawn, in the broiling heat of the noon sun, at twilight when the smell of dinner is in the air, and in the inky blackness of night, smiling and awaiting for me to understand the lesson he tried to teach me.
Now, I face challenges alone. With almost no help from my parents, I am not afraid.
