A group of 3 of us have been in Soldotna, Alaska fishing on the Kenai River since Friday. This coming Friday is our last day to fish. We are fishing for Sockeye Salmon, commonly called “Reds”. So far the number of fish that have gone up the river to spawn has been small and we have had to spend 15 hours a day fishing to get our limits of 3 fish apiece, but we are hoping that the daily limit is raised to 6 fish per day, and that the run gets good. Our goal is to bring 100 lbs of fish home apiece. The fishing experience in Alaska is amazing even if I don’t catch a single fish, and any fish I catch is gravy. I need to remind myself of that periodically so I don’t get overly focused on catching fish and and make myself feel bad because we aren’t catching a lot of fish.

Life is like a fishing trip. There are the short range goals, the less important goals, and then there are the longe range goals, the ones that have significant rewards or benefits in life. Often we get so focused on the short range goals that we forget the long range goals. We forget to pursue them, and to be thankful for the progress made in accomplishing them.