We pulled my 26-foot dory to Ninilchik, where they back boats into the surf with big four-wheel drive skidders. Our plan was to get launched and then go out and catch halibut. The night before, I had watched several videos called “Deep Creek Carnage.” There were videos of launches and reloads that went bad. The boats got swamped, rolled over, and damaged extensively. We got to the beach, and the surf was higher than my weather app said. We drove an hour to get here and wanted to catch some halibut, but I started thinking about those videos. We sat there in the pickup, looking at the surf, trying to decide what we were going to do. I thought to myself, “Don’t be a chicken. Go for it.” Just then, one of the skidder drivers came to the window and said, “We don’t recommend that you launch today.” Oh well, “thank you for making up my mind!”

Sometimes, the line between being an overly cautious chicken that does little because of the fear of something going wrong and being reckless is hard to discern. I have tended to be impulsive and reckless in my life, and I have had many adventures and things going wrong because of it. But I think that the person who isn’t afraid of failure will accomplish much more with their life than the person who waits for perfect conditions to do something.

I have noticed that the older I get, the more cautious I am in my decision-making.