A Fishing Dream

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

From Walden, by Henry David Thoreau

If you’re buying a house, moving house, having a baby, looking after a baby, changing jobs or stuck in your job, chances are you would give anything to just get away from it all. If only for even a few hours.

For some it’s the football. Fall deeply for a team’s fortunes and your own life’s ups and downs can be substituted for the teams. For others it’s about escaping into the bottom of a glass of wine or beer.

I’ve tasted and tried other vices and thankfully come out the other side. They are not worlds I would want to revisit but there is one world that I want to fall into completely and let it smother me whole. I smile to myself and let the day’s stresses subside. This evening I will be fly fishing again.

“True happiness is when it doesn’t matter day of the week it is.”