Thanks for joining me for another edition of the SerenityThroughSweat blog. I spent the last few days in a tree stand in the woods behind my dad’s house. With all of the craziness of election day I was very glad to have an escape.
This was my first real experience hunting. I think I had followed along as a youngster but never actively participated. The idea of sharing a meal with my family from an animal I harvested has been increasingly appealing to me. Not only as a more reliable means of obtaining and knowing where my food comes from, but also as a connection with our most base self and a new challenge.
Like a lot of things discussed in this blog, (endurance events and parenting) the romanticized idea is much easier to digest than the actual event itself. My ideas of parenting before hand was helping with homework, or teaching the boys to wrestle. A lot of my parenting time is really spent keeping El Duderino from reaching things on the counter and washing out Speedy’s cloth diapers. Hunting followed very much along the same lines.
There is a lot of ground to cover between suiting up and walking to the tree stand and pulling that tenderloin of the grill. The romanticized ideas ask to often omitt the grind, but there is beauty to be found in that grind.
There is a very distinct beauty to sitting still and silent anywhere, but especially out in nature. Appreciating that beauty is not automatic, but rather requires mindfulness. The requirement for mindfulness is only accentuated by those things that would otherwise distract you; cold weather and wind, restlessness, first world problems communicated by an electronic device in your pocket.
My experience hunting in the woods was magical. One of the things I’m most appreciative of when it comes to my fitness and well-being routine, is the place those activities take me to. I can get out of my head and out of my own way finding a place of serenity, if only for the briefest of moments. Sitting in a tree stand watching the sun rise, the multicolor leaves fall, and the animals of the woods come alive took me to a very similar place.
Helping my dad drag his deer up a ravine and back to the house, cleaning, butchering and eating it all in the same night was a very powerful and fortunate experience. I felt transported to that same place of serenity I so often seek, but also felt a sense that others have been there before.
Running, grappling, and triathlon are largely solo pursuits, and while there is surely serenity to be found, it is largely a lonely endeavor. Hunting, cleaning, butchering, and learning from my father, who learned from his father, gave me the same escape but with a greater sense of all those others who seek serenity through that path.
I couldn’t have asked for a better hunt, or hunting partner. I will be forever grateful for the knowledge passed on, as well as the experience and the escape it provided. I hope that you reader, can find your own much needed escape in this chaotic time, and the serenity that comes with it.
Thanks for joining me, stay safe, (warm if you are in the stand), and stay sweaty my friends.
