Unemployed Fishing
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Unemployed Fishing
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Re: Unemployed Fishing
#2Man, not sure how it showed up here, but I can relate to this piece. I spent some time unexpectedly unemployed in the same regional area, and fishing was my escape hatch too.
It was outdoors, physical, and cheap. It was art and science, and a moment where skill and control could lead to accomplishment. It was solitude, and a moment away from the internal stress of thinking of what you were going to do next, how you were going to cover bills, or even worse; talking to wife/parents/friends about those same things.
In the end I was fine, and in some ways I am grateful for that time. It gave me a healthy dose of perspective, and a certain amount of self confidence that I now know how to find additional work/clients if I need to. Getting knocked down sucks, but looking back after a successful climb back up is something I wish everyone could experience.
Re: Unemployed Fishing
#3In one paragraph:
>85 percent of workers worldwide hate their jobs
>Anything that restores hope becomes worth the exercise.
In other words: Many may hate their livelihoods, but liberation can be scary.
Personally, I was once of the benefit of having mediocre tech skills and an employer who paid ridiculously well for them. But when I started having problems with stalking, break-ins and intentional ill will, they told me to just leave. Obviously, a nightmare situation in life.
The journey since has led me around the world on experiences I'd never have had being stuck in office buildings and airports, and I actually wouldn't trade them. And while I wouldn't wish tyranny on anyone else, with a certain mindset you can look evil and misfortune in the face and decide you are not going to have your fate decided by it. I suspect that even without living on the receiving end of psychopathy, this is still the worst part of unemployment for many: the hopelessness in having your fate be determined by what can seem like external forces.
Re: Unemployed Fishing
#4Oh my, he has a way with words. This is a delight and I'm only a few paragraphs in.
Re: Unemployed Fishing
#5There is something truly therapeutic about fishing. It might be because it helps us connect back with our evolutionary roots - out in nature, focusing on the task at hand to the exclusion of all else, and then experiencing the dopamine rush that comes with a good catch.
Re: Unemployed Fishing
#6Fishing is such a relief from the world, it really is. I've never fully understood why it of all things had such a powerful draw and effect. As a kid it kept me away from the things that tend to trouble you as a kid. Deep in the woods on a river bank, digging through the stones to see what's hatching, tying knots, whittling while your bobber whirls in an eddy. It's an escape.
As an adult I've turned to spearfishing as well. It's an even more immersive escape, loaded with all of its own techniques, tricks, wonders, surprises, and challenges. Getting in the wetsuit is a hassle but no worse than hooking up a boat and getting it in the water. Really, once you spend your first comfortable moments 10-20 meters under water you might wish you never had to come out.
I've always thoroughly enjoyed reading about the satisfaction and joy others get from fishing as well. I guess it's a mix of vicarious experience and a sense of belonging or familiarity.
As for the unemployment... I don't envy anyone for having time away from work due to not having work. It's the worst, and hard to handle if you have a family when it happens. As a developer I've been incredibly fortunate due to work being so readily available, but 2 brief layoffs are probably the most stressful work related experiences I've had. It just feels terrible.
I wish I went fishing when it happened, haha.
Re: Unemployed Fishing
#7Love his writing style. As for fishing, I use multi-week road trips for the same purpose instead. In this day and age, driving is one of the few remaining activities where you are unable to use a cell phone at the same time, and it really helps to clear my head. Scenery can be pretty amazing in the US, but mostly it's the endless miles, sleeping at rest stops when I'm dog tired, and then endless miles again. It's therapeutic.
Re: Unemployed Fishing
#8Fishing is such a relief from the world, it really is. I've never fully understood why it of all things had such a powerful draw and effect. As a kid it kept me away from the things that tend to trouble you as a kid. Deep in the woods on a river bank, digging through the stones to see what's hatching, tying knots, whittling while your bobber whirls in an eddy. It's an escape. As an adult I've turned to spearfishing a…
Have you ever played an individual sport like tennis? I get a similar feeling, especially when you’re just in the zone and you can’t seem to make a mistake. Very therapeutic.
Re: Unemployed Fishing
#9In one paragraph: >85 percent of workers worldwide hate their jobs >Anything that restores hope becomes worth the exercise. In other words: Many may hate their livelihoods, but liberation can be scary. Personally, I was once of the benefit of having mediocre tech skills and an employer who paid ridiculously well for them. But when I started having problems with stalking, break-ins and intentional ill will, they told…
If you don't have the means, it's not really "liberation". We are only nominally "free". You have to pay real estate taxes even if you do absolutely nothing, never get out of the house, and don't use any infrastructure or services. And if you don't, you'll very quickly find yourself under the bridge. My fantasy (which my wife doesn't share) is to one day find a place so deep in the boonies that no government official would even know about it, and live there Agafia Lykova style with no connection to the outside world. I doubt places like that exist in the US anymore. But they do exist in other countries.
Re: Unemployed Fishing
#10What I want to read more about are people in industries in steady decline and why they didn't or couldn't get out before the end of the road. And maybe about those who did.
There wasn't a sudden ban on journalism. And the story behind why he stuck around until the end is what interests me.