Your best days

[trphyhntr]

Ever get to the point in life when you have to take a really hard look at where you are, where you've been and what's left when you leave?

 

I'm a religious person and only 45 but I have been thinking about these things a lot lately. My body is telling me time is short, but it could just be nothing. I think I have a lot left to do here, lives to touch, but lately I've just wanted to find God and make peace.

 

I'm out on the Campfire, because that is where I've always found people searching for the same thing.

 

youre just tripping bro. you know that feeling means? means youre not hunting enough. dead serious, you gotta get into nature.

[CouesWhitetail]

Wow! Deep stuff here for sure. thanks for the interesting posts. Hope you all find what you are looking for.

[Coach]

Ya, probably right. It's not that I'm not hunting. Just last week I had 4 antelope in archery range. 2 were dinks I couldn't justify shooting. 2 were studs but I somehow couldn't draw my bow. I've gone over the reasoning in my head - I didn't want to take a shot that might lead to a wounded animal - but at the same time, I know a part of me didn't want to take a life I didn't have to. It was fun seeing them come in, get nervous, just watch them and learn how they interact.

[brademan76]

Reflection and soul searching can be good things, no doubt... but they can also lead to a total mind-fk. When I'm in a funk or upset over (all things considered) insignificant things, I quickly snap out of it by reminding myself of two simple things:

 

1. It could always be worse. (Considering all the people in the world and their day-to-day circumstances or horrific events they've lived through or been victims of)

 

2. None of us are getting out of this thing alive. (So make the most of what you've got to enjoy the time you do have)

[johnnie blaze]

Mid life crisis is a beotch

[azphil]

I'm pushing 66 and still in relatively good health. I still feel motivated to get out and do things. I am still looking to take my first coues this fall. I've passed up several spikes and forkies in hopes of a nice buck. I am going to retire from full time work next year and hope I can find enough things to keep me busy. Scouting and putting up cameras this weekend. You have to have something to look forward to and enjoy what you are doing - make the best of whatever time we have left. I wish the best to everyone out there.and prayers to those who want them.

[Mocha1545]

Coach,

As you can tell it is normal to feel what you are feeling. In today's world it is hard not to get depressed. Too much news coverage showing us how bad the world is. I try to focus on the good things and blessings that God has given me. I thank Him every morning while I watch the sunrise and see the beauty in what He created! When I feel what you are feeling I look to the Bible. Open up to Psalms and let the words rejuvenate you. Good Luck Brother!

[Benbrown]

I'm looking at my 74th birthday coming down the road. I never expected to live this long--my dad, my uncle, his dad and his uncles all passed away before the age of 50, several of them fairly early in their forties. If you had asked me thirty years ago if I would still be hunting elk, deer and some kind of birds every year when I reached my 70s, I would have thought that you were crazy for asking. I have to confess that I never made any plans to live this long, either, so I have just continued to work, doing consulting, since my "retirement" 12 years ago. Last year, on my birthday, I was wondering what in the world I was doing, and thinking that I should probably rid myself of a bunch of stuff and obligations, "and act my age."

 

However, last April 14th, my first great-grandchild was born. As I held him for the first time, I realized that this was a gift that none of the males in my father's family had ever received. I don't know why, but it made me think that it was time to plan how I was going to spend the rest of my life. Since wildlife conservation, hunting and shooting, and the outdoors have been the primary focus of my life since I was a teenager, I figured "why not just keep on keeping on?" So, that's my plan and I am going to continue to do the things that I enjoy, and that will help to ensure that my great grandchildren can enjoy and experience at least some of the things that I do and things that have made my life a joy to live. How long this goes on is up to God, but I will do my best to keep it going.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Coach......I have been very blessed, a great wife, not too bad of kids, a job that doesn't pay much but it has allowed me to do just about anything I wanted to do and spend tons of time with my family.

I don't kill big deer or elk or catch the biggest fish, but I have many great hunting, camping and fishing memories with my family.

At my age I realize that the far distant canyons that hold those trophy animals I have dreamed of are probably for the next generation to go and find.

I just sent the baby of the family on his LDS mission to Detroit June 1st of this year and I can honestly say I poured my heart and soul into my four boys while they were in the house, but when we dropped Cole off at the MTC on June 1st I realized that my boys were no longer mine to be the rudder for in life, they were on their own and "Dad" was now going to be just a good reference in a bind and the lucky one that gets to take grand kids on a fishing trip or two.

My heart aches for the days of chasing wrestling matches and lining that kid up for his first shot at a deer, but those days are gone.

I just spent this last summer with the love of my life, going to lakes in Arizona that I had never seen before.........with a dream 14' aluminum boat! I look forward to many years of great times with that gal venturing places and doing things and I have looked forward to this time in my life.

I have conceded that I will probably have to work until I die under the current system that governs our retirement, taxes and the way this world turns.

When I see the chaos that is now our country, that is when I get the most "depressed", not for me but for my kids and their kids.

Having said all of that, when it comes down to one of those days I just look around and thank my Heavenly Father for the blessings he has given me. My foundation rests upon his true principles and no matter what happens around me that is where I go to regain my strength and sanity.

Look to what really matters in life and base everything else off of those firm principles.

Faith/Family

[IA Born]

I'm two years younger than you coach and I've spent most of my life battling PTSD from the war my dad brought home. Because of that, I've spent most of my life in your shoes praying that God will stop the nightmares, give me another day, another reason to keep trying, and an idea of a higher purpose in my life. My wife and kids are great and I know they are part of that plan. Two and a half weeks ago, I lost my mom to cancer and, 12.5 years after my dad died, I'm without parents at way too young of an age and not much else in the way of blood family left that I'm close to. I've spent the last two weeks trying to make sense of my new "normal". The difference this time around is that I know some of my previous prayers have been answered. Most of those answers revolve around my family and the promise I made my mom that I will be ok and continue to live my life to its fullest. I made my peace with God a long time ago that He can have me whenever He wants and I can go with no regrets.

 

I get extremely frustrated and depressed when I see people (coworkers) getting praise and accolades for having poor ethics and doing things wrong by the American People we work for while I bust my butt and hold myself to the highest ethical standard possible and get rewarded by doing more of other people's work for them on top of my own workload. I don't drink much anymore (if at all), but I'd be willing to crack a cold one open with you and chat if you are ever in Flagstaff and need that chat.