Idaho’s Archery Elk Season opens in just a little over thirty days and I am feverishly working to get my legs and lungs ready for the battle of climbing mountains. This year has been a tough one as my monthly gym fees are helping to keep the gym in business but I am not getting much benefit. Because of the situation, I have had a renewed interest in my Road Bike. Thankfully I have kept my skills up with my compound bow since I have been able to shoot in my backyard range. Though this year more than most, I have felt a greater need to get in better physical shape. At age 45, I am not the svelte young man I once was.
Dropping a few pounds is only half the equation for a good elk season. Getting my lungs and legs ready for the anaerobic onslaught scaling a mountainside will put on them is never easy. Busy and conflicting schedules along with fighting off binge watching Netflix or Disney Plus has proved a worthy opponent but not as much as trying to stay away from the deluge of information thrown in our faces by multiple media outlets. Most of which spout the same talking points day-in and day-out. With the vast majority of networks being owned by seven large corporations, it is no guess as to why the talking points are literally word for word no matter the news channel. The level of misinformation is also astounding. I admittedly have spent way too much time tracking back sources or investigating details that are commonly thrown out repeatedly because I no longer take them at face value. It honestly isn’t healthy and I need a change of pace. Therefore, I will focus on the next thirty days to get myself as ready as possible.
Mike Rowe recently posted a response to a question about his continued shooting of episodes. Mike pointed out he has accepted the outcome and has decided to live his life versus hiding in fear. You might be wondering what Mike’s post has to do with Archery Elk Season, a Warrior Spirit or even getting in shape. The simple answer is my mind somehow draws or blends them together. The long answer will be my attempt to explain it in as few words as possible.
What we haven’t seen or heard talked much about is how we start living with COVID-19 versus in fear of it. As we bully each other on social media posts or face-to-face at local stores, the arguments are centered around getting through this so life can go back to normal, stopping the spread, saving lives, respecting others and the list goes on. I have done my best to stay out of it and kept my comments largely to myself though I am not perfect. I have one observation, if you are wearing a mask and getting into the face of someone who isn’t. I mean literally in their face. Well you kind of are ironically missing the point of social distancing and mask wearing during your self-righteous rant. The mask protects others, not you, but I digress since the incident didn’t involve me.
Mr. Rowe’s point however is spot on as far as getting to a point of accepting it and learning to move on with life. Comedian Bill Maher has pointed out in a video post that we can’t sanitize the world. Staying isolated and bottled up with fear isn’t healthy. I have several friends who are posting every day on Facebook about the level of anxiety and depression they have. I personally can only be isolated to myself for about a week before it starts to get to me and that happened when I first started hunting out west by myself. Today, I hunt with partners or only for a few days alone. So the thought of some of my friends going months without much social contact and unable to work really scares me. God knows I pray every night for our country and my friends.
Per Lynn Seiser’s article, “A warrior is someone who faces conflict. Spirit is something other than physical. Psychology is the study of humanity, the thinking, and feeling aspect of the ego identity. It is our mind and our heart. A warrior’s body maybe the weapon, but how that weapon is used depends on the heart and mind of the warrior, their spirit.”
Our warrior spirit, which each of us has to varying degrees, is the fight or flight impulse embedded in our very fiber. It knows that winning a battle doesn’t mean we win the war. We know there will be struggle and challenges. Warriors know they don’t have all the answers, will make mistakes and will someday lose the battle of life. Let’s face it none of us will live forever in this world. In times like these, like a pandemic, warriors embrace humility as we are faced with the frailty of human life and the limitations of our bodies. We are not indestructible. We cannot win all battles nor can we fight everyone else’s. Warriors don’t live in fear but redirect it. Fear, as Lynn Seiser says, comes from the “negative fantasies about the future.” Seiser also points out that “courage comes in the presence, not absence of fear.” We have some courageous people on the front lines using what they have to guide our nation through this. Pointing out the mistakes they made does nothing and is non-value added at this time. JFK once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” So many elected officials dropped the ball on this one looking to our government to solve a multifaceted problem nearly overnight as if masks and respirators could be Prime delivered. An instant gratification society isn’t focused on others but self and turning that around top down is a monumental task. Michael Jackson wrote a song titled Man In The Mirror, listen to it. Honestly, could any one of us really have done better?
The Warrior Spirit in each of us will push on when we focus our efforts on the present task at hand. The military does this by giving Soldiers a mission. Focusing on the mission keeps their minds and bodies focused on accomplishing a goal. If successful in keeping that focus they set aside worry and persevere. This is how our military accomplishes unbelievable tasks despite the perils of war. Their sacrifice is greater than any battle we face at work, in sports or on Facebook so please show them respect.
While many of us may not have been soldiers, we can channel our spirit, focus on a goal while having humility and being honest about our ability. If we do this, we will preserver as well. I cannot fight every battle on the internet, in the news media or even at the local grocery store between two patrons. I can focus on learning to live with COVID-19 and not be hiding in fear of it. I can be socially responsible yet live my life. I can be a force of change in my own life and better myself. Being in shape for Archery Elk Season Opener seems like a good mission. Hopefully that translates to other areas of my life as well. How about you, what will your personal mission be?
- L. Yarbrough, Bucks & Beers
