This year, I accomplished a personal dream. That dream was to hunt elk for the whole month of September, and harvest a bull elk with archery equipment on public land. Many thought I was crazy to spend that amount of time and money to accomplish something as simple as killing a mature bull elk with a bow, and maybe they were right. To make the trip even sweeter, I was able to bring my entire family on this amazing adventure, which brought great satisfaction but also great trials.
I am not here to brag, or to tell you what an amazing hunter I am and how great I am to be able to accomplish such a feat…But to give you a glimpse of reality of what really goes on behind the scenes.
Like any modern person, what is the first thing I did when I got back to civilization with my hard-won trophy in hand? Well, post it on Facebook of course!
Just this weekend, my wife was commenting on someone else’s social media about how it seems they have their life so together and everything they do seems so amazing and free from stress or conflict. They are always smiling, the kids getting along wonderfully, and their accomplishments so easy in coming. This is an impossible standard to achieve.
I believe that social media has given us a complex…. We spend a measurable part of our time looking at the highlight reels of others’ lives, but never get to see the rest of the story. But in our lives each accomplishment is fraught with missteps and conflicts that the rest of the world simply does not see. This, I believe, leads many to question their own self-worth…Why are things so difficult for me but the rest of the world seems to be “living the dream”! This is very apparent when it comes to money. You can look at your Facebook friends awesome house, new car, fancy vacation, and it is easy to feel out-gunned. But you cannot see what is behind the scenes. They may have awesome “stuff” but what about their balance sheet? Are they mortgaged to the hilt and buried in debt? You will likely never know the answer to these questions, but understand you are seeing but a piece of the reality.
So rather than pump my chest and tell you how great I am to accomplish my goal, I am going to make a VERY abridged list of things that went wrong on my quest to Facebook greatness, to maybe give you an inside look at the rest of the story.
- My two boys fighting and trying to kill each other in a parking lot.
- My camper plumbing breaking and flooding the camper resulting in me ranting and yelling at my family.
- Heated in the moment threats of divorce (not for real but it seemed so at the time!)
- Telling my family, they are never coming on a hunting trip with me again.
- Air conditioning breaking down in my truck in Amarillo, Texas at 100 degrees, on the way to New Mexico.
- Not being able to find a bathroom due to Covid-19 many times. More cursing and discussions of divorce.
- Family wanting to stop constantly, and eating. They just wanted to stop constantly to eat!
- Having to drive 2 hours out of my way TWICE to get a rental car for my wife when I should have been hunting (the whole point of the trip).
- Sleeping in a camper ideal for 2 people but with 4 people. A few yelling matches and fights.
- Breaking down crying on day 10 of my hunt because I just could not seem to get an elk killed. The feeling of defeat when you’ve worked so hard for something and it looks like it isn’t going to happen.
- My wife going to the emergency room and racking up a $3500 bill to send her home and tell her nothing is wrong.
- My wife getting the rental car in an accident by rear-ending another unsuspecting tourist. Further discussions of divorce.
- Making what I believed to be a perfect shot on my bull, and not being able to find him until the next day. It went from the best day of my life to the worst day pretty quick. (Luckily, I found my bull early the next morning)
- Coming out of a gas station with a big curb, and damaging the jack on my trailer, and bending the metal frame on the back. LOTS of 4-letter words.
- Driving 10 hours out of my way and being late for my next hunt in Idaho because my wife decided she could not handle the camper on her own. High blood pressure, yelling, and screaming ensued.
I could keep going for pages. Here is the point. Nobody’s life is perfect. There are people out there that have more than you and will always have more than you. There is a heck of a lot more people who have less than you. We all need to be happy with ourselves, and reach for our own goals, regardless of what everyone else is doing.
I am here to help you accomplish your life’s most important goals by prioritizing financial growth and responsibility in your life. I want to see your greatest accomplishment, and if I can play some small role in that, I am proud. That said, when I see your great accomplishment on Facebook, I want to hear the rest of the story!
Best,
Mike