This winter, Six years of working with guys who are all passionate about fishing, finally got to me. I probably didn't have time to think about it before seeing as I was in school, and working full time, but I don't have a passion. I kept looking at Chad and thinking- he gets paid to fish, AND he plays competitive golf as a professional with the opportunity to make money almost every week. What have I got?
I was so confused-I did career aptitude tests, I questioned my university degree and what it was even good for, I started a whole bunch of new projects and never bothered to finish them. I started to become a bit of a downer. I went back in the office and saw Tony, busting his butt because he isn't just passionate about fishing, but passionate about growing the guiding industry and his business. Then, what I was looking for hit me like a reminiscent ton of bricks as soon as I went snowboarding--Fun.
Getting paid to do something you love doesn't necessarily make it more worthwhile. I don't need to have a single defined passion. It can be a fleeting experience, it just needs to be Fun. I look at the thousands of people who came fishing with us last year, I'll bet that less than 1/4 of them would consider themselves passionate about fishing; they just came out because it is Fun!
I pay to go snowboarding because it is FUN, am I passionate about it? Maybe on a sunny day with a foot of fresh snow! I go fishing because it is fun to be outside catching fish and not really having to do the difficult stuff like tying bait. Am I passionate about it? Maybe when there's the cutest little itty bitty sturgeon in the boat that I know is going to be tagged and released and in 70 years be a great big monster and make someones dreams come true!
And so the moral of the story is: Come fishing, even if it's not your passion, it's still FUN!