Life Lessons from a Salmon
Of all our duty stations so far, I think Alaska holds the title of “most outdoorsy.” It’s too beautiful to stay indoors, especially in the summer—all two weeks of it. I tried my hand at fishing, believing it was super simple to catch salmon.
Big Sarge had a soldier who literally could drop a line into the water on his way home from work and catch a mess of fish for his supper. Surely it couldn’t be that hard? This guy assured me that fishing was a piece of cake.
So one weekend, I rented some gear, and Big Sarge, his soldier, and I went out to catch some salmon.
Spoiler alert: I caught nothing, but did manage to lose a fancy looking fishhook with three prongs.
Lesson #1: Don’t underestimate situations.
Just because it looks easy to others doesn’t mean it is easy.
Big Sarge’s soldier had been fishing for years—he wasn’t some sort of fish whisperer. I had completely discounted the years of practice (and numerous escaped fish) required to be a successful fisherman. (I like to bring this up with Big Sarge when he tries to tell me that squats are easy. I’m here to tell you that they are not.)
Along with situations, I also realized that I ought not to underestimate people. People are nothing if not surprising.
The girl who never comes to any FRG meetings will be the one who is at your house the night before redeployment, coloring 147 “welcome home” posters. The shyest person in the PTA turns out to be the one maintaining the school’s Facebook page like a professional.
Lesson #2: Sometimes you have to go against the flow.
Salmon don’t just float merrily along. They fight against the current, swimming upstream. A trout couldn’t swim upstream; it isn’t strong enough. Swimming upstream is possible because of the salmon’s strength.
I don’t know about you, but my strength comes from challenges. And brother, let me tell you, have I had challenges.
Fleas in the house? Yes.
Constantly breaking-down car? Check.
Tree falling on the house during a rainstorm? Yepper.
Bedbug infestation at Human Resources Command, leading to an emergency strip-down inspection of all the beds in my house and marathon sheet washing session? Hoo yeah!
All those challenges gave me some pretty amazing inner strength (though maybe not able-to-do-a-good-squat strength). I came through these tough times believing that I could take on the world or at least my little corner of it.
I was going to try to make every duty station better. Sometimes this involves stepping on a few toes or getting a little sassy with some leadership. Scared Sarah Anne would never be able to do such a thing!
True story: In basic training, I found myself in the company commander’s office. He wasn’t even yelling at me—he was yelling at my battle buddy. I was so scared, I couldn’t even blink. I remember focusing on the corner of a picture behind him so I didn’t accidentally make eye contact.
But now I’m Strong Sarah Anne. I’m not afraid to get a little feisty (not too feisty, mind you) when I’m 100% sure something isn’t on the level. I’ve even got a special pair of heels to make myself taller and give me that extra boost of confidence.
As with all my metaphors, they aren’t perfect. You can’t read too much into them. For instance, if a salmon didn’t swim upstream, it wouldn’t be caught by a fisherman and eaten. Just forget about that gaping hole in my logic and remember the two lessons from salmon.
And also, that they’re tasty.
