Think

The water was too cold for wading in water shoes. I fished from the bank.

A rustling in the woods behind me caught my attention. I turned to look in time to see a man with a really long rifle walking toward me. Scenes from the movie Deliverance flashed through my mind.

I stepped back and planted my left foot firmly in the air. Tumbling down the bank I broke my rod in half seconds before I hit the water. 

The pool was chest deep and I stood up sputtering and coughing.

“Are you OK buddy?” The man asked as he stood on the bank looking down at me. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”  The New Boss came running up.

It was muzzle-loader bear season in Pennsylvania. I knew that. Had I taken a second to think about it, I wouldn’t have reacted.  I would have stayed warm and dry up on the bank, talking with the hunter about fishing, or the weather, or the beauty of the Pennsylvania woods. 

Later that day I started thinking about how many times my initial reaction, based on fear or anger, had hurt me.  “Better to think, then act,” I said to myself.  I remembered my last conversation with my daughter. “Better think of something to tell Blondie when she asks about my fishing trip.”

Today I will think and act rather than react.

Burnout Training ©2018 by Ken Montrose

Burnout Training is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/