TRANSKRIBEERI 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:03.970 --> 00:00:07.327
Welcome to Lifehunter, more than the hunt podcast, where we take lessons from
00:00:07.327 --> 00:00:09.978
the wild and apply them to everyday life.
00:00:10.924 --> 00:00:14.377
I'm your host, Anthony Van Grinsman, and today I want to talk about something
00:00:14.377 --> 00:00:15.731
I think every hunter does.
00:00:16.811 --> 00:00:21.343
Well, more specifically, every pheasant hunter has experienced.
00:00:22.417 --> 00:00:26.667
You walk into a field. The corn is standing thick, the grass is heavy,
00:00:26.667 --> 00:00:29.813
the brush is tangled, and the wind is moving through everything around you.
00:00:30.535 --> 00:00:34.797
Somewhere in that mess is a pheasant. You know he's there. You might have seen
00:00:34.797 --> 00:00:38.228
him go in, and you might have heard him. The dog knows where he is.
00:00:38.974 --> 00:00:42.387
Everything about the situation tells you there's a bird in that cupboard.
00:00:43.334 --> 00:00:46.396
But that bird isn't moving. He's hunkered down.
00:00:47.078 --> 00:00:52.147
He's buried himself so deep into that cover that you could damn near step on
00:00:52.147 --> 00:00:53.498
him before he gives you anything.
00:00:54.306 --> 00:00:55.612
And here's the thing about a pheasant.
00:00:56.549 --> 00:01:00.717
He's not doing that because he's weak and he's not doing it because he's stupid.
00:01:00.717 --> 00:01:06.331
He's doing it because something in him says stay alive, stay hidden, don't be seen.
00:01:07.207 --> 00:01:11.407
Honestly, I think humans do the exact same thing. It's just a different kind of cover.
00:01:12.087 --> 00:01:18.565
A pheasant has corn and we have houses. A pheasant has brush and we have our dumbass cubicles.
00:01:19.269 --> 00:01:22.587
A pheasant has cattails and tall grass and we have our vehicles,
00:01:22.587 --> 00:01:25.561
our phones, our garages, our jobs, and our routines.
00:01:26.335 --> 00:01:32.001
Places where we can disappear. Places where nobody asks too many questions.
00:01:32.146 --> 00:01:36.567
Places where we can convince ourselves that we're fine and sometimes we get
00:01:36.567 --> 00:01:37.980
really damn good at hiding.
00:01:38.973 --> 00:01:44.087
Think about that pheasant sitting 20 yards ahead of you. You walk past him and nothing.
00:01:44.694 --> 00:01:50.394
The dog works the edge nothing you push deeper and get closer and still nothing,
00:01:51.271 --> 00:01:55.027
maybe you're within two feet of him and that bird is still sitting there with
00:01:55.027 --> 00:01:59.148
every feather pressed tight against the cover hoping you don't see him why,
00:01:59.908 --> 00:02:07.487
because being seen changes everything once he's seen he has to make a decision run flush fight.
00:02:08.502 --> 00:02:14.933
I mean, he has to do something. As long as he's hidden, he doesn't have to deal with what's coming.
00:02:15.590 --> 00:02:19.595
People do that too. We hide because hiding feels safer.
00:02:20.330 --> 00:02:23.836
You don't tell your boss you're burned out because you don't want to be seen as weak.
00:02:23.969 --> 00:02:27.231
You don't tell your spouse you're struggling because you're afraid of what that
00:02:27.231 --> 00:02:28.654
conversation might uncover.
00:02:29.427 --> 00:02:32.711
You don't tell your buddy you're hurting because you spent 20 years being the
00:02:32.711 --> 00:02:34.077
guy that everybody counts on.
00:02:34.765 --> 00:02:37.951
And you don't admit that you're scared because you built a life around being
00:02:37.951 --> 00:02:42.340
the guy who isn't And sometimes you don't tell yourself,
00:02:43.438 --> 00:02:47.850
That's probably the worst kind of hiding there is I mean, you can fool a boss
00:02:47.966 --> 00:02:52.021
You can fool your spouse You can fool your friends Hell, you can fool everybody
00:02:52.021 --> 00:02:53.405
around you But eventually,
00:02:54.143 --> 00:02:57.919
you're sitting alone with yourself And there's nowhere left to hide.
00:02:59.136 --> 00:03:05.989
Sometimes you need cover. But here's where I want to be careful because hiding isn't always bad.
00:03:06.734 --> 00:03:08.058
Sometimes you need cover.
00:03:08.921 --> 00:03:12.598
Sometimes you need to get your head down. Sometimes life hits you hard enough
00:03:12.598 --> 00:03:15.771
that the smartest thing you can do is get quiet for a while.
00:03:16.495 --> 00:03:17.748
The pheasant understands that.
00:03:17.748 --> 00:03:22.064
He doesn't stay exposed just because somebody might think he's brave.
00:03:22.679 --> 00:03:26.609
He uses what the land gives him. He protects himself. He waits.
00:03:26.905 --> 00:03:29.274
He conserves energy and he survives.
00:03:29.703 --> 00:03:33.832
There's wisdom in that There are reasons Or I'm sorry.
00:03:35.134 --> 00:03:40.508
There are seasons in our lives When we need the same thing Sometimes you need
00:03:40.508 --> 00:03:43.937
to close the garage door Turn the phone off And get away from everybody,
00:03:44.641 --> 00:03:50.794
Sit on a bucket beside a frozen lake Walk into the woods Sit in a deer stand Go fishing by yourself,
00:03:51.328 --> 00:03:55.068
You don't always need to be productive And you don't always need to explain
00:03:55.068 --> 00:04:00.097
yourself Sometimes you just need some damn cover and that's okay.
00:04:01.177 --> 00:04:05.248
But here's where the lesson changes. Cover is supposed to protect you.
00:04:05.248 --> 00:04:08.577
It isn't supposed to become your permanent address. That's the difference.
00:04:09.292 --> 00:04:12.885
A pheasant can spend a long time hunkered down, but eventually something changes.
00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:14.551
The pressure gets too close.
00:04:15.184 --> 00:04:18.138
The cover isn't enough anymore and that bird has to make a decision.
00:04:18.138 --> 00:04:20.345
Stay hidden or step into the open.
00:04:21.239 --> 00:04:25.995
Maybe that's where some of us are today. We've been hunkered down for a long time.
Load full transcript
00:04:26.616 --> 00:04:30.928
We've told ourselves we're just waiting for the right time We're just getting
00:04:30.928 --> 00:04:35.878
through the week We're just trying to make it through this job Get the kids
00:04:35.878 --> 00:04:39.678
raised Get through this relationship Get through this season,
00:04:40.537 --> 00:04:43.788
And there's nothing wrong with surviving a season But you can't spend your whole
00:04:43.788 --> 00:04:47.330
life surviving At some point, you have to live.
00:04:48.421 --> 00:04:52.333
Here's something else about that pheasant. When he finally comes out of cover,
00:04:52.768 --> 00:04:56.095
you get to see what was there the whole time. The colors.
00:04:56.535 --> 00:05:00.547
The feathers. That ridiculous, beautiful combination of gold,
00:05:00.716 --> 00:05:02.753
brown, green, copper, and red.
00:05:03.505 --> 00:05:07.905
That bird was glorious the entire time. You just couldn't see him.
00:05:08.606 --> 00:05:12.484
The cover didn't make him beautiful. It only hid the beauty that was already there.
00:05:13.196 --> 00:05:15.239
I think people forget that about themselves.
00:05:16.050 --> 00:05:20.751
Some guy sitting in a cubicle all day might be an incredible father,
00:05:20.751 --> 00:05:22.110
but nobody at work sees it.
00:05:22.816 --> 00:05:26.651
A woman grinding through a 12-hour shift might be carrying an entire family
00:05:26.651 --> 00:05:28.772
on her back and nobody at the office knows.
00:05:29.495 --> 00:05:33.011
The guy sitting in his truck in the parking lot for 10 minutes before going
00:05:33.011 --> 00:05:37.022
into work might be fighting a battle that nobody knows exists.
00:05:37.833 --> 00:05:41.676
The hunter sitting alone in his blind might look perfectly calm from the outside,
00:05:42.327 --> 00:05:46.547
while inside he's trying to figure out what the hell happened to the person that he used to be.
00:05:47.282 --> 00:05:51.381
Maybe that's you. Maybe you've been buried in the cover for so long that you've
00:05:51.381 --> 00:05:53.540
forgotten what you look like in the open.
00:05:54.306 --> 00:05:58.567
You've gotten comfortable being unseen because when nobody sees you, nobody can judge you.
00:05:59.198 --> 00:06:04.091
Nobody can criticize you. They can't reject you. And nobody can tell you that you're not enough.
00:06:05.067 --> 00:06:09.183
But there's another side of that. When nobody sees you, nobody gets to know you either.
00:06:09.854 --> 00:06:13.961
Nobody gets to experience what you actually bring to the table Nobody gets to
00:06:13.961 --> 00:06:20.161
see the father that you are The husband you could be The friend you could become
00:06:20.161 --> 00:06:22.678
Or the leader you might actually have inside of you,
00:06:23.429 --> 00:06:26.533
Nobody gets to see the person you buried underneath all that cover.
00:06:27.577 --> 00:06:30.839
So maybe the lesson from the pheasant isn't simply don't hide.
00:06:31.483 --> 00:06:34.534
That's too damn simple.
The lesson is this.
00:06:35.376 --> 00:06:40.830
Know when you're using cover for protection and when you're using it to disappear.
00:06:41.556 --> 00:06:46.939
There is a difference. Protection is temporary. Disappearing can become a lifestyle.
00:06:47.788 --> 00:06:53.396
And sometimes the bravest thing you can do isn't walking into some giant challenge.
00:06:54.017 --> 00:06:55.486
Sometimes it's much smaller.
00:06:56.279 --> 00:06:57.882
It's telling somebody, I'm not
00:06:57.882 --> 00:07:01.428
doing as good as I look It's sitting across from your spouse and finally,
00:07:02.246 --> 00:07:06.132
having the conversation that you've been avoiding It's telling your kids you're
00:07:06.132 --> 00:07:11.672
proud of them It's admitting to your boss that something isn't working It's
00:07:11.672 --> 00:07:16.627
asking for help It's walking into a room without pretending you're somebody you're not,
00:07:17.543 --> 00:07:20.923
It's taking off the armor and it's stepping out of the corn.
00:07:22.001 --> 00:07:25.696
Here's the part I really want you to remember. You don't have to step out of
00:07:25.696 --> 00:07:28.038
the cover because you're ashamed of being there.
00:07:28.717 --> 00:07:32.536
You don't have to apologize for protecting yourself. You don't have to feel
00:07:32.536 --> 00:07:34.905
weak because you need somewhere to hide.
00:07:35.632 --> 00:07:39.602
Hell, every hunter understands the value of cover. We use it every season.
00:07:40.200 --> 00:07:43.466
We know what it means to get low, to stay still, to wait, to watch,
00:07:43.466 --> 00:07:45.431
and to survive. Those are all good skills.
00:07:46.074 --> 00:07:48.501
But eventually, the hunt moves and so does life.
00:07:49.190 --> 00:07:52.679
There comes a point when staying hidden costs you more than stepping out that's
00:07:53.033 --> 00:07:57.004
when you have to rise up take a breath look around and let yourself be seen,
00:07:57.835 --> 00:08:02.116
not the version of you that you think everybody wants and not the version you've
00:08:02.116 --> 00:08:09.786
built to survive you the real one the scarred up one the tired one the guy who
00:08:09.786 --> 00:08:12.758
screwed some shit up the guy who's still trying,
00:08:13.501 --> 00:08:18.963
the person who's been knocked to the fucking ground and got back up more times than anybody knows.
00:08:19.347 --> 00:08:24.676
Because there's something powerful about being seen exactly as you are.
00:08:25.419 --> 00:08:27.550
And maybe somebody else needs to see that.
00:08:28.379 --> 00:08:31.444
Maybe your kids need to see that dad doesn't have all the answers.
00:08:31.584 --> 00:08:35.786
Maybe your friend needs to see that strong men can struggle.
00:08:36.482 --> 00:08:40.586
Maybe your spouse needs to see what's exactly happening behind the wall you've built.
00:08:41.380 --> 00:08:44.926
Maybe somebody sitting across from you is hiding too and your willingness to
00:08:44.936 --> 00:08:48.427
step out might give them permission to do the same thing.
00:08:49.453 --> 00:08:54.698
So the next time that you're walking a pheasant field and that dog locks up
00:08:54.884 --> 00:08:59.553
and everybody gets quiet and you know there is a bird buried somewhere in that
00:08:59.553 --> 00:09:01.693
cover, think about where you're looking at.
00:09:02.420 --> 00:09:06.401
Don't just think about that bird. Think about yourself and ask yourself,
00:09:06.987 --> 00:09:09.181
what am I hiding from? What am I protecting?
00:09:09.861 --> 00:09:16.135
And maybe most importantly, has the cover protected me or has it started to imprison me?
00:09:17.114 --> 00:09:21.415
Because sometimes you need to stay hunkered down. Sometimes you need to cover.
00:09:22.059 --> 00:09:24.712
Sometimes you need to heal where nobody can see you.
00:09:25.371 --> 00:09:31.003
But don't forget, the pheasant wasn't meant to spend his life buried in the
00:09:31.003 --> 00:09:32.909
corn and neither were you.
00:09:33.771 --> 00:09:38.444
At some point, step out. Let the light hit you. Let somebody see you.
00:09:38.711 --> 00:09:44.283
Let yourself be seen, because you might be surprised to find out the person
00:09:44.283 --> 00:09:45.833
you've been hiding isn't broken.
00:09:46.832 --> 00:09:52.704
He's still there. He's still beautiful. He's still capable. He's still worth knowing.
00:09:53.819 --> 00:09:59.943
He was just buried under the cover for a while. And maybe it's time to step
00:09:59.943 --> 00:10:02.002
out of the corn, step out of your cover.
00:10:03.343 --> 00:10:05.933
Thank you for listening to Lifehunter, more than the hunt podcast.
00:10:05.933 --> 00:10:07.430
I'm your host, anthony van grinsman,
00:10:08.405 --> 00:10:13.833
i hope you enjoyed this episode for more episodes please follow life hunter
00:10:13.833 --> 00:10:19.069
on all major podcast platforms you can visit the lifehunter.com or follow us
00:10:19.191 --> 00:10:20.781
at lifehunter tv on social.
00:10:22.290 --> 00:10:27.190
And as always i'm your host anthony van grinsman welcome to lifehunter.