A revelation

So I'm taking a long shower this morning in preparation for my 8:30am 1000yd match (no breakfast but likely little wind, so I can live with it) when I'm thinking about what makes Bisley special. I think it's, by now, all the people I know here and am friendly with. No one gives a damn about my politics (being Liberal) and if we talk politics it's very civil.

I lie down on a point next to two people I don't know (and they can very in age from 14 or 15 to 80) and we all get up feeling a bit more friendly toward one another because of the shared experience. I find the cadets and school kids are more nervous than I am - and that calms me down. :)

But I think my point is that I realized this morning that Bisley is the experience, not my scores. If I let it be my scores, and I'm a very goal-oriented person, I'm just screwing myself up. If I have a tough match, Bisley is still a wonderful place with great friends. That doesn't change.

Making a Final is not just being a great shooter. It's also having the right amount of luck - on any given day, a detail (what in America we call a relay) could have terribly tough winds flipping about making it hard to shoot a 45 or a 46/50. Or it could be beatific (like 500yds last night) and people walk off with a lot of 50s.

You just don't know what you're going to get and if one bases one's happiness on score, you'll risk being unhappy much of the time.

So, will try to continue to enjoy my time and separate that enjoyment from my scores - come what may. What matters is how I feel I perform on a given day - did I give it my "best effort"?