Was heading up north for a fishing trip with the father in law, and in the middle of no civilization for 30mins either way, we encountered a pair of moose and hit one of them.

Canada is mostly wide country with wildlife, few of them a danger. Moose are the most dangerous animal in terms of volume in Canada, primarily due to vehicle accidents. They are 6ft+ tall and a near ton of weight. It’s like a mass standing on stilts. With a car, you’re going to cut the legs out and the mass will fall on the cab. For larger vehicles, it’s like hitting a wall. If you hit a moose, in nearly all cases, you’re in for a very, very bad time. So generally, no one wants to see a moose while they are travelling.

In our case, we were miraculously fortunate that we only hit the 2nd moose, which destroyed the truck mirror, dented the boat, and caused some additional damage to the trailer. I’ve yet to fully appreciate that fact, though I can say that any close-call certainly triggers an automatic re-evaluation of all aspects of life.

Introspection is a rather natural part of my psyche, and it’s a bit like spinning a bunch of plates. When major events occur, I re-evaluate each of those plates in terms of keeping it spinning or just letting it drop. I’m in that space now. I’ve got my list of important plates set out, now I’m triaging the rest. It’s a complicated measurement with tons of factors that ends up with a simple thumbs up or down. I am also quite conscious that my current career path is limiting my ability to absorb “the dumb”. I’m super game to help people grow and experience challenges and new experiences. I am not at all in to spiraling in self-pity of repeated bad behaviors where people know better, they just don’t do better. My daily quota for that is finite, and drawing energy from other pools means spending twice the energy, not fun for anyone.

So yeah, I hit a moose, could have been infinitely worse, making me focus on internal priorities, and we’re going to see what the next few months look like with a renewed mindset + focus.