Alyssa’s Adventure - OM Scholarships

I’ve been a member of Outdoor Mindset since 2013 when I moved to Colorado to continue rehabilitation from a brain injury. I’ve always appreciated that OM has less of a focus on the problems of neurological challenge and more of a focus on the adventures ahead. Our tag line should read “I have a brain challenge, you have a brain challenge…so what…let’s climb a mountain.”  I’ve found a community of people who understand neurological challenge but who refuse to let the challenges define the ability to adventure well. These are my kind of people and I’m so thankful for the community and the Outdoor Mindset!

My neurologist said that if you get a traumatic brain injury, you have a higher likelihood of getting future concussions. Each time the symptoms seem to get a little worse. I’ve had a bunch of concussions since the first TBI. In fact, I fell off of a ladder in September  and got a concussion that led to a pretty significant downward spiral. I knew I needed something really fun, an adventure to get excited about, something to help me put one foot in front of the other again. So, I applied for an adventure scholarship and about a week later I found out I had gotten the scholarship and started planning and dreaming and getting excited about the adventure ahead.

I’ve always enjoyed being near water and I’ve wanted to go on a fly fishing adventure for years though I’ve never been on a float trip before and my fly fishing skills were questionable at best. I decided that the scholarship was the perfect opportunity to learn to fly fish on a fully supported fly fishing float trip with my dad. We traveled four hours to Casper Wyoming to connect with our guide (the owner of Wyoming Fly Fishing and the Platte River Fly Shop) for a full day on the river. 

Our guide was incredibly patient and taught me the art of fly casting and I caught my first fish within five minutes of starting the trip. I started smiling and didn’t stop the entire day. We then caught 19 fish in 8 hours of fishing. I also caught a couple of rocks, a branch and the guide (several times). He refused to give up on me and showed me over and over how to read the river, and the bugs in the river and how to cast and even when I caught him, he just kindly unhooked himself and told me how to cast away from the boat. He told hilarious stories and pointed out wildlife (deer, ospray, and cows) along the way. He had an uncanny knowledge of the river and knew exactly where the fish hung out. He would bring the raft right over to the fishing hole so that I would drop the fly almost on top of the fish and then he would help me pull the caught fish onto the boat for a name, a picture, and a celebration before we’d release them back to the river to keep swimming.

I couldn’t help but think of the adventure as an allegory of brain injury. Sometimes having an injury makes you feel like a fish out of the water…struggling to move forward, struggling to survive. But, every time we unhooked the fish and it swam off it was a picture of resilience of overcoming a challenge and refusing to give up which is exactly what we have to do to thrive after an injury. This adventure was a life highlight for sure, and one I never want to forget. I’m incredibly thankful for the chance to learn a new skill from our fantastic guide, connect with my dad, smile for 8 hours straight, and catch so many fish!

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