I have found over the past four years at Fort Lewis College that it’s easy to forget to take a step back, a deep breath and a look around. After all, when you’re caught up in the fray of classes, part-time jobs, internships and social outings, remembering to reflect on where you are in your present moment isn’t always possible.

But with graduation edging closer with each passing day, lately I’ve found myself reflecting on my experience here at FLC and what lies ahead. To step away from the rush of daily life for a moment of self reflection, I head down to the banks of the Animas River to go fly fishing. 

The Animas is one of the many things that makes Durango special. It’s a wild river, which means that there are no dams or reservoirs disrupting its flow from its source to where it joins with the larger San Juan River in New Mexico, Steven Meyers, senior lecturer of English at FLC, lifelong angler and author of several books about fishing the rivers of southwest Colorado said. And despite flowing through the heart of town, the Animas feels wild; deer graze in the willows along its bank, songbirds flit through the cottonwoods that lean peacefully over the river, beavers paddle up and down its channel, and brook, brown and rainbow trout swim beneath its icy blue waters. 

I feel very fortunate that I can walk a few minutes from my house and become immersed in nature, especially after a long day of staring at Google Docs, Canvas or Instagram. But fly fishing on the Animas has also become an unlikely place for me to reflect on my college journey, practice mindfulness and find inspiration for whatever comes after commencement. 

 For Meyers, college and fly fishing aren’t so different—both help better understand the world around us and to react better to our circumstances, no matter what life throws at us. 

“My experience is that when people fall in love with rivers and learn them the way a fly fisherman knows them, you learn a tremendous amount about riparian habitat and rivers and entomology, everything that exists in that ecosystem, and you become a different person in relation to the natural world,” Meyers said. “And I think that different person is a better person.”

College, Meyers said, is just like fly fishing. Much like an angler learning the characteristics of a river, FLC students learn about the nuance of the world at large. And it’s the hope of Meyers and his fellow professors that they kindle a love of learning that their students can take with them after they’re handed their diploma. 

“I would say wherever you are, whoever you are, in all of your uniqueness in those regards, have a sense that this for years that has made your world bigger has shown you that the world keeps getting bigger,” Meyers said. “And make sure that whatever it is you do, you don't stop creating the space for your world to keep getting bigger and bigger, and to know more to respond appropriately as that world becomes bigger.”

In my opinion, there’s no joy greater than learning. It’s why I’m drawn to fly fishing; learning the characteristics and personality of a river, what fly a fish may be attracted to depending on the season. It’s all just a way to keep expanding my world, to keep finding direction. 

I don’t know what comes next for me. After all, there’s no way to know what the future holds. But I feel ready, and filled with that wonderment to keep exploring, to make my world bigger. 

So, adieu, FLC, this chapter of my life, maybe even Durango. I don’t know where I’m off to, but I’m not worried. You can probably find me on the banks of some river, casting a fly with the birds and the beavers and the brook trout at sunset.