Fun fact about me: back in 2012, I won the female archery award at the local high school.
Outside of the occasional summer camp activity as a kid, I didn’t have much experience with archery. But whenever it came up in PE class, I loved it. Considering I wasn’t exactly an athletic kid growing up — and it was one of the few sports I was good at — I always looked forward to that unit.
Fast forward a few years, and my husband learned about this random little accomplishment from my teenage years. So, for our first Christmas together back in 2018, he gifted me a compound bow setup. It was an incredibly thoughtful gift. Also, slightly ambitious.
At that point, it had been more than five years since I’d picked up a bow, and the equipment had come a long way from the basic setups I was used to. Still, we bundled up and headed out to the Golden & District Rod and Gun Club archery range to test out our new gear. “Santa” had also brought my husband his own bow setup, so we were eager to try them out.
That first session humbled me quickly.
Between learning the technical setup of a compound bow, figuring out proper form again, and promptly losing a few arrows in the snow, I left feeling more frustrated than accomplished. You know that feeling when you try something you used to be decent at, only to realize you are no longer good at it? That was me.
My bow then mostly sat untouched in a closet for the seven years. Every once in a while, I’d pull it out for a quick session, but never long enough to truly improve or feel confident again.
My husband started showing interest in bow hunting, and suddenly we found ourselves back at the archery range more often. With the warmer weather arriving and everyone craving a little more sunshine and fresh air this time of year, I figured maybe it was finally time to dust the bow off again.
And no, I have not magically become an archery prodigy overnight.
If anything, getting back into it has taken longer — and required more patience — than I expected. Compound bows are technical, and archery itself demands a level of physical control and consistency that you can’t fake. Some days, the arrows fly beautifully. Other days, not so much.
But I think that’s part of the lesson.
As adults, we sometimes avoid revisiting hobbies unless we know we’ll immediately be good at them. We forget that part of the joy of hobbies is simply learning, improving, and doing something because it makes us feel good — not because we’re experts.
Now, archery has become less about performance and more about the experience itself. It gets me outside. It gives me time away from screens and doom scrolling. It’s something I get to do with my husband. And standing out at the range in the sunshine with a bow in hand does make me feel at least a little cool.
Maybe that’s the value in picking up old hobbies again. Not because you’re trying to become the best at them, but because they reconnect you with a version of yourself you forgot about somewhere along the way.
