I’d always wanted to do it, but I’ve just felt a little insecure about it.

I stood with friends as they did it, talking to other friends who also did it. It’s like they had a connection that I was on the outside of.

I smelled of their smoke, I heard their stories, but I couldn’t tell any of my own. I thought they were pretty cool and recently the day came where I finally decided to become a smoker myself. 

That’s right – I was finally going to learn to do it right: Brisket, burgers, BBQ chicken – jalapeno bacon thingies and more.

Sure, I had a propane grill before but, neighbors three houses down didn’t smell what I was cooking, nobody bought me a funny apron I’d never wear, I wasn’t able to ever say I was rollin’ smoke, I knew nothing of rubs or recipes and not a single person ever had called me Pitmaster!

I always wanted to learn, but I never did anything about it. 

You have stuff like that right? Places you’ve wanted to go, hobbies you’ve wanted to take up or experiences that always, somehow seemed to be calling out to you.

Sure, you do, we all do. You know what’s weird? We all have things on our list that we’ve always wanted to do but most of us just decide to never do them.

Why is that? Well, when it came to smoking food, I suppose I had several reasons.

First, the smokers I looked at were expensive. Next, I just kind of felt insecure about it as silly as it sounds.

Yep, I didn’t want to mess up. After all, who wants to spend a good amount of money only to make some dry chicken? Last, just like you, I have a full schedule of things that scream for my attention.

Isn’t it strange how that good stuff doesn’t really scream out to us as much as the other stuff?

We have things we want to do but we focus on the reasons why we shouldn’t do them. I wonder the impact if we shifted to start asking why we should do them.

I tell you what, let’s pull back the curtain a bit.

What are some reasons you should do those things you’ve always wanted to do?

Here are a few:

–Doing these things develops a thirst to do more of what we’ve always wanted to do.

–We want to go from “I’ve always wanted to” to “I’m so glad I did.”

–Knocking things off our list inspires others.

–It leads to a more interesting life and some really great stories.

So yes, I started smoking food. It all began when I told a friend about wanting to learn and he said he had an extra smoker.

It’s interesting, when we take steps, it actually does get the ball rolling. Now understand, I’m just starting so there still isn’t anyone who has called me Pitmaster. But I have some recipes and rubs.

I’ve been the guy who made steaks that were really good and chicken that wasn’t dry.

Oooo…and my neighbors are now smelling my smoke. So, I’ve got that going for me, which is nice (anyone recognize the movie quote?).

I wonder – what is something, kind of small that you’ve always wanted to do? It might not seem like much, but all great distances are traveled by first taking one step.

Forget all the reasons you can’t and think about all the reasons you should. After all, you never know what taking just this one little step might lead to.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to learn how to replace the fishing line on my spinning reel. That one has been bugging me for years.

By Ray Miranda