Why do hard weather and poor catches still defeat me?

You have learned the easy days. Good weather, steady fish — you handle those now without strain. It is the hard days that still break something in you. A storm rolls in, or the nets come up empty, and you call yourself beaten. But look closely at what happened. The sea did not consult you. It never agreed to reward your skill with fish. You are treating an outcome outside your power as proof of a failure inside your power. That is not honesty. That is a trick you are playing on yourself. Your skill is real. It shows up in how you read the sky, rig the gear, choose the hour, and handle the boat when the water turns ugly. None of that guarantees a catch. All of it is still yours, on the worst day you will ever have.