Why I love axes. No, really.
I stumbled upon axe throwing the year after we opened the brewery.
I had been working every day for what seemed like forever. A friend had asked me to help at an event she was organizing. I desperately did not want to go. I was exhausted, and I wouldn’t know anyone there and my introverted self just screamed NO. But, my family was away and I didn’t want to let my friend down, so I went.
Me & my axe. An entrepreneur’s best friend…
When I arrived a woman had just finished setting up an axe target. There was no one around and so I asked her if she needed any help. She said no, but then she asked me if I wanted to throw the axe. I surprised myself and my exhausted body by saying yes.
After a brief lesson, she handed me the axe. It’s wooden handle was smooth and it felt heavier than I expected. I lifted it up over my head with both hands, as instructed. I took aim and released, sending this sharp heavy tool on an unlikely journey – hurtling through space towards the round wooden target. The freedom I felt in that split second of release was a lightness that I hadn’t tasted in forever.
And then, the sound. KA-THUNK.
Seriously. It’s the most satisfying sound in the universe (although the shutter closing on a 35 mm camera is a close second).
I was in love with this sport instantly. It had cracked open my heavy, weary heart and lit a fire of excitement in my soul. All I wanted to do was throw axes. Releasing my burdens by flinging sharp, dangerous tools through the air seemed like the solution to all my problems.
As we work in our businesses, it is not unusual for us to lose our spark. Becoming tired and weary of what was once our passion is completely normal. But it is also a sign. A sign that we need to be keeping our eye out for a spark, so that our fire doesn’t go out forever. And also a sign that we may need to be on the lookout for ways to rest our bodies and our minds.
Axe throwing was a spark for me. My essential self screamed YES when I threw that axe the first time. It had absolutely nothing to do with beer. But, here’s what happened next.
By the end of that evening, I had ordered an axe online, which I still throw most days. The next day I built myself a target in the parking lot of my brewery (and if you know me, you would know that building anything is not something I willingly do on Sundays). By the end of that year, we had created a beer named for the lumberjack park in the neighbouring community. We sponsored lumberjack sports events, including the Canadian Axe Throwing Championships two years in a row (and I also competed!). We make the house beer for the Timberlounge Axe Throwing clubs in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. And I now have two outdoor axe throwing lanes at my taproom, where we teach people to throw axes and host an axe-throwing league once a week. My teenage sons throw axes too. All because when my essential self screamed YES, I listened.
Does throwing axes help me sell more beer? Probably not really. But the axe target in my parking lot in 2014 helped me learn to take breaks by bringing some spark and excitement into my day. I looked forward to taking my coffee or my beer outside to throw for a few minutes while the brewhouse was on its wash cycle. And I followed that spark and allowed it to breathe some life back into me, so I could make it through one of the toughest times on my entrepreneurship journey.
