Regarding Salmon, and how to deny oneself

I've been walking daily across the Delta River's delta (where it flows into the Tanana) and, passing countless dead and dying salmon, the following thoughts have come to mind...

Luke 9:23 - And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Over the years Christians have attributed all manner of things to the idea of taking up the cross and denying ourselves. From hair shirts to doing what is "a horrible job, but someone has to do it".

Yet, if the salmon were to deny themselves they would remain in the ocean, in great distress - for every fiber of their being wishes to swim upstream and batter themselves on the rocks only to die, frozen, in some God forsaken Alaskan wilderness - yet having fulfilled the purpose of their lives.

Of course, following their North Star does lead the salmon to a measure of what anyone might call "denying themselves". It is just not perhaps the obvious path - stemming as it does from following what must to them equate to pleasure, "doing what they were made to do".

"I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast! And when I run I feel his pleasure." - Eric Liddell

It is rarely clear what denying ourselves and following Him is supposed to mean in practice. For instance, getting married. I see in hindsight that this was a part of God's plan for me but in no way was it at the time about "denying myself". Quite the opposite in fact. Although later on I discovered various things which cut against "my own way", if I look at the whole picture despite this it has been a pleasure - not a hair shirt.

It is clear that it makes no sense for us to make the choice ourselves. We will just decide to do something we don't want to, or something that costs us more than what we can give, and end up doing it all for nothing ("I never knew you"?). Following Him is the only thing that can lead to the right kind of denying. And what does that look like? Sometimes it might be simply to follow what is in your heart to do: rather than stick around in the ocean, agonizing and thinking that it is therefore the right place for you.