Today I officially felt like a Colorado native. Instead of those sticker ski lift passes you affix to you jacket zipper, I had a season pass made of plastic! We hit the slopes and it was quite chilly...almost too cold to even take off a glove and snap a photo. Next time I'll post more scenic pics, but this was me happy as a polar bear.
This was my second time skiing in Colorado. As a native of Illinois, I had skiied throughout my youth in the dastardly mountains of...Wisconsin. (insert laugh track here) So I have a lot to learn, but I was crusin' pretty well. And I didn't wipe out once, which was pretty unbelievable. Guess what people here call someone's messy wipe-out experience? A yard sale.
As many of you who read this blog know, I have a LOT going on right now. A new office, more staff, a spring tour coming up and writing my second book. Hey, everyone is busy so I'm not claiming to have more on my plate than the next girl. For all of us, it's easy to get overwhelmed in this life. Add on family, finances, emails and other life demands...well, it's a stellar recipe for burn-out. I was thinking about all my stuff goin' on as I was skiing. I was taking on some greens runs, which were really challenging for a midwestern native like myself. But as a rule, I like to regularly do things that terrify me. (That must explain my chosen career as a professional speaker and radio host - I do for a living what most people fear more than death.) In general, if you're existing in your "comfort zone" it means you're not getting better. You're probably just feeling cushy, not taking risks and not growing as a person. So when asked to go on a few blue runs, I said yes.
Now these blue runs had bumps. Lots of them. And some glistened with what appeared to be ice. Not good for this flatlander, but I jumped off the ledge (quite literally) and came up with a system for getting down the mountain alive...I would not look beyond the next bump. I would be 100% present in the moment. I would concentrate on each curve, my balance staying low and center and I would congratulate myself after each successful turn. I tried this, and you know what? It worked. I stayed calm and centered. At no point did I get overwhelmed, and this made the massive task of getting down a ginormous mountain seem do-able.
I find this idea can be carried over into the overwhelming pace of life today. Maybe we sometimes need to take things minute by minute, turn by turn, and pat ourselves on the back for all the little victories. Big dreams are important. Huge aspirations will take you places. But nobody conquers the mountain without mastering the twists and turns.
