Five Life Lessons I Learned From Skiing

1. You are the only one who can get yourself down the mountain. Sometimes the world looks daunting from the peak of the mountain, or the ski trail looks formidable from the top. You can do it; you must. You're the only person who can get yourself where you need to be. Sometimes it means taking your time, slowing things up as things seem to whiz past you and you try desperately to control your speed or stop altogether to catch your breath. Sometimes you can't stop, and life has no pause button. It means leaning into the curves and trying to angle yourself perpendicular to the fall line. Even if you wipe out, you'll make it down the mountain (see #3), somehow. You may just need to regroup, shake it off, and start again.

2. Stepping outside your comfort zone is the only way you're going to get better at this. It's normal to be nervous the first time you try something new. Each new skill, new slope, new technique, may make your heart beat faster and your hands get a little clammy. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it. Sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith, challenge yourself, because you won't know if you can soar, build the skills you need to become more adept at this, if you stay at the bottom of the mountain. Take some deep breaths, believe in yourself, and go for it.

3. When you fall, the only option is to get up and keep going. Even really skilled and proficient individuals fall sometimes; it happens. You just have to get up, brush yourself off, and keep going. It's frustrating, maybe it's scary, but it's the only choice. You can't let setbacks get the best of you. The only way out is through. Quitting won't get you anywhere, nor will throwing a tantrum. Face your fears and keep going.

4. You're stronger than you think, even if it feels like things are out-of-control. Looking back at an imposing mountain you just skied down can give you a great sense of accomplishment, even if you didn't have the greatest feeling of control coasting down it. You really can handle more than you think. When things start seeming out-of-control, you may have the urge to crash land, but by swerving (no matter how counterintuitive at some points) slowing things up a bit, your risk will pay off, and that temporary feeling like things are spinning out-of-control will eventually dissipate.

5. There is always something new to learn. You can never stop learning. There are always more strategies to master, more techniques to pick up, more mountains to conquer. Every new mountain holds new potential, new experience. Changing your view from horizontal to vertical can greatly switch up how you perceive things, and there is so much to gain when you stretch those seldom used muscles. So many mountains you haven't yet skied down, so many places/people/things waiting for your imprint on their unmarked blanket of snow.