Getting out of my comfort zone and down the slopes

My goal for myself is to try new things. It might be a bit awkward, but I might find something I really enjoy doing. I believe this is important because I might find something I really enjoy doing, but I will never know if I never get out of my comfort zone and try new things.

Recently, I’ve tried hitting the slopes for the first time.

About two weeks ago I decided to learn how to ski. I remember thinking that it was going to be easy to learn and I would have no trouble picking it up.

When I reached the peak of the slope I had butterflies in my stomach. It was snowing quite hard and visibility was low so I couldn’t see certain bumps in the snow. I was surrounded by people who were talented skiers, which made me feel slightly out of place.

My friends all started racing down the slope, so I followed. I didn’t know how to slow down or “carve,” as my friends would say. I ended up racing down the hill at full speed with no balance whatsoever. I continued to pick up speed as I skied down the hill aimlessly until I ended up flying off the top of a big hill. At this moment my heart was racing. I had never experienced a fall on skis before and didn’t know what to expect when I landed. I dropped for what felt like five seconds until I came crashing down about ten feet below with my skis nowhere in sight. When I regained my awareness all I could see was a sheet of white. It was snowing so hard, making it difficult to see even two feet in front of me.

It was my very first run and already I had taken a huge wipeout.

After finding my skis, I met up with my friends to get some help. They told me that when I wanted to slow down I should angle the tips of my skis together like a pizza slice. Surprisingly, this advice really helped my balance and I was able to make my way down the run without too many bails.

As the day progressed so did my skiing. By the end of the day I was able to complete runs without even falling. A couple of times I even attempted to hit some jumps on the side of the run. I didn’t quite land them but at least I tried.

That night I went home feeling proud that I had been able to ski without it being a total disaster.

But I wasn’t done trying new things yet.

The next time I went to the ski hill, I had a new mission. Instead of improving my skiing skills I wanted to try snowboarding. Most of my friends snowboard and it looked really fun so I decided to try it out. This time I wasn’t as nervous for my first run because skiing went well, for the most part, so how hard could snowboarding be?

Turns out much harder, today was a clear and sunny day. The slope was slightly icy which made feel uneasy, as I did not want to come crashing down on hard, icy snow. From the moment I went down the slope I knew snowboarding was a whole nother monster.

Being strapped to the board on both feet was really throwing me off and I couldn’t get ahold of my balance. I fell every two seconds the majority of the first run. It took me a few more runs before I learned how to control the board enough to stay upright. One upside of snowboarding is not having to retrieve my skis every time I fell.

This time it was a total disaster.

I never truly got the hang of snowboarding that day, but I know that it takes skill and skill takes practice.

I plan on getting back on the mountain a couple more times this year and improving. From the two times I went to the mountain I really enjoyed it, which was what I was hoping to happen. I wanted to try new things and get out of my comfort zone and by going up to the mountain I believe I achieved my goal. I am very proud of myself for pushing myself out of my comfort zone because I found a fun, new activity. I strongly encourage everyone to get out there, push yourself, try new things, because you don’t want your life to fly by full of missed opportunities.