Make Changes and Grow

 

Last week was our annual ski trip to Colorado, and this year was Emerin’s second trip skiing.  Last year she was sick on the drive out there and lost a day of skiing and add in the fact she’s only 6 years old, and she was basically starting from scratch this year in terms of learning how to ski.

And it was a great opportunity for me to practice a multitude of skills.  First was patience.  ON the first day, I spent the entire time with her on the ‘bunny hill’ – 18 trips up the “Galloping Goose” lift with her, and then going back down the run with her, holding her back with tethers to prevent any major crashes while at the same time trying to teach her how to turn and stop.  Only once were there tears from her, and it was because I lost my patience with her for a moment.  Other than that, we made some progress on that first day! 

 

On the second day, we went up to what Emerin called the ‘Middle Mountain’-- not all the way to the top, but higher than the Bunny Hill.  Upon reaching the top, I told Emerin I was going to hold on to her, but she wanted to do it on her own.  I thought about it and gave her a shot.  As she began down the ski run, she made one great turn, then another, and then another…however she continued to increase her speed.  And, with that, she began to lose control and didn’t make that ‘fourth turn’, instead heading straight off the trail and into the trees.  I could see what was coming so I skied down as fast as I could and set a new record for unclipping my skis and found her down in the snow crying.  Thankfully she was physically okay but just scared and cold.  After getting her back up on her skis and out of the trees, I pulled out the tethers and kept her in control the rest of the morning.

As the week went on, I’m happy to report that was her worst crash of the week.  In fact, as time went on, she went from requesting I “hold on to her” at the top of the hill, to being disappointed when I told her I was going to pull out the tethers and hold on to her.  By the last day, she even went down the halfpipe successfully!

And that brings me to a second skill I was able to practice.  I had to simply let go.  As much as I wanted to control her speed and direction via the tethers, and ‘protect’ her from any additional falls, I still needed to let her figure it out on her own.  Definitely not easy.  But very rewarding!

A while back I was attending a meeting and heard the following: “Pain, Choice, Change, Growth.”  Emerin experienced some pain in learning to ski.  She had to choose to keep trying and get back up, and Change what she was doing that was causing problems.  And that let do Growth.  And a successful halfpipe run!

Think of your life as well.  We inevitably experience pain.  Pain leaves us with choices to alleviate it, or not change and continue to experience the pain.  Make changes and grow!