On Conquering Fears

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I know I mentioned a while back that I was taking ski lessons with some friends of mine.  We took our last one this past Friday and wow...what fun!  I can ski all of those green trail like a boss.  OK...maybe not like a boss, but without crashing most of the time.  The day of lesson number two I was feeling pretty good and tried a blue run near the bottom, Lower Confidence.  Well it lived up to its name, lowering my confidence in no time flat.  I crashed, lost a ski, got scared (terrified!) and walked back up the hill and skiied down an easier way.  I was done.  I would be content skiing my little green trails forever, thankyouverymuch. 

But I wasn't.  As my friends got braver they both conquered Lower Confidence and there I was, standing at the top wanting to try but too scared.  Finally I did it.  I didn't ski down it, I side slipped which is {much} slower, but I made it down in one piece without crying.  Yeah me!  My dear friend Debra went first and waited for me halfway down and again at the bottom at least four times before I finally just skiied down.  It was exhilarating that first time!  And the next time, too!  Conquering fear feels SO GOOD!  Which is good, because fear feels so icky.  When my choice is to stay there in that icky feeling on move through to exhilaration I hope I remember to choose moving, even when moving is scary.  Now that I have skied a blue run and so many more doors are open to me!  I can take that Ted's Express chair and try out some new stuff.  I think I need someone to go with me though, so I don't end up on any of those black runs.  Yikes!  One {tiny} step at a time!!

Lower Confidence from the top...you can't see the whole thing which is what made it so scary to me!  It is STEEP!

Side note here, but this is why I love my 30's so much!  I think I have said this before, but I feel so much more comfortable in my own skin than I did ten or fifteen years ago!  I have so much more self-confidence.  I like who I am (most of the time, anyway!) and I feel like I make conscious choices in my life rather than just hoping things work out.  I'm happy!

 
Another (and totally unrelated) side note...it feels so weird to see bare ground beneath you on the chairlift!  We need SNOW!  We'll be skiing again at the girls' lesson on Tuesday.  Fun!!