Tag Archives: snowy mountain

Skiing: I am making it my business

03 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Daily Life

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“To venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one’s self…. And to venture in the highest is precisely to be conscious of one’s self.”― Søren Kierkegaard

Weather permitting, tomorrow morning I will be on my way to Winter Park, Colorado.  Fingers crossed.

I am so excited for this trip.  I cannot wait to experience the majesty, beauty and freedom of a snowy mountain. I am looking forward to skiing again.  Skiing is very challenging to me, and that is another reason why I love it so much.  It doesn’t come easy to me. My body fights me every step of the way.

Today, a co-worker/friend jokingly said to me: “Ana, you have no business going skiing!”  I know it sounds bad, but I didn’t take offense.  He is a good person that would never say anything to hurt me.  He was just pointing out the obvious.  He knows about my issues with hip, back and collarbone pains.

Still what he said got me thinking.   I think I take pleasure in doing things that “I have no business doing”.  That is probably one of the attractions for me.  All my Brazilian friends are horrified that I rather be on a cold mountain instead of a hot beach.  I like beaches too, but given the choice I choose the cold mountain.

Then there is the fact that I am going alone.  So perhaps this whole trip is a bit crazy but isn’t the crazy moments in life the best?  Who is to say what is my business and what is not?

I have a lot thoughts about that and want to expand on it, but it is 11pm and I have to get up at 4am to catch my flight.

I also wanted to write about fear.  Skiing scares me, and yet entices me so much. What is fear?

I gotta run and will be back here soon.  Is anyone in Winter Park or near?

Go and do something that you have no business doing, but want to do it!

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”― Terry Pratchett

 

How early in advance is too early to book a vacation?

21 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me

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“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin

Is August too early to book a vacation for January or February?

When I think of paradise I picture a snowy mountain.  I love skiing, or I should I say, attempting to ski. I took up skiing late in life and I struggle with it. The fear of heights, of gaining speed and falling paralyzes me.

On some skiing trips I do well, I even get to blues, and on others I end up on the bunny hill. Still I am not giving up. The beauty and feeling of freedom is just too enticing for me.

I have heard countless times people say to me that at my age I should be stopping and not starting to ski.  I feel everything in my life follows a different clock that is normally much later than everyone else’s.  I bet I will hear my biological clock ticking when I am 60 🙂

I pay no one any mind.  Only I know my heart and my desires.

At the top of a mountain is when I feel the freest, the most in tune with nature.  At the top of a mountain I am able to turn off my mind.  I just breathe in the beauty of nature and feel the gratitude in my lungs.

Since 2010 I have taken a skiing vacation a year. I have been to Whistler Blackcomb (3 times) and Mont Tremblant in Canada. I have been to Snowmass (Buttermilk and Aspen) and Breckenridge in Colorado and Park City in Utah. I have gone on a couple of short trips to Vermont and a couple of places in NY.

I am always in search of a location that is fun and welcoming to beginners. I think I will forever be a beginner. And I am okay with that. I don’t have lofty goals of ever skiing blacks. I just want to feel more comfortable on skis.

For the past 2 seasons (2018 and 2019) life happened and I didn’t go on my yearly trip or even a day trip. I am not even sure what prevented it. I guess it was a combination of different factors in my personal life and deadlines at work.

This coming season I want to make sure that I will not let things get in the way. I was thinking that the best way to accomplish that was to book the trip now. That way I would be forced to go or lose a lot money.

Do you think is it a good idea to book a trip this far in advance? Any suggestions of where to go and where to stay? I welcome any tips and suggestions.

And if I end up in your neck of woods perhaps we can have a drink. Crazy enough idea I think!

“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.” ― Maya Angelou