Personal Narrative: My First Day In Colorado

There I was, fifty feet up and feet dangling from that magical metal bench as we soared towards the summit. It was a cold and cloudy day at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado. I was bundled up from head to toe, ready to brace the elements and hopefully my fears. As our journey on the lift was coming to an end we prepared to disembark to a much more daunting quest. When we reached the top we exited the chair lift and I nearly fell face first into the ice cold now, but I caught myself and was able to maintain my balance. This was like a raindrop of confidence in an ocean of fear, nervousness, and anxiety. Will this be the day? Will I finally make it through a run without falling? I sat down in the cold, wet snow and fastened my feet to that

Looking back I now realize that I learned so much from this one experience. What I learned goes beyond just snowboarding. I now better understand the situation from my dad’s perspective and can better appreciate what he did for me. In the moment when I thought my dad had lost his temper with me that first day in Colorado I was furious. However, I now have a different out look. He was not trying to discourage me, but rather the opposite. He was trying to get me to over come my fears. He knew that no amount of lessons and no amount of practice was going to help if I did not believe in myself. I blamed why I kept falling on a lack of control, but this was not completely true. It was more of a lack of confidence. I was not confident in my ability to slow my self down or stop myself if I was going to fast. Or my ability to turn myself away from obstacles that I may encounter. These were all things that I had proven to poses the skills to do, but my lack of confidence did my allow myself to trust these skills. When snowboarding there is no such thing as total control. There are all different variables and conditions that one faces on a mountain that can inhibit ones control. However, confidence in ones skills to correct a situation after a loss of control in a key part of snowboarding. That is what my father was trying to teach me because he experiences similar situations on skis. Although I may have been angry and frustrated in the moment when my dad was trying to teach me this, it is impossible for me to be now. I am grateful for what he did. It was the push I needed to learn this valuable lesson. The desire to prove him wrong was exactly what I needed to instill the confidence necessary for me to be successful. It was this experience that had sparked a passion that I still have today. To this day I still go snow boarding with my dad, only now he is the one that has to keep up with