"This teaches you to trust yourself. You have to do it yourself, no one will do it for you". Funny enough, I heard this from a ski instructor on the top of Mt Abram over the weekend. He was speaking to his new skiers as he was encouraging them to likely head down a tougher trail. I'm so amazed that my yoga not only shows up on my mat but can find me on the top of a mountain in Western Maine. I loved hearing him say to his students (in my own interpretation) "Look- it's entirely up to you. You can ski down this mountain and doubt yourself the whole time. Chances are you will fall on your a$$. If you believe in yourself and what you can do, you are going to own this run. So you decide. I can't do it for you." It reminded me of something I've heard Baron Baptiste say a few times- "Help is not on the way".
I'm not sure this ski instructor's students heard him the way I heard him. After all, I was just an innocent and eavesdropping bystander strapping on my snowboard. But, It was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. I needed to hear that I was responsible for enjoying that day and believing that I could make the most of it. That I could be on my snowboard with ease, grace, and connection and that was a powerful choice I could make for myself. My husband, Mark couldn't make it happen for me. Another snowboarding lesson couldn't make it happen for me. Even my daughter, Anna that was complaining of being cold, couldn't make it happen (or not happen) for me. It was up to me.
Thank you Ski Instructor at Mt Abram. Your words matter and I heard them. And yes, I did rock that next run. (Does that sound like a BudLight commercial?) Snowboarding did show me how to trust myself. Along with my yoga, or course.