Sending it through life

a snowboarding analogy

Have you ever snowboarded before? Gliding through the trees last week on my vacation I had a strong message come through and I needed to share this simple yet powerful analogy with you. Enjoy my friends.

Learning to snowboard can be challenging, even though it is something that can bring some much joy. 

When you first tie up your boots and strap on the board, your feet and legs feel like they are no longer a part of your body. They are stiff and shaky and you wonder why it suddenly feels so hard to do something as simple as stand up and move around. Getting on the chairlift feels like you are soaring over the entire world and your stomach starts to turn, yet the view is more incredible than you could have ever imagined.

Actually going down the hill is another story. You didn’t realize how difficult it would be to stay on your feet. You fall. You get up. You fall again and you get up once again. You then repeat this at least 100 more times (if you're lucky). You are sore and beat up, but you are ready to try again the next day because you know that with time and practice, it will get easier. 

Over time, years later when you are gliding down the hills silky snow with ease, you can barely remember how hard it once was to learn. Until you take a risk and go down that double black diamond or enter the terrain park for the first time, and your legs start to quiver once again. 

Snowboarding reminds me a lot about our experiences in life. Life is meant to be fun and easy, however it is not always that way. Life does not come without challenges, even when doing something that brings you the utmost joy. You fall down A LOT, especially when starting something new. You are not going to be an expert at anything the first time you try it. Some people may be better than others when they start, but that has nothing to do with you. We all have different talents and different passions that play a role in the various aspects of our lives. 

As you progress through anything, it does get better and better, easier and easier. Until you start to take more risks, and begin to evolve even deeper. Things get challenging again, and then they get easier again. And so forth. And so on. 

Take a lesson from snowboarding and don’t let the fear of falling down stop you from taking chances and making changes in life. Without falling down, you will never know what it means to succeed.