Last ski trip to Colorado, I managed to find my way up to the highest runs in a complete whiteout. The kind of whiteout where you can't see, but a few feet in front of you and like the photo above shows, the ski and ground look exactly the same.
At one point, I literally used my "I'm standing" observation to know which direction was up and which direction was down; I figured gravity was pulling my feet in a downward direction if I was standing there on my skis. That's how crazy the whiteout was.
But, like all things in life, opportunity was around me. What lessons could I take from this?
1. Life is better in concert with others. In hindsight, I wish I would have skied with a partner that afternoon as I was scared and felt unsafe.
2. Some decisions are best made without over-thinking, but instead going with the flow, your gut, your intuition. In the past, I was notoriously guilty of over-thinking most everything. In this case, the sooner I skied out of the whiteout and the bitter cold, the better. My decision making that afternoon was total gut.
3. Risk is necessary to growth. I'm finding lately I have more confidence in my decisions - even the not-so-great ones. The key: Not to beat myself up as much when my decisions aren't my "best" ones (like this example of skiing alone in a whiteout). Taking a risk equals a reward no matter the outcome.
Feeling reflective,
Jen
