How do you feel about people watching your attempt at a sport? This was a topic of lift conversation a couple times in the last month. One friend expressed that she liked to ride at night where people weren’t likely to see her. Another friend stated he didn’t like the slopes under the lifts (even though he’s an excellent boarder).

My philosophy is this: Enjoy the ride. You’re out in fresh air, exercising your body and honing your skills. It’s true, people might be watching, but no matter what, you are going to make someone happy (as long as you don’t get hurt).

The way I see it they will:

• Grab inspiration from your attempts.
• Gasp in awe, envying your skill.
• Laugh out loud (yet totally relate from personal experience) if you yardsale.
• Remember the days when they were beginning and wiped out or struggled to turn just as you did.

Everyone starts somewhere, and not everyone has a lot of opportunity to practice. Just go for it and bring some smiles to some faces. 🙂

The worst you can do would be something like I did yesterday. Braking impressively after a good run at the end of the day, I proceeded to land right on a 12-inch downward slope of ice that slowly but surely drew me to the snow/grass line, which is an abrupt transition. Hit the landing face-first with my hand smacking right down into a pile of deer poop (thank goodness it wasn’t my face).

*side-note — I’m rather impressed that in an entire mountain of terrain, I managed to find that patch.
** second side-note — I now want all my clothing made of the same material my snowpants and gloves are. Neither one had poop or dirt on them after I brushed off. Very impressive.

Even with the wipeouts, one can bring smiles to people’s faces. Who knows? If someone had caught it on film, I might have made it into a clip as a Jerry of the Day. I challenge you to watch this without cracking a smile or laughing a bit:

So in my opinion, forget the eyes on you. Just have fun.

Wish I could bring that awareness to other aspects of life….