For the Love of Skiing! 🎿
All smiles on a bluebird day in the mountains.
For the love of skiing! 🎿
Shannon’s February update
This winter has been so good for my soul! I think there are a lot of factors that have been playing into how I am feeling about this special season but most of all I think it is because of two important things.
The first thing is that I am finally able to take my kiddos down my favorite runs. I know this sounds silly but skiing with your kids down the easy slopes is one thing but to see them overcome their fear, have fun, and crush really difficult and scary runs is so freaking awesome!! All of the time we have spent bribing them with gummy bears, getting them all the way up to the resort to only want to take one run (and being ok with that), picking them up hundreds of times an hour, teaching them to make turns instead of always doing a pizza, spending a small fortune on hot cocoas, only going on the days that were warm and sunny (ok, maybe that was for me a little too), and generally dealing with A LOT of tears and meltdowns – people, it’s worth it, we’ve made it to the other side!!! And it just brings me joy, so much damn JOY!!!
The second thing that has me so excited about this winter is the different places I’ve been able to ski. I spent most of my ski career waking up at a new ski resort every week and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I got a little piece of it back. Because my kiddos can now ski hard runs and last longer than a few hours, it’s been so worth it to me to take them to new mountains and experience places that are near and dear to my heart! One thing I always did when I was competing and in the starting gate was look out at the mountains and take a deep breath in (whether I was in the Wasatch, the Alps, the Andes or the Dolomites) I was forever grateful to be doing what I love in so many beautiful places around the world. All of those mountains have a special place in my heart. And this winter I have been looking out at those different mountains again and feeling my heart burst with gratitude. To wake up in Jackson Hole, Lake Tahoe, Deer Valley, and tomorrow Big Sky, I feel like I have a little piece of my adventurous spirit back.
Both of my parents were born and grew up in L.A. and I’m not exactly sure what made them try the sport of skiing but I am forever grateful they did and passed that on to both my brother and I. Skiing has given me lifelong friends that are STILL near and dear to my heart, it has shown me victory, defeat, fear, failure, resilience, despair, and hope. It continues to make me smile and allows me the freedom to hoot and holler while floating down fresh pow under a chairlift. Thank you skiing, truly, for all you have given and continue to give me!
I hope that you have something in your life that you love. Maybe you have lost your way or allowed it to slowly trickle away. But today is maybe the nudge to find your way back. Maybe you can’t do it like you used to or it may be harder today, but just lean into the feeling it once gave you and turn your face toward it and smile. One small step in that direction is all it takes to take another, then another!!
5 of my favorite runs I’ve had the pleasure of skiing this winter:
1) West Face at Palisades Tahoe
2) Upper Cirque at Snowbird
3) Chute 4 at Deer Valley
4) Alta Chutes at Jackson Hole
5) High Boy at Alta
It’s keynote time!
If you’re planning an event and need a keynote speaker to bring energy and joy to your audience, I’m your girl. I’m planning a lot of travel this summer (hellooooooo it’s an Olympic year… in Paris) so booking early to make sure I can squeeze you in is best. Click HERE to learn more and see if I may be right for your audience.
Thank you so much for always following along in my journey and if you take away nothing else, please take away this – life is short and we all need to lean into the things that bring us happiness and joy. You deserve it, I deserve it, we all deserve it!!