I’ve learned to never throw away an opportunity to try something new, even if it’s scary. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone has helped me become happier and create lasting memories.

Skiing

The sky was blue and the sun made the snowy mountains glimmer at the Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. The air felt crisp and cold as a light breeze blew in my direction. My family and I were learning to ski for the first time.

We began our one-hour ski lesson taught by a young college student. As I began to go down the bunny hill my stomach turned and I began to feel lightheaded as my head filled with thoughts of uncertainty. I struggled to stay upright on my skis as my legs shook uncontrollably while I tried to angle my skis just right to slow myself down.

After a few stressful attempts and multiple falls on the bunny hill, my family decided we’d go a step further and try going on the larger ski lift.

As we went up, I enjoyed looking at the vast mountain ranges below as countless skiers and snowboarders confidently strode and skidded across the snow. I reluctantly got off the lift, and my heart skipped a beat. I felt my breathing become uneasy when I realized how high up we were and suddenly my confidence had all but diminished. I watched as my younger sister made her way down the mountain skiing amazingly as she navigated the ski trail. She moved like she had known how to ski all her life.

As I took the first step to go down what looked like a never-ending hill, I believed for a microsecond I had my skis under control, until I didn’t. I let fear take over as I skidded and fell into the powdered snow onto my back. The weight of the skis held my twisted legs down.

My dad skied over to help me untangle myself taking off my skis and reattaching them. As I looked at him in distress I told him I wanted to just take off my skis and walk down the mountain, feeling that would be safer. He looked at me with sympathy, but sternly told me I couldn’t give up and I needed to get back up and try again.

When I got back up, and attempted the mountain again. I faced fall after fall with tears in my eyes, upset that I wasn’t successful in my endeavor.

Once we finally got down the cold, snowy mountain I felt a sense of relief wash over me.

I then told my family I was never going to do that again.

Months later I looked back at that experience with a sense of accomplishment. Despite my fear and frustration, I had done something terrifying and survived. My greatest fear on the mountain was that I would fall and somehow not make it down, but I did. That realization gave me the confidence to push myself in other ways through the rest of high school and into college.

Snowboarding

My next challenge would be being away from home for the first time at BYU-Idaho. When I got here I wanted to push myself more and continue my new mindset to try things I had never done before.

All of a sudden, I wanted to just succumb to my fear and just stay in my bubble of comfort. Thanks to my new friends and cousins, I was pushed to new lengths and they encouraged me throughout my first semester of school.

With new confidence, I continued this into the winter semester, as my roommates wanted to try snowboarding. When they asked me to go with them I remembered my experience with skiing and simply told them that it wasn’t for me. Even though I can now look back feeling OK about the experience, I was reminded of the fear I felt when I went down the mountain. After days of begging, they finally got me to go, because wanted to stay true to my goal to push myself to my limits.

As we went up the conveyor belt that would take us to the top of the magic carpet hill at Kelly Canyon I took comfort that I wasn’t alone in trying snowboarding. But once we finally got to the top, my memories of skiing flooded back with fear. My breath immediately began to shorten at the sight of the semi-steep downhill I would soon have to go down.

I was instructed on how to attach my boots to my snowboard and began to feel a pit in my stomach. I was unable to move my feet because they were attached to the board. I felt nauseous as I struggled to get up even with both my roommate and her boyfriend pulling me to my feet.

My roommate’s boyfriend then gave us brief instructions on how to stop and slow down once we went down the mountain. My eyes widened as he went down the hill with ease and there I was trying to slowly go down. As I scooted my way to the edge I lost control and started to speed up uncontrollably. My heart rate increased and I feared how fast I was going. I leaned forward arms first, bending my knees to land causing me to crash and hit the hard snow to stop myself.

I soon got back up with bruised knees to try again. This process happened again and again. As frustration built, I made my way down the mountain. It was after my sixth fall on the small hill that I wanted to be done. Tears filled my eyes and my breathing grew heavy. I thought to myself snowboarding was not a sport for me. I was not built for this, I didn’t have the skill.

I lay on my back in the middle of the snow hill, trying to calm myself down, as I was reminded of my experience with skiing. I reminisced on the moment when my Dad helped me back up again and told me not to give up. So I got back up, wiped away my tears with my cold mittens and calmed down my breathing to get down the mountain.

With the encouragement of my friends, I mustered up the confidence to try to go back up the hill again. This time I didn’t feel so upset, I was slowly getting the hang of it. Though I still experienced countless falls, I enjoyed the time I was spending with my roommates.

By the third time I made it down the hill, I was happy and was enjoying myself. I was able to laugh at my mistakes and falls and have a great time.

From this experience, I learned that giving something a try, even when it’s difficult, can create memories that last a lifetime. I wasn’t the only one who struggled in the beginning but as my friends and I encouraged each other, we all were left with an amazing experience.

I know that when we push ourselves out of our comfort bubble we can find new things to enjoy. I have found that you never know if you could be missing out on something that you would have otherwise loved. From trying new, scary things I’ve become more successful in my hobbies, like music, and have found new activities I enjoy doing, such as rock climbing.

Through my experiences, I’ve learned to not let fear rule my life, and I’ve gained more confidence, success, and happiness.

Featured Photo Credit: Jennifer Alexander