Stepping out of our Comfort Zones, and into the Great Outdoors - Part 3, Do Something Again, for the First Time
For members of the silent and adventure sports communities, the meaning of the phrase “comfort zone” ranges. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, Alex shares how he got out of his comfort zone with four wheels and two wheels, respectively. In this final part to the series, Alex concludes on the slopes of Granite Peak
Losing play time
Unlike the last tale in Part 2, I’m not going to suggest anything masochistic. Instead I’ll suggest rediscovering some long-lost form of enjoyment. As kids our forms of exercise and self-care are rarely seen as such, instead we just know it as play time. My brother and I spent hours running through the woods, building jumps for our bikes in the summer and on our skis in the winter. We loved being outside moving for no other reason than to have fun.
Like many of us as we got older and into competitive sports our active time was spent mostly training to be better at the chosen pursuit. For my brother it was cross country, for me it was football, but we made the switch to snowboarding from skiing in adolescence and had kept with it in our later teenage years. Most weekends in the winter were spent at the slopes with either our parents who were avid skiers or a few friends.
Unstoppable
Once we had our drivers’ licenses, we were unstoppable. We would fill the old Toyota with gear and head out in search of the freshest snow. Fast forward a few years and the 2020 season came and went. My wife and I made it out on the hill just once, a pretty sad realization. Granted we had just moved back to Wausau and were knee deep in a house renovation (albeit only 15 minutes from the slopes), she had just started a new job, and there wasn’t enough time in the world to get everything we wanted to do done, but something was missing, nonetheless.
My wife and I didn’t know one another growing up but we came from similar families that spent most winter weekends at local ski hills. Our parents collected skis and boots of all different sizes that invariably got passed down to the youngest and smallest over and over again. They packed cheese and pretzels and cold sandwiches for lunch to not waste time in the chalet. None of the frugality bothered us because we loved skiing for skiing’s sake.
Rediscovery at Granite Peak
This season, to seek some of that joy again, we invested in two sets of last year’s gear at deep discount and passes at Granite Peak. We’ve forced ourselves to leave the snowboards at the house to start the season, to eliminate the option of reverting to what’s comfortable. Just like riding a bike though, those skills and muscle memory are somewhere deep in the brain just waiting to be tapped into. Once we got used to the feeling of four edges instead of two, the smiles were nonstop.
Taking a childhood love and rediscovering it as adults has been hugely rewarding. For advanced snowboarders, groomed runs that were previously relaxing are now truly challenging. The feel of a turn properly executed or taking a chance on the edges of a run to dance in the powder is a thrill. As I sit writing this the predicted high today is 60 degrees with a chance of rain, in mid-December, so that may put a damper on our newfound fun for a week or so, but I’m confident mother nature will repay our patience in fluffy frozen precipitation come the holidays. So, I urge you to investigate your own past and into the roots of what made you the outdoor lover you are today, and maybe rediscover some of that magic that makes this outdoor life so great.
About the author:
Alex Shinners is a guest blog contributor who moved from Milwaukee to Wausau in 2021. Alex will be a guest contributor on the IRONBULL blog. So, if you’re interested in following along be sure to subscribe! Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of going outside his comfort zone on the bike and on the slopes in the upcoming blog posts.