Riding Chairlifts
Not very many people know this — and I am not sure what is possessing me to share it now — but I have recurring nightmares of riding chair lifts. No, not the ones that get Great Grandma up the stairs at the end of the day but those that bring skiers and riders to the top of the mountain. Crazier still is that I have had them since I can remember, possibly the entire time that I have been skiing, 40 ++ years. (Don’t go trying to figure out how old I am — just know that maybe I was skiing in a previous life.) The nightmares are just that — scary. The chairs go off into oblivion, often thousands of feet in the air and often over water. Most of the time, the chairs are shaking and rocking so violently that I can hardly hang on and sometimes don’t. One consistent thing is that I never know where the chairs are going. It seems an endless string of chairs never reaching a destination. I usually wake up covered in sweat, thankful that I am in my own bed. Only to fall back to sleep and right back into the nightmare.
So, why do I ride a chairlift nearly every day in the winter? Because I know the ones in real life will get me to my destination, the top of the mountain. Does it scare me to ride on the lift? No, not really. There are days on certain chair lifts when the wind blows where the pucker factor is a bit higher. John Wayne once said that “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” That really hits me close to home. Partly because I own a horse and I ride often (not often enough) but to a certain degree, am truly afraid every time that I saddle him up. Now I don’t see myself as particularly courageous but I can’t see missing out on the ride because I was too scared to get on up and ride it out. Besides, the quote is relevant to all facets of our lives.
Back to skiing. I pretty much ski and ride all types of terrain. Steeps, trees, bumps and even the occasional romp through the terrain park. Pretty much every time I am at the top of a steep run, there is a sense of fear. A fear of a fall, getting hurt or, even worse, embarrassing myself. Ya always got to look good doing it, right? The point is that certain types of fear — this type of fear — is okay. It keeps you focused. I am more afraid of not being afraid in these situations because that’s when things tend to go wrong. Don’t let your guard down. Besides, there is no better sense of accomplishment — when you have embraced and overcome your fear — to reach the bottom of that steep run knowing that you did it, you made it down. Your heart might be pounding out of your chest but you did it. Have you ever noticed that the run looks steeper from the bottom looking up than the top looking down? Next time you are on a steep run, stop in the middle. Look down to where you are going next and then look back up to where you have already been. You will see what I mean.
So, I guess life is a lot like riding that chair lift. Once you get on, you need to trust that you are going to get to that destination. There may be a few bumps or the wind might blow. Just hang on and you will be fine. Don’t be afraid to get on that lift (or saddle up that horse). Can you imagine what you would miss if you didn’t get on? If you just sat at the bottom and watched everyone else? Once you make it back down and you have conquered that steep run, guess what? You can get back on and ride it again. If that run doesn’t go so well, guess what? You can get back on and ride it again. A strange sense came over me the other day. A sense that I am going to ride that chair lift again and I will be okay. Incidentally, I have not had the nightmare in over a year. I wonder why?
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