Nerve-wrecking Tranquility

Just got back from a great little ski getaway with friends. Its been a couple of years since I pulled out my boots & blades but it all came back after a few test runs. The thing about skiing is that there are very clear levels of difficulty and this time out I decided to push myself and stepped up to the intermediate (blue) level. Now I should add the last time I went there and hit a blue, it resulted in me in tears at the top of the mountian wondering how on earth I was gonna get back to base without kiling myself. I literally sat down on the ground in the snow and cried. My crew was very supportive, but noone was gonna get me down but myself. In the end my patented "ski ski fall" technique won out and I made it down safely. I'm pretty sure I spent the rest of the weekend on the greens and had a good time.


So this, the year of Afo Diva Warrior Princess, I vowed to conquer the blues and officially graduate this trip out. While the snow wasn't bountiful, there were a few runs open and as I made my way to the top of tranquility I started getting nervous. I was on the lift with two of my boys and I just didn't want to be a punk, but as we went higher and higher, my stomach started getting a little queasy.

We decided to do "Tranquility." All of a sudden I was back to two years ago and was frozen at the top of slope. Its a kinda steep so you really can't see the bottom and I was starting to panic. I thought "Girl, if you can quit your job, open a business, an actually make money, you can do this thing. Just take it one step at a time." My buddy Rapture went first, I followed and damn if there weren't moguls (little mini-mounds of snow spaced out) at the top of the run. I was like "Oh HELL NO." but it was too late, I was already on my way. I just chanted to myself "Stay loose, you got it, nice and easy." I made it through with no real mishaps! I reached the first plateau, met up with Rapture and T-Bone and we congratulated each other on making it!

On the next challenge! I'll be honest, it got a little shaky from time to time. I almost fell, but recovered nicely with my great "Afro Diva Warrior Princess" mantra and lots of words of encouragement to melf. When you take on harder runs, it just gets steep and you can't see very far. I truly hate it when I can't see what's next, but that's like life. You don't stop moving forward just b/c you don't know what's next. If you've done the hard work and have the skills to succeed, have faith that you can do it. So at the next phase of the run, when it seemed to just drop down and couldn't see the terrain, I just said, let' s take it one piece at a time. I stopped trying to anticipate what came next and I made it down not once but TWICE w/o out falling. Yeah I was shaking, yes my stomach was in knots, yes I was sweating bullets even in freezing cold, but I did it!

I went back out the next day b/f leaving to try it again. There was a snowstorm over night and the terrain was different. It was the same hill, but different. This time I had to put on my goggles b/c the snow would get in my eyes and with the yellow tint I couldn't see the ground with as much precision as before. I made it down, but not before I fell a few times (really a lot, I had snow EVERYWHERE). There were a lot more hills and no tracks to follow b/c it was first thing in the morning. Here's the thing, each time I fell I just got back up and kept going. Remember, I patented the "ski ski fall" years ago. It doesn't matter if you fall down when trying something new, just keep getting back up and trying. I don't know who decided to name that run "Tranquility" but it really gave me the business. I will conquer it, as well as snowboarding and black diamonds before its all done. I have had many "failures," I hesitate to call them that b/c its all a matter of perspective. I have done a lot of things and although they may turned out differently than I expected, its all been worth it. I just keep getting up and moving forward. I hope I never change.

I am Afro Diva Warrior Princess and nothing will stop me!