After three long years without skiing, I returned to Austria's snow this December. I was so looking forward. As if I could somehow recover the missed seasons due to covid.

We arrived in Saalbach. I rented my snowboard and jumped in the snow. The first morning was great, but around the afternoon, I fell and hit my lower back badly. The pain was so bad that I couldn't continue that day. The next morning, I went back to the slopes and fell again in the same spot. I started doubting myself: “Is it my age?”, “It is true that I’m not so fit…. I haven’t hit the gym much in the last year…”
I continued but couldn’t enjoy it. The following day was no different. I was feeling unsafe and in pain, and I wasn’t having fun. I thought it was not worth being there if I was not enjoying it. I sat down on the snow for a while and looked around to understand what was happening. Is it me, is it the environment or both? I saw these two things while sitting down: The slopes were much steeper than I am used to, and the snow was icy. I was very disappointed. I had dreamed of riding down the mountains with my snowboard, and now all I could think was that I probably didn’t make the right choice when choosing the ski station.
I was about to give up and return my board when I realized I could ski. Before snowboarding, I used to ski (not with the best style ;) I returned to the shop and asked the owner to give me the most manageable skis, and off I went. I was so tremendously happy that I could hit the icy slopes with skis. It took me three days to recognise that my dream of surfing the snow with my board simply was not going to happen and that I needed to adapt to the circumstances. And when I adapted, the magic happened.
It made me wonder how often, in my life, I have been sticking to my ideals when I could just adapt to the circumstances and “win
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