“Skiing is not a matter of life and death; it’s much more important than that.”  —anonymous

Along with announcing my coaching brand and website build in 2017, I said final goodbyes to both of my parents at their deaths, planned their memorials and completed my obligation to purge their respective households, and to address implementation of their estate planning. My daughters flew the nest to attend college and pursue careers. I reinvented myself, including resigning my ski school management job to resume teaching skiing. I began rebuilding a private lesson clientele as a trainer and ski pro with the Ski and Snowboard Schools of AspenSnowmass.

A drought loomed over the Colorado high country my first season back to skiing.
 
Bountiful snow blessed the mountains my second season, and my business metrics began to soar.

Season three was aborted by Covid 2019. Within a week of “shutdown” during break in March 2020, I experienced symptoms not yet associated with the corona virus—interminable pounding headaches, deep fatigue and cardiac arrhythmias. My first experience of warm blooded connection after seven weeks of zero human touch was stroking a cat as it lounged against my lower legs. My second was when a doctor inserted a cold speculum into my body for an overdue pap smear. Due to limited access to medical guidance I chose to “rehabilitate” myself from Covid. It took ten months to enjoy normal sensibilities, similar to recovering from healthy pregnancies and deliveries, and sports injuries.
 
My foray into bike mechanic school the summer of 2019 manifested into a job coaching mountain biking during Covid which I continue today. Thanks to my respective employers’ proactive establishment of operating procedures informed by social distancing protocols, I was busy between summer of 2020 and spring of 2021. My work included an additional dimension of service—guiding my guests to connections in the natural world not available in restricted indoor environments.

What’s your Journey? Collaborate with me to navigate your twists and turns!

An unprecedented sequence of events occurred in the summer of 2022. Out of the blue, a lightning strike slammed me to the ground as I was coaching kids biking. Five months later I injured my left knee while teaching skiing. I continue to recover from both injuries.

Generating a livelihood takes priority. At the same time, as my friends Eric DaRosa and Marc Fernandez make clear in their distinctive weekly podcast, #SurvivorToThriver, surviving is not thriving. While I have succeeded since 2017 in my personal and professional endeavors, I’ve been tired. Soul tired.
 
The silver lining of loss, injury, kids leaving the nest, job transitions and unpredictable changes in our world, is, they all present an opportunity to re-evaluate, re-tool and re-invent one self. It’s a chance to be better “after,” than one was “before.” Sometimes it’s “hard learning.” I call this “turning shit into fertilizer.” It’s also wonderment during periods of grace and ease. It is how we choose to navigate life’s twists and turns which builds resilience.

Let’s connect and forge the path to your new life.

It all starts with a conversation. Make the first step by calling or emailing me to schedule your complimentary 30-minute coaching session.