What Comes Up Must Go Down: Cross-Country Skiing With CP

It's been so long since my last post! Every time I thought about sitting down to write Part 3 of "The Day That Changed Everything," a feeling of dread rose in my stomach. Maybe I'm just not ready to confront that post and the pain that goes with it. For now, I'm going to leave that story unfinished and focus on something else.

About a week and a half ago, my family and I went on a short vacation in the mountains. We decided to try out cross-country skiing. I was a little nervous because my impaired balance means that it usually takes me a lot longer to get the hang of sports, but I was willing to try. 

The first day went fine; I stuck to the flat areas and skied slowly and carefully. For those of you who don't know, when you cross-country ski, the main goal is to glide along the trails. I had a lot of trouble getting the glide in my right foot (my right side is my worse side), but otherwise, I was able to ski just fine!

The second day challenged me both physically and emotionally. I decided to try out some of the more difficult trails, and for the most part, I was okay going uphill, but as we all know, what comes up must go down. And "down" I went. I must have fallen fifteen times, and getting back up is no easy feat when you are wearing two skis and your feet slide out from underneath you every time you try to stand up again. 

Each time I tried to ski downhill, I instinctively leaned backwards and lost my balance. At one point, I was so physically and emotionally drained that I sat at the bottom of a hill in tears because I knew that somehow, I had to find the strength to finish, and I didn't know if I had that strength.

Apparently I did, because I made it, even if I was shivering, shaking, and sore. 

And then I went back on the third day. There was a part of me that wondered if I was crazy because the second day was so miserable, but I knew that I had to try again and conquer my fears. 

By the end of that day, I managed to ski down a hill without falling. 

Take that, CP! ;-)