Practicing Presence while My Soul is on a Chairlift...

Ski season finished a few weekends ago for me and to say I’m heartbroken is an understatement! Everyone knows how much skiing fills my spirit. My final day on the slopes was 60 degrees, sunny, and filled with endless soft snow laps. What a dream. I am so happy I hit almost 30 days out this season, had a trip out West, and got all my East Coast turns in. 

Alas, it never feels like enough, and this season flew by faster than others. It already has me wishing for next season and wondering how time goes by so fast. Yes, I cried a few times and am having a hard time letting go of winter. 

This loss has me thinking a lot the past few days about being present. I find myself questioning if I was in the moment enough this ski season. Whether I really cherished those

turns in the sun. How long I have until I can shred the slopes again. 

This may sound silly to anyone who isn’t a skier but I truly feel so empty when the season ends. I spend 4-5 months chasing powdery turns and when it’s over…it truly leaves me with grief. 

While I dream of skiing, I’m trying to remind myself this year to be present. This season has me reflecting on how time keeps flying—I hate it. I need to focus on living in the moment. I’m constantly thinking of the next step and going a million miles a minute. It is a blessing and a curse. 

I wish I was skinnier, I wish it was winter, I wish for this, that, blah blah blah. This mindset of wanting the next thing and wanting something different than the present will kill you.

This mindset wants me to let life slip by and in turn, I’ve let some of the best days go by because I’m always thinking ahead. I’m a planner, I want to be prepared in the future…so much that I miss the best moments. I don’t want to keep wishing away my life, even though the thing that makes me the happiest only happens in winter. 

Yes I’ll miss skiing and my life up north until November. But…

I want to LIVE. Enjoy every single moment, instead of wishing the best days of my life away. Appreciate my parents in their prime, my friends and siblings, trips, and just simply live life. I don’t want regrets; I want to sit in every moment knowing how lucky I am. 

To summarize my tangent, I’m living in the moment despite putting my skis away. These months will be filled with weddings, weekends with friends, my parents, sunshine, and swimming. 

I want to enjoy it all. 

Ski season… I will miss you like crazy and will be dreaming of sunshine, snowy days—I'll be busy living in the moment until then (while my skis cry). 

-Charty

Ps- Denver…perhaps you and I are meant to be together! Maybe I’ll move out there in the next few years and find the sexy bartender from the mac and cheese bar!