Taking steps towards the things we want seems like it should be easy, but in reality, despite how badly you man want it, taking those steps can be frikken scary.
You may or may not have noticed that we’ve been working hard to talk about our camps and reach more people who are interested in building confidence, facing their fears and growing their skills on skis… and MAYBE, just maybe it translates to other areas of life too.
Just a week ago, I found myself leaning into that. The ads that we have created in an effort to tell more people about our women's ski camps and what we do, are doing their job.
AWESOME!
Then I found myself looking at a list of the names, email addresses AND phone numbers of the 30+ women who had taken the time to share their information with us because they wanted to learn more about our camps, along with a request from Meredith asking me to call them all…
NOT SO AWESOME.
“You want me to cold call all these numbers?” I asked her.
“Yeah, how do you feel about that? She replied.
CUE: Great discomfort, fear, nerves, anxiety etc. (Similar to what some of you may feel at the top of a steep line, tricky entrance, chute or straight line when you’re skiing).
While Meredith’s other job requires her to call people she doesn’t know regularly, this was new territory to me. “I can do it, but to be honest, it makes me really uncomfortable” and listed off all the reasons why.
Then in a true coach fashion, she reminded me that these were not cold calls, they were people who asked us to contact them with more information, the reasons why we want to call them, the tools I had available to be successful, and a reminder that it is ok if it doesn’t go perfectly.
Sitting with angst and discomfort, but also with her words in mind, I “dropped in” and dialled the first number on the list.
As the phone rang and I waited for someone to pick up on the other end, the nerves settled in, my heart beating faster and faster and while I wanted to hang up right then and there, I reminded myself, I can do hard things.
It was not smooth, it was not comfortable and it was not perfect, but I did it! For any of you who have received an awkward voicemail or initial conversation with me, I thank you for the patience you provided with me as I hone in on a challenging new skill.
Meredith and I debriefed later “ I know it’s hard and uncomfortable but I think it’s worth it” she texted me. My reply… “ I can do hard things. It is what we’re selling so I better live up to the message.🤪”
It was at that moment, I was reminded that Rippin’ Chix is not just a women's ski camp. We have top female coaches to help build skills, tools, and confidence to empower women (ourselves included) to do hard, scary and uncomfortable things … IN GENERAL.
Skiing and our ski camps are just a really fun and exciting avenue to do it!
That feeling of accomplishment after doing the thing that scared the sh*t out of yourself is a pretty amazing one. Whether it's on skis in the mountains or at your place of work, we feel very fortunate to have a small part in helping build skills and tools to encourage others to lean into that discomfort so they can experience it as well.
We are here to help you do hard things…the question is, are you ready to try?
If you have taken a step (no matter how big or small) towards something you really want, give yourself a pat on the back. We appreciate the discomfort that accomplishment probably took!
Cheers!