After several years of frustration, wondering why I wasn't getting any better at snow skiing, a little voice popped into my head one day. “Relax and go along for the ride.” I relaxed my stance and did just that.
For the past several years, I’d heard my acting coach, Ryan McKinney, tell fellow classmates, “Relax and go along for the ride.” This advice would usually come when the actor was struggling with a scene that brought up uncomfortable emotions in himself. That’s the thing that people don’t always realize about acting. The emotions have to be real in order to be believable on screen or stage. Sometimes it’s difficult for an actor to relax and go along for that emotional ride.
Skiing is my very favorite activity. I love the cold air on my face, seeing snow-filled mountains in every direction with a clear blue sky, the stillness of the air, the smell of ski wax. Heck, I love skiing so much that I even like it in a blizzard.
Yet, I’ve always envied those skiers who make skiing look beautiful. I’m not one of them. Even though I spend most of my time on the black diamond (expert) runs, I’m awkward and clumsy. On that day a couple years ago, it dawned on me that I was fighting my skis. I was watching the bumps in the path below me and plotting how I could avoid them. Before hitting a bump, I would stiffen my entire body and fight for control.
When I finally allowed myself to relax and go along for the ride, those bumps no longer intimidated me. I didn’t lose control, as I’d feared. I had more confidence. I was able to quit looking down at the slope below me and lift my head to enjoy the trees, the hills, the sky.
I still look at those beautiful skiers with envy. I know that I’ll never be at that level. But I have learned to enjoy my days on the mountain. I’ve learned to relax and go along for the ride.
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