Holy learning curve, Batman!

A Basin - Sometime in the early 1990s

So, who remembers the first day they tried to do something that was completely new? Skateboarding? Skydiving? Reading? Balancing a checkbook? Driving? Child birth? We all can dredge our mental archives for a “first time” experience that threw us into a tailspin.

The first time I tried to snowboard – seventeen years ago – I fell on my ass, HARD. REPEATEDLY. I remember thinking that EVERY muscle in my body hurt – even the little muscles that controlled the blinking of my eyes. How was it possible that learning a sport could be so painful? And that I would go back to it? And that I would end up teaching it… for years?!? Thankfully the learning curve was steep and I only suffered a few broken body parts in the process.

Diving into the world(s) of professional blogging and travel writing are feeling so similar. The pain might be mental rather than physical, but it’s pain nonetheless.

So, going back to that first excruciating snowboarding experience, I have to ask, “Why did I keep doing it? What was the payoff? The reward?” Yes, that’s very Dr. Phil of me, but there’s a reason he’s famous and over-quoted…

In 1993, snowboarding represented a lifestyle – a “counter culture;” something I might actually be able to do that would make me, somehow, different. I wanted it. Badly.

I’ll never forget being a semi-novice snowboarder at Crested Butte during the good old days when lift tickets were free during the very icy early season. Tom and I went there with Lisen and Jason – awesome snowboard buddies. And I sucked. Someone yelled at me from the chairlift: “Ride it, don’t slide it!” I was humiliated. Did I mention that I sucked?

Then, eureka! I started to turn. Nothing like a little peer pressure to make me put that toe edge down in the snow and go for it.

Here is sit in the blogosphere in just about the same place. I’ve discovered a plethora of free – and not so free – resources on the web that will help take this enterprise from hobby to a vocation. While I might not break my back learning how to blog professionally, I could break the bank. Knowing when/ where to hire a professional is yet another lesson taken from the ski/ snowboard world. When your car needs a tune-up, do you go buy a do it yourself manual? Roll up your sleeves and get greasy?

Today, forging a new road into an arena where I know little to nothing is also a “counter culture;” something I might actually be able to do that would make me, somehow, different. And it could become a new career – the payoff; the reward. And I want it. Badly.

I have a vision, a dream. Snowboarding is a part of it, but it is no longer “it.” Education is part of it; travel is part; and writing is definitely a big part. I’m excited in that “butterflies in the stomach” kind of way, and hoping that the learning curve is similarly steep.

<Summons the courage to put that toe edge down in the snow and go for it>

Stay tuned!