Skiing Slowly

Everyday after rowing practice I would run up the hill back to campus. Sometimes, I would go immediately to the gym for a second workout. For dinner I would rush to the dining hall for a meal of chicken, brown rice and broccoli. It was immensely important to me that I was a strong, fit and an excellent athlete.

The only problem was … I was a medicore athlete at best. My endurance and technique were underwhelming and I never made it off Junior Varsity. Worse yet, my health was terrible. I always felt that I was sick, about to get sick or recovering from getting sick.

I had similar problems on the ski team. My coach, a wise and thoughtful man, noticed and suggested the following:

• Do not exercise outside of practice
• Ski as SLOWLY and THOUGHTFULLY as you can during practice.

I thought I knew better or perhaps was incapable of doing what he said. I ignored the advice.

As an adult I think I understand what he was saying. I have spent the last 5 years at least, extremely hyper and wired. I need to work as much as I can because

• AI is taking our jobs and capitalism is ending
• I am getting older and will miss my window
• etc etc.

The mania has taken a toll on me and I don’t even think it was the best for whatever I thought I wanted to accomplish. It will be very difficult and unintuitive for me, but I hope that in the next phase of my life I can ski as slowly and thoughtfully as possible.