Homeboy Ski Blog - Ski Gear, Ski Resorts, Interviews, Reviews, Tips & Tricks

Sad but true. People get older, including you and me. As we get older, we most probably gain more responsibility at home and at work. The more we have responsibility, the less we have time of our own. I realized this few years ago as we got more children. It was early ski season and I was planning to go skiing abroad. I figured out that we don’t have money enough. Well, money has never been the problem. It is amazing how little money one needs in order to survive in the Alps. The real problem was that we had a newborn child and I was needed at home. As I was desperately planning skiing in France, I was told “grow up and forget skiing! You’ve got children now!“. It was hard to swallow. In fact, it was a little bit embarrassing to realize that I need to grow up.I am a selfish person. I am goal oriented and I have always got what I have wanted. I have always been ready to fight until I reach my goals. When we got kids, I realized that I have always thought only about myself. It was time to grow up. Step by step I learned to think about others and not only myself. Step by step I learned that I cannot go skiing for three months in France every year. I have my job and my family. I need to work in order to get some money and I am needed at home. It is a bit boring sometimes, but important. I learned that instead of skiing over 100 days a year I ski max 20 days, and most of those days I ski with my sons. Oh, and in fact, they ski much more than I! Those who are not much into skiing may not understand what I mean here, but those for whom skiing has been the thing number one during whole life might see what I mean. For me skiing used to be the number one thing for very long time. Now it is different, and that is actually good.

It has been hard to grow up and understand that I cannot live my life exactly like ten years ago. The point is, I cannot go skiing and mountain biking as much as years ago. Anyhow, it doesn’t mean that I should forget skiing 100%. No, the order is family, job, hobbies. It took some years to actually understand why that is the right order. I am glad that I went through this experience because it opened my eyes. There are other things in life that are actually more important than skiing, even though skiing is cool. No, it’s not mountain biking. It’s family. Skiing with my kids is not comparable to skiing with my buddies in the backcountries of Chamonix, but it is different. I can still go to the backcountries and I do, but not as seriously as some years ago.

If you don’t have responsibilities such as family and work, go skiing +100 days a year. Live your life in Chamonix, Verbier, BC, Valdez, Kamchatka, etc. Enjoy your life. As soon as you have those responsibilities focus on them and go skiing always when it makes sense.

And don’t forget mountain biking!