Time for a random rambling. 🙂 If you're here just for the deals, scoot on to the next penny pinched post – I understand!Â
I am a terrified snow skier.
Terrified folks. For real.
To clarify, I’m the kind of girl who normally would never-ever-never say a four-letter word, but stick me on the side of a ski slope and you might just catch me cursing like a sailor.
(Did I just tell you that? Um, sadly, you can ask my kids . . . it’s kind of the truth. GOOD GRACIOUS.)
My sweet husband loves to ski though. He loves everything about it ~ loves the beautiful views, tons of fresh powder, and fearlessly going down those mountains just as fast as he can has always been innate to him.
The very first time he took me skiing way back in 1996, I remember practicing how to put skis on in his apartment. He gave me a few pointers (~ahem~), and then we headed out for our first day on the slopes in Paoli, Indiana for our first run.
He however failed to mention to this Southern-born-Florida girl that snow didn’t have traction. Seriously y’all, I kid you not, I had no idea.
NONE.
It was there and then that my very first not-so-sweet word came spewing out of my mouth, and after the seventeenth time falling as I (seemingly) careened down the bunny slopes, we finally called it a day.
It wasn’t pretty.
Over the years though I’ve come to (mostly) love winter skiing. There’s absolutely no other way to see the incredible views that you’ll catch at the top of the mountain, nothing quite as fun as peeking up close at the beautiful log homes that pepper the slopes, and a warm yummy meal just tastes better after a day on the snow.
Skiing however is just not in my nature. I’m timid at best, a complete klutz at worst, and even after almost twenty years of skiing my stomach get just a wee bit nauseous every time another skier whizzes by.
But that doesn’t mean that I can’t do it. If I hadn’t been courageous enough to stick with it, I would have completely missed something so incredible, simply because I have a tendency to so very often live in fear.
There are lots of things not in my nature that I have to choose to take control of each and every day. My nature would like to eat nothing but 3 Musketeers and Hershey Bars every day as a meal.
My nature likely would decide cleaning the toilets in our home wasn’t really a necessity.
My nature would never-ever choose to wake up at 5AM to exercise, and rather enjoy as much extra sleep as I can.
And clearly, this naturally timid nature of mine would never EVERÂ NEVER. begin a little home business that chatted with thousands of folks all over the world each day.
Um, if I stuck to my nature? I might just be 400 pounds, living in a home with dirty toilets and watching as life went my for others around me each day.
And honestly? There are days that if I stuck to my nature I would just spend whatever we had, skip saving for the things that have real value, and might just throw all those pennies right out the window.
The moral of the story? Your nature may not be that of a passionate penny pincher. You may not be a saver, never like to cook, absolutely hate the thought of menu planning, and you could easily decide you just weren’t made that way.
But you would never enjoy the view.
You’d never see the power of financial discipline, never know the sweetness of financial success, and never know the control you really have when you choose just to step out and take that first stride.
Y’all, we are all made so very differently and what’s easy for me may never be easy for you. But just like me on those ridiculous ski slopes (ridiculous folks, ser-iously), you can choose to work ever so hard to really stick with your goals even when they’re not in your nature.
I promise (promise!) the view’s worth the risk, and even after a few bumps on the bunny slope, so very worth the ride.
Curious how we've saved for vacation? It's one of our favorite things to do ever but definitely is tough on a penny pinched budget. Go HERE to learn how we save. Looking for more posts like this? Here you go . . .
- The Smartest Financial Decision We (Accidentally) Made
- Grace
- Blessed (And I didn’t even know it)
- Charm is Deceptive and Beauty is Fleeting
- The Value of A Kind Word
- Praying With Your Children
- Praying With Your Children (the Addendum)
- What Really Impresses Me
- If Only….Â
- Are You A Real Mom?
- Giving Passionately?
- Do Our Children Need It All?
- If Only….Â
- Contentment In the Little Things
- Don’t Sacrifice What You Really Want For What You Want Right Now