Motivation Bank

I think I’ve always been a fairly motivated person – at least when it comes to pursuing my passions – but I’m starting to think I have a threshold of motivation available. I think the threshold can fluctuate up or down, but if I exceed the threshold, it could result in a full on breakdown of all motivation until I’ve laid in bed staring at my phone for an hour before calling it a day and thinking I’ll just start over tomorrow.

In 2012 I was at the inaugural SheJumps Alpine Finishing School. I met a professional skier named Sandra Lahnsteiner out of Austria. Like me, she was in her 30s and in a long stable relationship. We talked about being skiers and having kids and she expressed that she is a passionate person and knows that her passion would move from skiing to being a mom as soon as she had kids. I agreed that the scenario was likely and we both held off on having kids for years to keep skiing until in 2015, I had the triplets. Now I had 3 babies to test the theory with – would I be able to balance 2 passions?

My kids are 3 now and they are as fun as ever and this is the first time I’m finding my passions collide. I love spring skiing and adventuring but as a working mom, I already have a limited time with my kids… and there are 3 of them! They are already a bit shortchanged in the individual attention department. I recently read this article by John John Florence and felt very inspired to keep my passion for skiing strong in hopes they may find the same passion for the outdoors.

The ski season started slow this year, but it was great for toddler skiing. Consequentially, I skied about 2/3rds as much as usual. I barely skied any backcountry, but I did have a few high quality days. I recently went to the Eastern Sierra which is skiing really well about 9000 feet – I’d love to get a few more days down there, but missing full days and nights with my kids not only takes a toll on them and my husband, it takes a toll on me!

I also have had the goal of skiing Mt. Rainier for a while now and just haven’t been able to make it happen. I thought it might line up this year, but the partners I had lined up had to change plans and admittedly, with other adulting to do and not wanting to leave my kids again, I happily accepted the delay. Maybe next year.

I have a tendency to think even if I do one new thing a year, it’s been a successful year. I don’t feel I have anything to hang my hat on yet this year, but I did manage to ski a few new lines – unknown couloir on Mt. Dana, a few lines on Emerald Bay I had yet to ski, and a lot of new things at Revelstoke – which should be a whole other blog post.

Maybe 3 toddlers and working full time is my motivation threshold. Maybe it’s enough to just be in a holding pattern for these next few years. And then, I have a good day, where I still have motivation left in the bank at the end of the day… and that is where the plotting and planning begins. With some good parenting and a lot of luck, maybe 3 planning partners will be in my future.