Slip Sliding Away

If it’s a bit hard to tell, this is a picture of Mike and Jonathan…ON A SKI LIFT!

Why am I so excited about this?

I will tell you.

I’ve rarely been more proud of anyone in my entire life! For good reason, I have a super soft spot for stories of people overcoming their deepest fears. This is one of those stories. This kid was TERRIFIED of ski lifts! He would burst into tantrums and tears at the mere mention of getting on one. He was so afraid!

For the past couple years Mike has been committed to teaching his kids how to ski. It’s his dream to have his family all together, enjoying Utah’s most popular pass time. He is still working on convincing me (a quite uncoordinated lady who hates cold) that I will enjoy skiing, but he easily convinced MK and Jeffrey. They have been practicing and are getting pretty darn good at it. Jonathan went once last year and was quite decent at the skiing part, but he could not abide the lift. After that first attempt he refused to go back for a second time and became completely belligerent and irrational if the idea of trying again was ever even mentioned. So, Mike has been going all winter without him…until Wednesday.

It was breaking my heart that Jonathan was missing out on something that the other kids were having so much fun doing. It broke my heart that he was missing out on all that good bonding time. In all honesty, I think it was breaking his heart too, but he just couldn’t figure out how to get around the little matter of the lift.

So, I decided it was time for a little psychology lesson.

For family night we had a very candid discussion about the psychology of fear. We talked about things that make us afraid, how fear affects us physically (fight or flight) and what we can do when we feel afraid. We talked about how some “fear” is useful for keeping us responsible and safe. But, when our fears get in the way of our enjoyment of life, or keep us from trying new things, or stops us from doing what we need to do, then it can be a courageous thing to work hard to overcome those fears. We talked about tapping into courage, different mental strategies, and how to think and talk to ourselves rationally when we are feeling overcome with fear.

It totally worked! Jonathan listened, questioned, considered and absorbed all the information. By the end of family night he had firmly committed to a ride up the mountain.

Two days later, when the time came for him to actually take that ride, there was so much nervous energy coursing through that kid I thought he might cave, but he persevered! He came back from the resort so stinking proud of himself; it made me cry with happiness to see him. He had conquered a huge fear and he was riding the well-deserved high of it all. Nothing feels better than overcoming a fear!

Mike took him skiing again today and reported that there wasn’t even a tiny bit of nervousness remaining. The wind was blowing quite a bit, tipping the lift chair this way and that, and Jonathan was as calm as could be. I’m so proud of my boy!

I hope this becomes a lesson for his life. Employing faith over fear is what it’s all about.

A little clip of the results of Jonathan’s triumph…