Jit's Journal: Finding your "happy place"

A lot of times I hear people ask whether or not I still have fun when I’m out on the hill skiing. Truth be told, I find myself in a love/hate relationship with the sport I’ve been doing since I was 2 years old.
    At times I get so frustrated after a rough patch of racing that I really need some time and space to gather my thoughts. Skiing can turn itself into a job when you least expect it. The same old routine of chugging sports drink, eating PowerBars, spinning, packing, unpacking and driving for five hours smashed in a van with five guys can get old after a while.
    Dictating your fun level based on your performance (which I struggle not to do) can also take its toll. I won’t lie, winning makes this sport fun, but there’s more to it than that. If you can’t find your “happy place” and make it stick for the three-month stretch in Europe, you’ll lose your mind.

A LOT OF TIMES I hear people ask whether or not I still have fun when I’m out on the hill skiing. Truth be told, I find myself in a love/hate relationship with the sport I’ve been doing since I was 2 years old.
    At times I get so frustrated after a rough patch of racing that I really need some time and space to gather my thoughts. Skiing can turn itself into a job when you least expect it. The same old routine of chugging sports drink, eating PowerBars, spinning, packing, unpacking and driving for five hours smashed in a van with five guys can get old after a while.
    Dictating your fun level based on your performance (which I struggle not to do) can also take its toll. I won’t lie, winning makes this sport fun, but there’s more to it than that. If you can’t find your “happy place” and make it stick for the three-month stretch in Europe, you’ll lose your mind.
    The all-important breaks for one to two days are crucial to my personal survival. I use these times to totally shut down the system and reboot for the next block of racing. Movies, sleep and some unhealthy food can really turn things around; and at the end of the day if all that can’t help bring your spirits back up, getting word that you are racing the World Cups at Kitzbühel and Schladming will certainly do the job!
    Good news is a tough thing to come by in ski racing. Getting a lot of it at one time is even rarer. Finding out I would be racing at both Kitzbühel and Schladming was one thing, but to then find out I was selected for World Championships seemed unrealistic to me. But this wasn’t a dream that I had conjured up — it was real.
    When I last left all of you readers out there, I was in rain-soaked Austria. Since then I have been to Italy, France and back again to Austria on the Europa Cup tour. Fighting cancellations, skiing in ruts and dealing with warm weather have become the norm, but my teammates and I are making best of it.
    At the last race in La Plagne, France, it rained all night and in the morning the organizers had to boot-pack the race hill and throw salt. I felt like I was at a ski camp in June. At the time it seemed that things would just continue to get worse, but finally it happened. By some miracle, winter decided to show its face just three days out of the races at Kitzbühel.
    As I was looking upon the snowy streets of Kitzbühel through my hotel window, things finally started feel normal again. How would I feel looking out of the start gate at 30,000-plus people? Things might not feel so normal. As calm as I might try to appear, I would be in a position that I had never been in. I would be nervous, but could I take those nerves and turn them into reaction adrenaline? Sometimes the butterflies help me react a lot quicker in intense situations. The question is whether or not I would be able to pull it off.
    In my next Jit’s Journal, you’ll find out.