A snowboarder's take on Summer

When I was in Elementary and Middle School, summer was my favorite season, simply because we didn’t have to go to school. However, after my first time snowboarding in 8th grade, summer became my least favorite season. I remember in those first few seasons snowboarding, I would get “seasonitis”, a disease I made up which was basically extreme boredom from not being able to snowboard. I dreaded the summer.
In the past year or two, I have been opening my mind more and changing my attitude in general, including my attitude to things I do not like, such as summer. I have realized that things (like summer) are as fun as you want them to be. This past summer, my first in Tahoe, was a complete and total blast! In addition, I took away two important lessons:

1. go for it, why not?

The amount of new activities I tried in my first month of being a Tahoe local was pretty impressive. In about three weeks, I had tried paddle board yoga, cards against humanity, cliff jumping into cold Lake Tahoe, mountain biking (on a narrow path with a 1000 foot drop on one side), a high ropes course which involved climbing up a wobbly 50 foot tower with a trapeze jump at the end, white water rafting, falling out of a white water rafting boat, performing in an open mic night, backpacking in Desolation Wilderness, and skateboarding in an actual skate park. I literally signed up for every trip I could, and tried everything offered to me.
And I don’t have a single regret. I remember when I signed up for the Flume trail mountain biking, I contemplated not doing it. I had only been mountain biking once in my life and apparently this was a sketchy trail. They told me about the steep, long uphill and the narrow part with the 1,000 foot drop. In the end, I decided “why not?” and went for it. It was intense, but when I was finished it was well worth it!

Another moment from this past summer I’ll never forget is when I jumped off a rock in Emerald Bay. I’m ok with heights but I hate cold water. In the end, after watching some other people jump off the cliff, I went for it, and it was awesome! I climbed right back up and jumped again!

2. Who cares if you suck?
I remember in middle school, I cared so much about what other people thought of me. I started skateboarding in 7th grade, but I never got good at it because I was always worried about other people judging me. I never set foot in the skate park unless no one was there, and I hid if I saw someone.
After joining the snowboard team last fall, I started going to their fall conditioning. Because of the lack of snow in the summer, we often had practice in the skate park. I jumped at the opportunity. Where else could I have actual instruction in skateboarding?
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I remember the first skate park practice I went to. It was all guys, except for my roommate and I. It was intimidating because they were all so good! I watched in awe as they did kick flips, jumped over huge gaps, and sped all around the skate bowl. I finally got into the mini halfpipe and started going back and forth between the walls. I started off going really slow, but each time I got higher and higher until I was almost at the top!
The biggest lesson I took away that day was that it was much more fun to be the worst person in the skate park than to not go to the skate park at all. For the next month or two until the snow came I went to every skate park practice I could go to. I am still nowhere near the level of any of the guys, but I had a lot of fun, and in the end, that is all that mattered to me.