Out of the Comfort Zone
The festive period reminds me of the wintery experience I had sit-skiing.
Skiing was something I had never attempted before, but always wanted to. So waiting until I was paraplegic before trying it was probably not the ideal time to jump on a plane and head to the French Alps, but since becoming aware that wheelchair users can ski the slopes, the temptation was too much for me to resist.
It would tick a lot of boxes on how I like to prove things can be done, just by thinking outside the box, and going out of your comfort zone.
Knowing I would be spending a week in my day chair surrounded by snow, I wanted to give myself a fighting chance, so before I left for the airport, I changed my road tyres for some knobbly off-road tyres. My front casters would make life impossible in snow, so my 'free wheel', which attaches to the front of my chair and lifts the small front wheels off the floor, and replaces them with one single large wheel, was a must.
I threw some ski outfits and some woolly hats in my ski bag and before I knew it, I was at the resort getting measured up for the correct 'sit-ski' to use on the slopes. I had booked daily lessons, being trained by fully qualified sit-ski instructors for disabled enthusiasts.
The first couple of days were spent trying to get the hang of balancing using specially shortened ski poles and slowly gliding down the nursery slopes. The sight of all the other skiers disappearing on the overhead ski lifts into the clouds, knowing I would soon be joining them, gave me a grin from ear to ear.
I met other sit-skiers who had different disabilities in the resort, so it was nice to spend time with them and share some tips, as we all had the same goal...having a disability does not stop you having fun.
The anticipation of making it onto the ski lifts and seeing the resort getting smaller and smaller behind me as we headed into and beyond the clouds, was very exciting and did not disappoint. The views were breath-taking, the skiing was stunning, and the idea of going into a pub for a snack and a beer 1000's of feet up was almost as hard to believe as the fact that I could enjoy all of this whilst being a full time wheelchair user.
The 'comfort zone' won't be offended if you leave it behind every now and again!