When I retired from full-time work at the end of 2017 after a rewarding 50-year career as a family therapist, I was looking for a new passion and challenge to invest my energy and continue helping people live to their full potential. I had always been adventurous and active, including skiing, golf, pickleball, weightlifting, long-distance cycling, hiking, kayaking, and T’ai Chi, so something physical appealed to me.
As luck would have it, my wife and I met the assistant ski patrol director and his girlfriend at our local bar, near where we lived in Waterville Valley. As I expressed my interest, he said enthusiastically, “You should come out for the patrol and meet our director,” never once mentioning my age (72 at the time). I’m now entering my sixth season, and it has become the adventure of a lifetime and pushed me beyond what I thought was possible.
It is hard not to fall prey to ageism in our society and even in ourselves. One of my good friends and skiing buddies, an age-group national gold medalist in GS, told me that things in the body start falling apart at age 75. I started to think that my seventies were not going to be my best decade. That my best skiing was behind me and the rest of my life was about loss and preparing for death. Boy, was I wrong!
Research shows that people do best when they push their comfort zone by 4%. Living with a positive and growth-oriented attitude makes every decade feel better than the last.
Receiving instruction to improve my skiing (and developing toboggan handling skills) from the training directors and hanging out with patrollers of all ages who believed in me has been exhilarating. It also keeps me feeling young, because I have a new peer group to keep up with.
Passing my medical training (a completely new skill for me) and receiving my white cross on my patrol jacket was one of the proudest days of my life, partly because conventional wisdom said there was no way I should be doing this. The other part was because I truly love every part of being a patroller and have no intention of quitting any time soon.
I’m the patroller on the right with the great big grin on my face.
Have there been physical and mental challenges? Of course. But true to my philosophy, I met them eagerly because I wasn’t ready to give up my adventures and joy. I had to work hard at my skiing, even though I thought I was already pretty good.
I had my fourth joint replacement in July and crushed my rehab so I could be skiing by mid-November. When I felt my balance and agility slipping, I doubled down on T’ai Chi and started seeing a personal trainer.
Stick to blue groomers in perfect condition? That may happen in the future, but for now, it’s “Hell No!” I’m having too much fun being the first one ripping down an ungroomed double black to see if it is safe to open to the public! I want to be the first one to respond to someone who has suffered trauma in a fall because I have worked hard to learn the skills to help them.
I’m not an exceptional athlete, but I believe that 50 years of honing a positive mental attitude has prepared me well to find this phase of life so exciting and rewarding. And it’s something we all can do.
My advice to everyone is to follow your joy and believe you can achieve your dreams and goals, whatever they may be. Don’t give in to the myths of ageism! Focus on what you (and your body) can do and not what you can’t! I guarantee you will surprise yourself!
If your joy is skiing, keep at it however you can and look me up on the slopes of Waterville Valley. I will be the guy with a huge smile on his face wearing a red jacket with a white cross.
