Dear Richard,
I am in my late 60s and generally in good health. For years we have booked a ski chalet in the February half term for my husband and me, our children and grandchildren. It’s a very happy time and I have always looked forward to it.
Unfortunately, last year and the year before we were either unwilling or unable to go. We deferred our booking and if it’s permitted we intend to go again this year. Only for the first time ever, having skied enthusiastically since I was a child, I am feeling deeply apprehensive about the skiing part. We don’t have good dry slopes to practise on where we are, so a “refresher” course isn’t really practicable; the resort we go to has a “nursery” slope, but even that has me feeling nervous.
I have spoken about it to my family, who insist it’ll only take me an hour to feel confident again, but I am reluctant to spoil their long-awaited holiday by asking them to babysit me on the nursery slopes for even a short time – and I don’t want to be away from them for perhaps two out of six full days, with no guarantee I’d regain my “ski legs” even then. I am considering just staying at home, but fear this problem will only get trickier in future. What do you think?
– Rosalind, via email
Dear Rosalind,
Hmm. This is all a bit puzzling, if I’m honest. You’ve been skiing since childhood – over half a century of slicing through the snow, by my reckoning – so why would a brief interregnum of a mere two years suddenly deprive you of what must by now be a set of innate, ingrained skills? You say your general health and fitness is fine, so that’s not the issue. Is it purely your age that’s beginning to bother you? If so, why? Lots of people ski well into their 70s and 80s.
I suspect you’re suffering from a wider crisis of confidence and that’s what needs to be addressed. Why do you think you’ve suddenly lost your skiing mojo? You don’t offer me anything to go on in your letter, but I feel the problem has little or nothing to do with skiing itself. Perhaps two years of lockdowns, restrictions and scary health protocols have worn you down and left you anxious and possibly depressed, as they have so many others.
You should think about this and perhaps talk to someone – a therapist, for example, who could help you with some insight into these recent and seemingly inexplicable doubts and fears.
But to answer your direct practical question – should you go on this family skiing holiday? My answer is unequivocal. Yes, if you possibly can, you should. And don’t feel guilty about leaning on your loved ones for support. That’s what families are for, Rosalind! I’m sure they’re sincere in their offers of help and encouragement on the nursery slopes. Don’t let anyone rush you, but I’m certain that they’re right: once you’ve got your skis back on and are slaloming through the snow like you have done hundreds of times before, you’ll wonder what you were worrying about.
And if I’m wrong, well, there’s always the beauty of the sparkling slopes, the heady, crisp mountain air, and the joys of being with family. Not to mention the après-ski. Did I mention the après-ski? Raise a glühwein to me, Rosalind!
