“Skiing is a battle against yourself, always to the frontiers of the impossible.” – Jean-Claude Killy
As a teenager I would come home from school in the winter, drop my backpack and throw on my winterwear. I’d head out back to the logging roads and cross-country ski until the sky darkened, pushing myself physically among the pine tree lined trails and leaving the stress of school and the other responsibilities behind for a while as I communed with nature and actively meditated to reset my body, mind, and soul.
My friends that downhill skied similarly pushed themselves, hurtling down hills and weaving among the gates to test their limits of speed and dexterity, on the edge of control where excellence is found in all fields. The ability to push to the frontier of our capability repeatedly is how we grow, whether it is muscles under tension that then build new mass or a mind grappling at the edge of its knowledge to build new neuropathways and understanding.
Go to the limit, because that is where the limits expand and we grow.