Fall On Your Butt

I watched a video on YouTube recently titled "He Spent 40 Years Alone in the Woods, and Now Scientists Love Him | Short Film Showcase" by National Geographic (click the title if you want to watch it yourself).  As the title suggests, a man has lived in the woods alone for 40 years, during which he records and catalogs information about the snow.  Because he lives out in the middle of nowhere Colorado, he skis into the nearest town to get supplies.  There is a line at the end referring to the process of learning to ski that struck me.  He says, "Actually, learning to fall is probably the most important thing.  If you're gonna fall, sit.  It's a lot easier falling on your butt than on your face."

It's not hard to figure out where this is going tonight.  Here are few of my thoughts about falling.  (And just know, I'm using falling to mean failing too.)
  1. We have to be skiing to even be able to fall.  If we are not, we will not fall but we won't ski either.  We have to take the risk, knowing we may fall.
  2. I am betting most of us do not ease into a sit-on-our-butt the first time we fall (unless you happen to be amazingly coordinated).  There is some level of skill required.  We have to learn how to soften the blow as it's occurring, how to position ourselves for less damage.  We have to learn how to sit.
  3. In order to fall on our butt, there is also some level of experience required.  We have to know what turns, bumps, snow types, etc. will cause us to fall.  In order to do that, we had to have a lot of previous falls.  Only experience and time will help us anticipate the fall.
  4. We cannot account for every obstacle we might experience on the ski run.  And to do so would leave us exhausted.  Not every fall can be anticipated.  Some falls will be unexpected.  
  5. Once we've hit the ground and stopped falling, we have two choices.  We can either stay down or we can get back up.  
  6. We have to be willing to put in the effort of standing again.  Once we've stood, we have to be willing to risk falling again.  Getting back up takes work and more risk.
Falling will happen.  There's no doubt about that.  But our anticipation and response to it can help ease the blow.  So keep skiing and learn to fall on your butt, not your face!

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