Snowboarding in Big Bear (Video!)

I spent this past weekend in Big Bear, CA with a great group of friends to celebrate my birthday and get in a little snowboard action.  As this was only my 5th or 6th time actually snowboarding, I was faced with the challenge of pushing myself to finally learn how to ride toe edge once and for all.  For those of you who don’t know what that means, let me sum it up by saying it’ s completely intimidating and has been the most difficult maneuver to master thus far, at least for me.

Getting better at something that commands repetition and exerting so much physical AND mental strength seems daunting, if not impossible when faced with such a situation.  Multiply that by high speeds, slippery slopes and painful trial and error.  It’s a learning curve that is procured the hard way but is incredibly rewarding when you begin to see the results of your effort.  By the end of our second and final day snowboarding, I made a conscious decision to not be afraid of toe edge.  I knew I wouldn’t be happy with myself if I left this trip go by without passing another milestone in my quest to master the board.  Playing sports all my life undoubtably attributes to my ambitious nature.  I believe sports creates a healthy, competitive environment and pushes you to your limits in order to succeed.  The feeling of accomplishment is an incomparable high that keeps me motivated to try even harder on the next go.  Sure enough, once I let go of fear and trusted my instincts, I was gliding down the slope with not only ease but an overwhelming amount of confidence.

The reason I’m sharing this story is not to bore you with my novice snowboarding achievements but to share my mini epiphany.  As I sat in the hot tub and grimaced with sore muscles and weary bones, I thought some more about what challenges me.  We all have goals set for ourselves, some are more complicated tasks than others but ultimately we should be working towards a bigger picture each and every day.  Often times we put imaginary limitations on our desires because the fear of failing clouds our rational thinking to a point where it feels more safe to not do anything at all.  Some people may describe that feeling as anxiety.  We’re all guilty of experiencing it once in a while but the goal, if you dare take it on, is to confront it instead of letting it get the best of you.  Once you challenge it, there must be an outcome and, at the very least, it comes with a sense of pride for having the capability to address your insecurities.  It means you are willing to take steps to improve yourself, your life and become someone who has the ability to evolve into an all around better person.

With all these realizations occurring in my mind, I was forced to confront my own inadequacies.  I have told myself for some time now, perhaps years, that I would create an outlet to share my world with others through pictures, videos and writing.  I finally began that journey in late August 2014 by starting this very blog and it’s been the most gratifying experience, career-wise, that I’ve ever felt.  Not that starting a travel and lifestyle blog is a very risky thing, but putting your personal images, thoughts and feelings up for criticism by the whole world, bi-weekly, can make one apprehensive.  Now that I have successfully created and nurtured DeziStyle.com to where it is, the time has come to do what I set out to do a long time ago; share my videos with you.  But since I know myself well enough to know it’s better to set ongoing goals, I am hereby daring myself to a 30 day video challenge!

For the next month, I will be adding a video clip to my YouTube channel each day (or at least try my best to).  Long or short, funny or not, raw or edited to perfection, I will share a piece of my life with you all, whatever it may be.  And, if you’re feeling inspired or would like to join me on this challenge, tag me!  I’d love to do it together!

Since my revelation came to me in the form of snowboarding, it’s only appropriate that it be the first video to start the challenge.  Here’s to taking risks, following through and evolution!

**UPDATE!  Since this post was created, I have joined the social media platform, Snapchat (username: DeziStyle).  For those very few who don’t know about this new sharing app, it’s basically a medium for anyone to instantly share picture and/or video content with fans.  The catch: it disappears the moment it has been viewed or at maximum, 24 hours, depending on the sender’s preference.  This is where I have found that it’s easier for me to share myself, my thoughts and adventures in a raw, organic, in the moment approach.  However, I am not giving up on YouTube so be sure to subscribe and stay tuned for upcoming videos! =)

[videos file=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Fcvhc2r4I” width=”535″ height=”301″][/videos]