Replying to Life After Skiing

Not sure if this is the appropriate forum category for this but here it goes…

This past year was one of the most challenging years of my life. At the beginning of last ski season I tore my ACL, MCL, and lateral meniscus in one of the stupidest falls of my life. For the first time since I was three years old I didn’t get to ski, living in a ski town and working for the ski resort made it even harder having to be around it and keep the stoke and morale high amongst my staff.

My surgery was a success and rehab was going well, but then life threw me yet another curveball. Back in August I got fired and absolutely railroaded from my full time year round job with Telluride Ski Resort for the stupidest corporate bullshit. I got the rug completely pulled from underneath me as I lost my job, housing, and all my benefits that came with my occupation. These past few months were pretty stressful but fortunately I found a new place to live (not an easy task in Telluride) and have a new job working as a delivery rental tech that sounds pretty lucrative with the gratuities that are offered.

My knee is feeling better and I’m getting excited to get back on snow soon, but with everything that’s transpired in the past year I’ve been contemplating life a lot and thinking about life outside the ski world. I always used to joke that once I’ve blown both my knees out I would retire (not truly) but lately I’ve been asking myself if I should go back to school, go travel for a bit, where else I’d like to live, and what I would want to pursue professionally.

I’ve been skiing since I was 3 and for the past 13 years or so have been pursuing it whole heartedly once my days of playing organized team sports were over. It’s been a great ride and I’ve pushed myself to a level I never thought I’d reach. Since moving to Telluride seven years ago I’ve experienced some of my highest of highs and lowest of lows. I love the life I’ve created for myself here but living in a place like this is becoming more and more challenging. Our ski resort as a company is going to shit, housing is becoming more and more complicated, expensive, and harder to find. There aren’t really any legitimate long term career opportunities here as we are mostly a seasonal town, the dating scene here sucks, and the amount of drug and alcohol abuse I’ve been exposed to and admittedly have been caught up in has had me becoming more sober curious.

I’m writing this because I was wondering if anyone else here has found themselves in a similar situation and how they went about navigating it. I love skiing and will always be a skier at heart, but life is short and it’s such a big world out there with so much I want to explore and experience that I feel like I’d be doing myself a disservice if I get caught up living in the ski world forever. Ultimately I know I need to follow my heart and go with my gut, but if anyone reading this is willing to offer some advice I’m all ears.

Here’s to a happier, healthier, and deeper winter than the last one, much love to all 🙏