Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Caution, this story is linked to sharpening the saw more than it is about a direct leadership application.

On our annual trek to Yellowstone, the boys and I encountered adversity and tested our resilience. How bad do we want to have fun? What does it take to relax? It can’t be that hard, can it?

History: We used to own our snowmobiles and there was a time when we’d prepare them for mountain riding, haul them 850 miles and ride for a few days. Riddled with issues and the economics, we sold our sleds but love to ride so now we burn sky miles on a few flights, cash in rental car rewards, this year even used time share points for a more comfortable stay.

We’ve used a local shop to rent from for at least five years and came to enjoy the familiarity of people, predictability of the equipment and overall experience…that all changed this year. We walked in the first day and were told by the customer service rep we “weren’t expected until tomorrow”. Huh. They couldn’t accommodate our entire equipment request but made an effort. We were forced to find a third sled at a different establishment. Uncomfortable, time consuming, but at least we can ride.

New model snowmobiles are pretty equal between brands in most regards. When we owned them, I adopted the notion that nothing should remain stock. We put on high performance stuff that took time, broke the bank and stretched my smile from ear to ear.

Due to the scheduling mishap, we were introduced to a new vendor who happened to be renting an after market, turbo-charged model cranking out 200 horsepower! For those of you who don’t ride, that’s more than most compact cars produce today. It screamed like our old, not-so-stock sleds and climbed places I never dared approach before.

Pause: If I have learned anything in the last few years, it is that all social events, family trips, golf outings, huntings trips, etc. are about the experiences you have with the people you are with and the ones you share it with, not simply the joy that is derived from said event.

In this day and age, capturing those events is easier than ever. Strap on your Go-Pro or whip out your cell phone and you can relive the moments and share extensively.

Epitome: High stress requires a number of stress busting activities to keep mind, body and soul in tact. For my personality type, I work hard so I play hard. I enjoy snowmobiling because using the throttle aggressively gets you out of more trouble than it causes-usually- and in the mountains it tests your confidence in yourself, your riding abilities and the equipment you ride. Pulling this all together, my personality on a 200 HP mountain sled looks like this.

Unless it is perfectly sunny, contours covered in snow are hard to distinguish and “if you ain’t getting stuck, you ain’t trying hard enough”. I launched this sled to a point where it landed ok but I had to climb back on to see if I could ride it out. The snow was deep and if I couldn’t move forward, we would have to dig it out and turn it around and pull it through the small rivine I just traversed. Not fun. Instead, with a handful of confidence and a little extra wiggle, we got out with minimal back strain.
You can tell by the audio, my youngest was elated we didn’t have to pull it backwards and he probably didn’t think I’d get out on my own.

My takeaways:
I could have easily spoiled our time away together by pissing and moaning about the scheduling miscommunication with the trusted vendor. (As luck would have it, they even gave us 750 more reasons to be frustrated with their rental policies).

Instead, we talked it through, made better choices and learned of a new alternative to enjoy a not-so-stock riding experience.

We came to create and capture life experiences. To let our guard down, laugh a little and marvel at God’s handy work.

We leave satisfied.

Have a blessed weekend!