I am blessed to be able to say that I spent years of my life teaching sailing out on the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean as well as in Lake Michigan and in many other smaller inland lakes; and if quantity of days is a part of how rich a blessing becomes, then I am even more blessed to have been able to teach snowboarding for more than twice as long as I've been teaching sailing, and my own experience with snowboarding and skiing is way far more advanced through personal progress than that of my sailing expertise, but I can say with expert proficiency the right way for things to happen, for the right things to happen in these sports, because I have spent years of my life, entire seasons day in, day out, devoted to disciplining myself to being a great teacher for all ranges of skill, and especially for beginners to the sports of sailing, snowboarding, and skiing.
There are some lessons in life that seem universal in life. Many of the places where I learned lessons like these were when I would be out on the water, whether I mean the water as in the frozen water we call snow, or the liquidy water we call water, or when I would be thinking in my mind later, writing down notes and making cards and principles to better myself in these sports, and to share the bare, basic, helpful principles that would be buildable upon other principles that I also shared with my students. So, in every lesson that I learned, it went towards making lessons and principles into relatable words for people to understand; and also, every lesson and principle that I worked to help make relatable, I also became more entrenched in understanding it, and I cannot overstate how emphatically awesomely grateful I am to have had so many years to be able to teach these sports to so many young people and old people and everyone in between, for so many years, and to have been able to share in the lessons learned and the experiences had.
Some of these principles, I would wish could be applied and understood and highlighted in every facet of life, but alas, they are not all easily discernable in every endeavour, but if you look closely in any given situation, you might find slivers of these nuggets of wisdom show up in how you ascertain what is important, and what is the goal, and what is the observation, and what is the adjustment needed, and how much is time and speed a factor, and how can I be safe and have fun at the same time?
There are some things which all beginners have in common, when approaching individual-style sports like snowsports or sailing as a beginner. Every decision, every indecision, every action and reaction that you have goes into the overall result, and there are immediate consequences to everything. There is no such thing as arguing a tree to tell it to be less painful after having crashed into it. There is inherent risk, and there are inherent levels of awarenesses and abilities which are required in every student. This is true in most situations in life that are real and apparent.
In snowboarding and skiing, a lot of the same principles cross over, so that if you're good at one already, it makes learning the other one a little easier. One shared principle is the principle of being prepared with your "flexion and extension" in your body. Flexion is how "flexed" your arms, legs, or abdomen are, and extension is how "extended" they are. So, if you were completely extended, with your arms, legs, and abdomen, you would have your legs straight, your body straight, and your arms straight out. If you were completely flexed, you would look like you are crouching or huddling.
If you're about to launch off of a jump, you want to flex a little, and as you leave the lip of the jump in most situations, you extend your legs and push off the ground. After coming down from the air, to land, you generally want to extend yourself, and then as your board or skis meet the ground, you absorb the impact by flexing your legs and body, crouching down to shed the energy.
When you're about to make a hard turn, it's usually better to flex going into the turn, and extend coming out of the turn, to keep your balance and preserve your momentum.
Flexing and extending at the right time is important.
If you are merely cruising down the hill and you suddenly hit an unexpected feature that causes you to have to adjust your body posture, it's better to be somewhere in the middle of your position, than to be already fully flexed or fully extended, so that you can adjust your posture as you need to. For example, if you're standing straight up, or crouched all the way down, and you're going fast down the hill, and you hit a bump that you didn't see until the last second, you'll probably be thrown off balance, but if you are somewhat crouched, but not all the way, so that you're comfortably in the middle, you have room to wobble and adjust your posture when you hit that unexpected bump, and then recover back to your normal mid-crouch position.
This principle is found in several places in sailing as well. If you're on a tack and the boat is leaning hard and your sail is already all the way out, you don't have any more line to release if a huge gust of wind comes, so you'll either have to hold the line and accept however the boat responds to the increased wind, or let the sails out and take the risks of the unknown. Instead, it is usually better to not let your sails all the way out or hold them too far in, so that in a situation where you need to make a sudden adjustment, you have some room to do so.
In life in general, this principle of moderation is a wise pattern to follow. Especially when you are new at something. If you are driving a car, it's best to leave some extra room between yourself and the car in front of you. If you are singing a song to people whom you want them to understand you, it's best to sing at a reasonable tone, rather than with your loudest voice, or in a whisper. When you are eating something sweet, it's better to enjoy it a little, than to eat a lot of it, and end up not enjoying the consequences.
In trading cryptocurrencies, there is room for moderation on a personal level, to ensure peace of mind when you are trading. Instead of having all of your money in the same exchange in the same coin, there is some wisdom to keeping some of your capital in various places, like in cold storage, and if you're trading on the exchanges, you may want to consider trading on multiple exchanges, so that if one goes down suddenly, you still have access to your capital in the others, and also it's good to be aware of other exchanges that might offer similar perks and fees, in the event that you want to leave your current exchange(s) and migrate to another.
This principle of not over-extending yourself, and not over-concentrating or over-contracting yourself is a wise one in itself, in most situations where you have an influence over the "amount" of something. This principle is a principle of preparation. The more forethought you put into something, the more prepared you can be for it. It is possible to spend too much time in preparation mode, but, in most situations, people do not make this error, and instead people make the error of not having prepared adequately, and then they find that they are having to shimmy and shuffle in the midst of some operation, to hold things together, or their operation may fall completely apart.
When you are more prepared, you don't have to stress yourself nearly as often or as dramatically, and you can rest easy. If you are usually not prepared for things, or you are always running late, or always feel like you are running out of time, or always feel like you are rushing from one thing to another, then you are running yourself ragged, and you'll suffer the consequences of it, which are many. Fatigue and stress can destroy a person who is not getting rest. It is better to be ready, than to be caught unprepared.
When you are prepared, and you know that you are prepared, there is a rest in this simple fact itself which is afforded to those who would accept it. If you have dinner guests scheduled to arrive on Thursday night, and you wait until Thursday night to think about that dinner, and when you look in your cabinets and your fridge you find that there is not enough food, you would have to scramble to get something prepared; but someone who looks ahead and sees what is needed, and sees that there is a feast to prepare, this person will think through and decide what is needed beforehand, and they will be ready when their guests arrive, and they won't have to have the stress of scrambling around trying to find what they need to have the meal ready.
When you are prepared for emergency things and unexpected situations, your posture will be one that is not too overly-stressed, because you'll have what is needed at the right time. For someone who does not think at all about where to get water, where to find shelter, where to go, who to account for, how to communicate, or how to keep safe, this person will have to rely on others when the systems of the world break down.
The person who knows how to find, collect, purify, and store water will be able to survive and help and teach others how to survive when access to centralized water supplies is cut off, or when our society is returned back to primitive technology days due to war or sabotage or natural events.
The person who has some savings built up, and is not living paycheck to paycheck is able to be prepared for unexpected things in ways that the person who has no savings is not able to.
There is an eternity to be prepared for, spoken of by our Creator in His Word. There is a name which is above all other names, and that name is Jesus Christ, and the Bible says that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The way to prepare for this day is to believe in Him now, and love others with the same love that He has shown you.
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Matthew 25.31-46
