Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude

For ten years, I lived a few blocks from the base of Palisades, and my springtime was a gentle comedown. The snow slowly melted, and biking gradually replaced skiing as the snow shrank and trails melted out. It was a gradual wean off winter.

Now, living at a whopping 1168 feet in Central Washington and chasing snow until the end of April for my job, my springtime has become a whiplashing series of abrupt transitions.

The past two months I’ve been from Alaska for filming to spring break in Mexico with the family (we had a friend’s condo to stay at, and got tickets with miles, too good to pass up!), back to Alaska to help guide a trip, then back home to t-shirt weather. I went literally overnight from long days in ski boots skinning up mountains to valley bottom life, logging hours of computer time, volunteering on a class field trip, and trying to gently remind my body how to go jogging. The weather is lovely, everything is green, but my mind still glitches back to snow, weather, and motivation to be skiing.

It’s disorienting to say the least, but I’ve learned a few things over the years that help me smooth the mental transitions of this dichotomous season.

First, keeping a semblance of a routine helps me a ton. Simple things like eating vegetables on travel days, sticking to my boring one cup of coffee per day rule even on late travel nights, and making sure to prioritize my nightly stretch/PT wind-down sequence keep me sane and grounded when things get hectic.

This probably goes without saying, but I make sure I have the necessary items to keep me comfortable, like my foam roller, instant coffee packets (or these fantastic coffee teabags!), good snacks, and good books loaded onto my kindle. A good playlist and good podcasts all loaded up can help with this too.

The hardest part for me—and the thing that makes the most difference—when managing the polar opposites of work travel and home life is staying present in the moment.

I’ve spent a lot of time on ski trips mooning about missing my family, and conversely, a lot of time at home with the drumbeat of “mom! mom! mom!” in the background while thinking about skiing and work, neither of which is a productive scenario. Giving myself permission to really BE on a trip while I’m there and focus on work, safety, and being a team member makes it a lot less stressful and a lot more enjoyable. That doesn’t mean I’m not missing my family; it just means I’m not trying to guilt myself about being gone. When I come home, I try to batch my computer work and get it all done before the kids get home. I try to post about the trip and do any social media work while I’m traveling, then delete the apps from my phone before I return. And I leave my bags packed—playing Uno with the family is always more important than unpacking.

It’s a constant process of readjustment in the springtime, and it’s part of what makes spring so exciting and new, each and every year. I hope you’re having a smooth spring changeover wherever you are!

A few links I liked this week:

A kid-friendly recipe that our 9 year-old made this week, lemon jello with honey. She added lavender flowers. It definitely needed more honey, but was a fun project!

Better batteries have long been the EV industry’s weak spot. Could that be changing soon?

An interesting podcast about motherhood, and how the idea of a maternal instinct might just be an idea, from NPR.

Thanks for reading along!

Ingrid