A life lesson which made me aware of self-awareness

A few years ago when I was quite new in Switzerland I got hooked on snowboarding again. I got so obsessed with it that I started to go every weekend without any planning. I woke up, checked the forecast and I was good to go in half an hour to some tracks an hour away. After a few occasions I got so self-confident that I started to ignore the clear no-go signs of the weather forecast, telling myself that I can deal with it. This is how I ended up in a snowstorm.

It started as a heavy snowfall, with no wind at all. When the wind is not blowing, the snowflakes grow into big white balls like the ones you can see in cartoons. Two things are very spectacular about these kind of snowfalls, the silence and the infinite whiteness. The snowflakes in the air absorb every noise and voice, the fresh snow on the ground deadens every jump, step and slide. Visibility is reduced to one or two meters, if you have glasses on, then it becomes nearly impossible to see anything. The infinite whiteness embraced me like an invisible bed sheet, shutting down all senses I normally rely on. I had only one input, the steepness of the mountain, so at least I knew which way is supposed to be “down”, but how this will help me? Not having any choices (except turning back which was more unacceptable than risking myself), I decided to just slide down and figure out the rest on the move.

After a few meters of panic I started to notice some things which I was never conscious about. Under the fresh layers of snow I started to feel…