In situations like these…

I went skiing this week.

Some of my fondest memories, laughing-til-I-cried moments, heartbreaking situations, and terrifying times have come from skiing. It’s intense.

Last spring break, Brian and I went with our family to Utah for a ski vacation. There were six of us skiing this particular day. We split up into two groups of three, and waited at the bottom of the Orange Bubble lift. I was set to ride with Brian and my oldest daughter.

We moved up to the designated line, and looked backward for the upcoming chair. To all of our surprise, Norah (another daughter who was riding in the next group) was already sitting in the chair! Brian immediately told her to scoot over since she was positioned right where he was about to sit.

“Norah, scoot over! MOVE!”

(If you have never skiied, you don’t realize how quickly that chair comes.)

In a split second, the chair was right behind us and Brian’s skis were intertwined with Norah’s skis. He desperately tried to move her over, but with their legs and skis tangled, her torso stayed put. Brian stepped (fell? 😂 forward and in front of the chair). Samantha (my oldest) reached forward and tried to heft Brian up onto her lap, to no avail. At this point, the lift operator stopped the lift and walked over. Brian and Norah had both fallen off the chair, leaving Samantha and me. I sat in a state of disbelief at our ridiculous display. The operator looked us over, and said,

“In times like these, it’s usually best to take off your skis and get on a new chair.”

The lift started again, and the laughter that had been bubbling up in Samantha and me spilled out. We laughed and laughed until we cried. We cackled and howled. I looked back and could see Brian and Norah, but they weren’t laughing. Their somber faces made us laugh even harder. Still, to this day, I cannot tell this story without some serious belly laughing. A year later, even Brian laughs with me.

I wish someone had the whole thing on video. 😂😂

It was hilarious.

But the best part? The thing that stays with me and that I think of often? The words that the lift operator said to us:

“In times like these, it’s usually best to take off your skis and get on a new chair.”

Sometimes, there is a small problem in our life, and we try to do a little tweak here (move over, Norah) or a little fix there (Brian trying to move her while their legs were tangled). We can see that the problem is getting a bit worse, so we try a half-hearted solution (samantha trying to deadlift her dad onto the chair). It shouldn’t come as a surprise when our little efforts to fix a now-big problem fail. What we really need to do is take off our skis and try again. Start fresh. Try a new chair.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it?

I think it can be.

Surprises and problems are a part of life—everyone’s life. No one is immune. Knowing this truth, you don’t have to panic like we did when something unexpected was coming (Norah🤣). Stay calm. The best solutions usually are not immediate, knee-jerk responses. Trust me on this one. The entertainment value on the Orange Bubble lift was high, but the effectiveness was zero.

We had to take off our skis and try a new chair.

Maybe you should try it, too.