From Almost Cancelling to Booking Another Ski Holiday
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From Almost Cancelling to Booking Another Ski Holiday ⁓
“I realised I did have skills, but my anxiety was taking over.”
Her anxiety had reached the point where she almost cancelled her next holiday altogether.
Yet when skiing worked, she loved it. Lynnette didn’t want to give up, she wanted to understand why fear and self-doubt kept taking over.
After three focused mindset-coaching sessions, her next holiday felt completely different.
Not only did Lynnette ski, she ate breakfast, smiled on her way to the lift and enjoyed her holiday from beginning to end.
She has since booked another one.
When more skiing wasn’t creating more confidence
Interestingly, hypnotherapy had already helped Lynnette overcome her fear of heights. She could now look around comfortably from a chairlift. But when it came to the skiing itself, the lack of trust remained.
Lynnette’s difficulty wasn’t a lack of desire or willingness to learn. She had taken lessons and had skiing experience, but she didn’t trust herself to use the skills she had developed.
She worried that her legs wouldn’t make the turns properly. As soon as she picked up a little speed, she feared she wouldn’t be able to control herself. That fear quickly escalated into thoughts of falling and being unable to get back up.
Before long, Lynnette wasn’t only responding to what was happening on the mountain. She was imagining everything that might go wrong.
As she explained:
“I’ve had several ski holidays and felt like every time I went, my skiing got worse instead of better. I was getting more and more anxious, to the point I almost cancelled my holiday. And yet, when skiing worked, I loved it!”
Recognising what was really happening
During our coaching sessions, Lynnette and I talked through what made her anxious, how that anxiety felt and the experiences that had influenced her confidence.
This helped her recognise something important: she did have skiing skills, but her anxiety was preventing her from trusting and accessing them.
“I realised I did have skills, but my anxiety was taking over. I was catastrophising, imagining the worst that could happen.”
Together, we worked on interrupting that pattern, remembering the skiing successes her anxious mind had been overlooking and developing ways for her to respond differently when fear appeared.
Lynnette also took a personalised hypnosis recording with her to reinforce the work we had done and help her approach the holiday feeling calmer and more prepared.
A very different first day
The change was apparent before Lynnette had even started skiing.
“It was a revelation. I could eat breakfast.”
When her instructor sent the group towards a ski lift on the first day, Lynnette noticed that she was smiling.
Previously, her mind would become crowded with so many pieces of instruction that she couldn’t work out what to do next. This time, she wasn’t focusing on everything that could go wrong.
She slowed her breathing, listened to her instructor and allowed herself to ski.
“I breathed slowly, and just listened to the instructor and… I skied! I enjoyed it. I did turns. I didn’t fall over.”
She skied a green run independently and repeated a blue run feeling steady and controlled.
One of Lynnette’s fellow skiers even told her that she enjoyed following behind because it was like watching a YouTube video.
The difference her instructor witnessed
Terry Jeynes had first met Lynnette on a ski course several months earlier. When he saw her again after her holiday, the difference wasn’t only evident in the runs she had skied, it was visible in Lynnette herself.
“I was honestly amazed when I first saw Lynnette. She was smiling and chatting away, nothing like the Lynnette I had met on a day course back in February. She even told me how much she enjoyed her skiing holiday and skiing runs with so much more confidence.”
Terry Jeynes, Ski Instructor
Terry later described the change as “staggering.”
His perspective matters because confidence isn’t simply something a skier reports feeling internally. It can change how they listen, respond, move and engage with both their instructor and the mountain.
Technique and mindset working together
Lynnette’s story isn’t about mindset coaching replacing ski instruction.
Her instructor was there to support her technical skiing. The mindset work helped Lynnette calm the anxiety, reduce the mental noise and trust herself enough to listen and respond to that instruction.
Knowing what to do and feeling able to do it are not always the same thing.
When fear takes over, even a capable skier can struggle to access familiar movements or take in technical guidance. Addressing the thoughts, emotions and physical responses beneath that fear can create the space for instruction to start making sense again.
Mindset coaching doesn’t replace great ski instruction. It can help skiers get much more from it.
Client testimonial
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Client testimonial 〰️
“For the first time ever,
I enjoyed my skiing holiday from start to finish.”
For Lynnette, success wasn’t about suddenly becoming the most technically accomplished skier on the mountain.
It was being able to eat breakfast. Smiling as she approached the lift. Listening to her instructor without becoming overwhelmed. Making turns, staying on her feet and experiencing the pleasure that anxiety had previously overshadowed.
Most importantly, it was enjoying an entire skiing holiday rather than enduring it.
“Thank you, Kate. For the first time ever, I enjoyed my skiing holiday from start to finish. So much so that I’ve booked another one.”
Do you have skiing skills, but struggle to trust them?
Perhaps you can ski, but your mind immediately jumps to what might go wrong. You may feel overwhelmed by instruction, frightened when you gather speed or unable to trust your body to make the movements you know you have practised.
You may not need to start again.
Mindset coaching can help you understand what is driving the fear, feel calmer when anxiety appears and begin rebuilding trust in yourself and your skiing.