If you ski, chances are it's something you've been doing since you were a little kid--people like to teach young children how to ski, because they haven't yet developed a sense of fear and will gladly slap on some goggles and "pizza" their way down an icy double diamond. So, here are some things that you, like me, may have picked up along the way as you journeyed from "pizza" to "french fry".

1. Your family will pick you up off the side of the mountain, and then push you down the rest of it.

They have been there since day one. They were the ones holding the ski straps a.k.a kid leashes for "easy lifting on the lifts" and straight-up making sure you didn't just ski straight down the whole mountain. They brought you into this world (of skiing, and in general) and they're gonna make sure you succeed in it.

2. A good night's sleep is essential.

This is something real life should've taught you, but instead, it was what you realized when your mom dragged you out of bed at 6:00 AM to get to ski school on time. If you snooze, you lose all the fresh snow and the short lift lines. Apparently mornings are a great time to be productive!

3. Not all trails are labelled equally.

A black diamond on the gentle, rolling mountains of Pennsylvania looks pathetic in comparison to the sheer drops you'll find on a black diamond in Vermont--and that's just on the East Coast. When you feel like a big fish in some places, it can be a reality check to see it's just the small pond that's got you feeling that way. But you don't let it get you down- you enjoy those bigger mountains and challenges for what they are.

4. Lean into your turns/ learn to give in to change.

Don't sit back in your boots as you veer across the slopes or you'll end up falling. The same goes for accepting change in life. If you resist it, you end up creating more work for yourself, or worse, wiping out.

5. But wiping out isn't the end of the world.

Everyone does it at least once past the point where you think you will, and it's not always your fault. Sometimes it's easy to blame your mistakes on conditions, on slow skiers, on unruly snowboarders, or even on your equipment. But sometimes the fault is yours, and you've just gotta accept it.

6. It may feel like snowboarders are out to get you.

Snowboarders are not out to get you. In fact, sometimes the people we loathe the most are actually there to push us to be better, to show us a new perspective, or even to be our friends. You learn to accept that they aren't scraping off all the fresh powder on purpose, and you know you're just secretly jealous that they can easily sit on the top of a hill and chill. It's okay.

7. It's cool to have fun!

It is so cool. There was probably a time where you thought you were "above" skiing, and maybe you wanted to pick up a snowboard or a sled and just call it quits to the whole skiing thing. But deep down, you knew you'd always love it, no matter how nerdy you thought you looked with your bent ski poles and your puffy jacket. You just forget about all that, and focus on the fun.

8. You know when you deserve to relax and be rewarded.

When it's been a super long day on the mountain, you don't feel the least bit guilty about dozing off next to the public fireplace in the lodge with a giant mug of cocoa in front of you. That's because you've learned when it's time to go inside and let yourself unwind, and keeping the balance between pushing yourself further and curling up in a blanket for the night is one you've perfected.

9. The cold will only get to you if you let it.

If you let all the little things in life--like cold noses and fingers, numbing toes, and foggy goggles actually keep you from enjoying your time here (on the mountain or the planet) then you'll be seriously missing out. Shake out some hand warmers, put on another fleece, and refuse to let the cold or any other pesky weather condition slow you down.

10. Don't forget where you started.

We all began at the bunny hill, maneuvering the "magic carpet", the tow bar, and the difference between a pizza and a frenchfry. Even though you consider yourself hot stuff now, you know to stay humble, especially when you see someone coming out to learn as an adult. Yes, it's funny to see a grown man pizza-wedging down a green circle. But that was you not so long ago, so pipe down and pick up that pole he dropped.

11. Onwards and downwards!

This is perhaps the most basic lesson of them all, but the most important one. Even as a tot on the bunny hill, you were told there's only one way to get to the bottom of the trail--ski it. Believing that you will tackle anything life throws at you, simply because you must, is something we learned the first time we were midway down a trail that was harder than we anticipated. You keep going, you keep skiing, and you keep trying.