If we adopt a positive attitude in the face of challenges, we believe that our experience can be valuable and are prepared for contingencies. We learn from our mistakes by analyzing them, looking for a solution to avoid them in the future and, above all, do not blame ourselves, the terrain conditions or other people on the slope. Our great strength is motivation and the hope that the experience will leave us with something positive. Adopting this kind of mental attitude helps to inhibit our ‘inner opponent‘, that is, the antagonist that prevents us from being the protagonist of our own skiing.
We can promote positive attitudes to situations that we consider beneficial and negative attitudes if they are related to negative consequences. Anyone can maintain a positive attitude when conditions are optimal but only the skier with a balanced attitude maintains it even in unfavorable circumstances. In this case we know how to take advantage of imperfect terrain conditions while having an unfavorable attitude we waste the best options available to us.
A positive attitude broadens our vision of the situation, orienting it towards its solution or towards how to face it by taking advantage of our own resources, while a negative attitude channels it towards the problem. We may see the achievement and the complacency of going down a slope or, on the contrary, see the difficulty, the effort or the risk. Everything depends on our attitude when observing the situation, that is to say, on our own attitudinal perspective.
Our psychological constraints may generate negative attitudes
We observe how many restrictions we impose on ourselves to determine the external conditions during our skiing. We may adopt a negative attitude because the wind is blowing, it is snowing, it is foggy, there are moguls, ice, or because the slopes are congested. On the contrary, assuming a positive attitude towards daily situations helps in the acceptance that skiing in all conditions improves not only our technical level but also our self-confidence.
Another aspect that we notice on the slopes is the psychological influence generated by the interpretation of the color of the difficulty of each slope. A certain signaling automatically triggers the perception that tends to inhibit our current capabilities. It is a psychological self-imposition that restricts our own abilities. By paying too much attention to the colors of slope signs and relating them to their difficulty, we may suffer the psychological consequences on our performance.
Optimistic and pessimistic attitude
Before facing a challenging situation, we normally experience a state of nervousness and tension due to the importance of the scenario. We experience annoying physical reactions such as sweating, stomach tension, the ‘heart in our throat’ or difficulty in breathing. These bodily reactions apply, to a greater or lesser extent, to all of us facing novel or stressful situations. In itself, these reactions are relatively influential but our attitude towards these bodily reactions has a greater impact.
In this context, our attitude can be oriented towards an optimistic manifestation by developing an inner dialogue that emphasizes concrete affirmations such as remembering our previous good performance; or establishing a pessimistic attitude in which we mortify ourselves with thoughts of disapproval and condemnation. If we are inclined to this option, we only observe the circumstances but do nothing to modify them, therefore, we suffer them. We are not mastering our own skiing but we are at the mercy of the context and resign ourselves to it. We pay attention to what we feel (anxiety, fear) and not to the resolution of the situation.
It seems that the circumstances control our skiing, and we let ourselves be carried away by them as if we had no choice, indulging in conformism and incapacity. We are trapped thinking about the problem, assuming an attitude of resignation instead of finding the solution, showing hopelessness and believing that we will not be able to modify our reality. Moreover, the fear of making mistakes leads us to experience our errors with a sense of guilt and we do not take into account that we can improve. In these cases, any attitude modification is better than none.
The ideal attitude is to face our skiing with optimism but without losing the context of the reality of skiing, seeking centrality and avoiding the extremes of excessive optimism or permanent pessimism. It is important that, in adopting an optimistic attitude, we are aware of failures and frustrations we may suffer despite the effort to fully apply our skills.
According to psychobiology professor Donatella Spinelli, the attitudes of optimists and pessimists when faced with challenging situations can be identified as follows:
- The optimist accepts stressful circumstances and gives his best even in situations of increased pressure and learns from them. The pessimist avoids them and shows reduced awareness of the problems.
- The optimist concentrates on what he is doing. The pessimist focuses on the negative aspects of the experience he is going through.
- The optimist is oriented towards the search for the most appropriate solution for the context. The pessimist worries by generating repeated negative thoughts.
- The optimist effectively regulates his emotionality. The pessimist avoids problems by adopting attitudes such as showing tiredness or isolating himself from others.
- The optimist does not worry about physical symptoms (tiredness, headache) while the pessimist is abstracted by them.
- The optimist sets short-term goals. The pessimist believes that it will take a long time to get better.
- The optimist puts forward his reasons to the one who evaluates his own performance (instructor, coach). The pessimist lets himself be convinced and feels incompetent.
- The optimist interprets his own failures as not due to inability, insufficient commitment, or wrong strategic choice, i.e., to factors that can be modified over time. The pessimist attributes them to his own inability.
- The optimist adopts an attitude of acceptance of situations that cannot be changed. The pessimist seeks to avoid them.
The attitude of the beginner skier
Initial experiences, positive or negative, shape attitudes towards skiing as do people who influence participation in this activity. A beginner’s attitude toward skiing may depend on how fast he learns and how much fun he has.
According to a study by Cigrovski et al, the beginner, before starting to ski, is prone to adopt a neutral or slightly negative attitude. This is formed by references from other people, adverse weather, the cost of going to a ski resort, the fear of injury, or from the misconception he has about ascending a ski lift. This study concludes that, after the skiing practice, participants tend to experience greater self-confidence and enjoy the activity wishing to repeat it in the future.
After all that has been said about our attitudes towards learning skiing, we can conclude the following:
- We have a propensity to judge the space where we move by evaluating its characteristics and respond by assuming certain attitudes.
- Attitudes are related to evaluative judgments regarding whether the situations we face are positive or negative.
- We tend to adopt an attitude accordingly, moving towards what we find pleasant and away from what we consider unpleasant.
- Our attitudes collaborate in orienting our attention and thoughts to gain knowledge and exercise some control over the context.
- The greater our self-confidence, the greater the strength of our attitude (strong attitude) that will influence our skiing behavior. Conversely, lower confidence will decrease the strength of our attitude (weak attitude).
- Attitudes can be modified by learning from individual experiences or by observing other people.
- Believing in the existence of factors that can be controlled is a positive attitude but blaming bad luck is a negative attitude.
