I was sitting at the top of the ski hill watching the racers go down the hill and their teammates chanting their names as they take off, also watching my team converse with each other about the standings of the race, but not for me. I was bundled up in 2 coats, being "non-social" with my headphones in trying to hide the fact that i was nervous. It was January 8th the day we got back to the jail we call school from our winter break, but most importantly it was the day of my first ever ski race. I had joined the ski team that year out of pure curiosity and the nagging of my friends and to be honest i was scared to race. What if my skis fell off? What if i fell? i would look like a real fool and i would never want to race ever again and the season would be ruined. My number was quickly coming up as the radio tower called kids to go and after every number i got more and more scared and nervous. I walked over to my skis, took off my snow pants, cleaned my goggles, tightened my boots, and took my jacket off. While whipping the jacket off my phone fell on the snow, i quickly grabbed it and turned it on to see if it was okay. The phone light up with the words 1 new message, the message was from my brother Derek. The text message was nothing more than " hey dude sorry i couldn't make it tonight , i know you will do good and get first place without a problem let me know what happens, later". just from one small text message my view on the subject completely changed, i was suddenly excited, pumped and extremely confident. I know it sounds kind of dumb that one text got me from so nervous I couldn't talk to so confident I knew I was going to win, i don't know what it was but i worked. My number was called and i inched my way to the starting gate, looked down the hill and without a worry, took off.

The message i learned that day was its the small things that count and how just one small simple thing could change your mood and how quickly your mood on something could change.