Before my dad became a diplomat, he competed in international skiing competitions, representing France.

When going on family holidays, where I learned skiing, we always did what I thought were boring and unchallenging tracks. My dad was the one calling the shots.

I asked him: "Why are we not going off tracks or doing black slopes? How do you expect me to improve if we keep doing beginner to intermediate slopes?".

He did not listen to my childish nagging, nor did he want to explain himself. I assumed it was his holiday to enjoy, first and foremost. Considering he was the one paying for them, I understood the logic.

One day, my childish nagging got the best of him. He said he does not enjoy going off tracks or doing black slopes (I later learned there were other variables for him, such as the ski resort, the quality of the snow, and the season).

He also avoided saying, which I later learned, that he did not want to worry about my brother and me going on them in our younger years when it was just the three of us. In his younger days, he had to rescue careless skiers who thought they had what it took.

As I got older, I switched to snowboarding and went on to do what he would have preferred I not to do then. I was better at it than skiing.

Black slopes, Off-Tracks, Snow Parks... I fell on my ass many times before becoming proficient enough in them. I eventually returned to doing the blue and red slopes he was doing with us during our family holidays.

I then returned to him and said I thought I knew why he preferred our typical tracks beyond the reasons mentioned above.

I came up with something along these lines: "You require less concentration, and mistakes are less painful even though you become less likely to make them as you get better. The more challenging ones put you on edge so you don't lose yourself in the moment.”

Him being a man of few words, the closest recollection and translation of what he replied:

"The purpose of mastery is not mastery in itself. It is self-discovery. The purpose of a challenge is lost when you don't seek confirmation you can do it but whether it is worth doing it."

He also shared that he tried challenging slopes on odd occasions but rarely in new resorts when alone, out of curiosity to see if he still had it.

I have noticed that some of the wisdom my dad imparted to me can only be understood with experience to be adequately appreciated. It makes little sense to say this to a person too early in his journey. I don't count the number of his one-liners, which made total sense years later yet left me perplexed at the time, if not in complete denial.

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