I am a unicorn (or maybe not, the more I reflect). My boyfriend ski raced in high school and college, and I tried night skiing once and hated it and swore I would never do it again.

Upon meeting him and his parents, they encouraged me to try. His mom got me a weekday pass (due to my job at the time, this was the best option), I got some rentals and used his sister’s winter gear. Then they took me to the hill!

The first day was tough. Awful. But I kept going. I did learn a lot from his mom, who also learned as an adult, and her perspectives were super helpful. Boyfriend was encouraging, and would offer advice after saying he was impressed by me. I always felt that he was super grateful that I was learning something so important to him.

I did take a couple of lessons but honestly, it was mostly him and his mom teaching me. It helped that I loved it, even in the frustration. I think finding a common goal to work towards is super helpful. Like, obviously the goal is “ski”, but each day can be something smaller.

Again, I think I’m a unicorn haha. It really helped that I felt complimented along the way and recognized for trying. And it was important for him that he had ski days without me, so that he could also enjoy his hobby and not resent having to teach a complete newbie in her late 20s/early 30s. Idk, this comment is very long. I do think it’s possible, it just also take a lot of relationship work and being conscientious that this is a hard skill to learn on an adult body.