"Learning to Ski at 57 Helped Me Embrace Uncertainty"

Tackling something new-and terrifying was exactly what one freshly single midlifer needed.

- Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon

Taking up skiing at any age is challenging. But doing it at 57? When I signed up for a two-day intensive course at ski school in Switzerland, friends gasped, "At your age?!" I've always been more interested in après-ski than in the sport itself.

Lounging on mountain decks, hot chocolate by the fire, and most of all, the outfits! A Miami-dwelling fashionista like me could really cut a dash in the cute bobble hats and colorful, retro-style ski suits I'd been eyeing in the Free People catalog.

A few months earlier, I'd adopted a motto for my newly single life: "If not now, when? If not me, who?" So now that my work as a travel writer presented this opportunity, shouldn't I seize it? I've been a runner for 20 years and lifted weights regularly for the last 2, so I felt confident I wouldn't be the first in my class to fall.

More important, like many midlifers, I've been tempted to stick to the stuff I know I'm good at, for fear of looking foolish. But in a season of life often characterized by a cascade of endings-fertility, careers, the ability to read fine print, and my marriage among them-what a gift it could be to start something new, regardless of the risk for injury and almost certain embarrassment.

This is how I found myself in Mürren, a picturesque village (population: 428) in the Bernese Alps. Accessible by foot, bike, and cable car, from Lauterbrunnen or Stechelberg in the upper Lauterbrunnen Valley, the ski spot is far less "ski and be seen" than St. Moritz or Gstaad, and its residents are unpretentious.