I hate to admit to this sad fact: I have only been riding a few times since being here. Why? Well, number 1: I work full time. Number 2: I've been sick. Number 3: I have really low confidence when it comes to my snowboarding ability.
I like to consider myself a risk taker, and one can probably see this from my riding style-- I take dramatic, 20 ft falls every time I go down. I'm not scared to get hurt and I'm not scared of taking speed to the limit. Unfortunately, I have no confidence when it comes to anything else. I think a lot of it has to do with my getting involved in the sport later on in life than most, along with it being primarily male-dominated. It's difficult as a female to try new things and fail, because (in my mind) people will presume that I am failing because I am a female, and "girls suck at snowboarding." At least this is what I think is making me feel this way.
Despite this fact, I really do love it. I love the feeling I get riding down the mountain, focusing solely on the physical sensation I have and how I will react to it. It's very similar to the feelings I used to get when I was a figure skater. There were very few things to think about while skating: sensation and technique, and how to bring those two together. While it can be very stressful to get frustrated over learning new things, at its core snowboarding is a very calming thing to do. I think I need to draw on that next time I'm out and stop worrying about failing and the embarrassment that comes along with it.
Get over and get on with it.