Working from home has its benefits. Your commute goes from enduring the cold morning elements, to stepping over that ignored laundry pile and beelining it to the coffee pot. While working home has been an adjustment for all of us, the flexibility is something we should not take for granted.
Office lunch breaks consist of running errands, our buying your lunch. Work from home lunch breaks consist of going for a run, a bike ride, or enjoying the outdoors all summer long. As the weather starts to change and the temperatures drop, it is time to shift the outdoor focus to winter. Just because the weather is cold doesn’t mean we should stay inside. As Ned Stark once said, “Winter is coming!” Let’s prepare so we can celebrate instead of hibernate.
Local residents of the Collingwood/Blue Mountain area know that nothing is more than 15 minutes away. Pair that with an hour lunch break and fresh snow, or a sunny afternoon, and you’ve got the ideal lunch break. Did you know that downhill skiing can burn 360-450 calories per hour? As a long time employee of Blue Mountain, our sacred lunch laps can now be enjoyed by our community. I am not much of a sharer, but nothing breaks up a day of online video meetings like spending 30-40 minutes outside cruising from Southern Comfort over to the glades of the Orchard. It is honestly the best and my favourite. Wait! The Orchard is actually no fun. Now the North, on the otherhand! That is where you want to ski! 😉 It is groomed to perfection and you can get double the amount of laps in. Stay out of Mel’s Orchard (yes, I just claimed it as mine).
There is also the time honoured tradition of the pow day rule. If there is more than 6 inches of fresh snow, morning meetings are pushed so that first track laps can be enjoyed. The chairs start spinning at 8:30am which gives you around an hour before any respectable morning meeting should start. I’ll take fresh pow over fresh coffee ANY DAY. Bonus points if you have headphones. You can take part in those meetings as an active “sit on mute” participant. No judgement here! I’ve been an active muter for the past 5 months and it’s something I plan to continue doing especially on snowy mornings.
For those of you who have opted to keep the kids home, physical education is still a very important part of the curriculum. Skiing and snowboarding are amazing activities to embrace as they work the full body, improve balance, coordination and confidence. Consider spending 1 or 2 mornings on-hill for the best gym class you’ll ever sign up for. This not only gives you and your kids a fun activity together, but the chats on the chairlift are also sure to bring you closer and make your bonds stronger. If you don’t have the flexibility to spend that much time away from your desk, we plan to have midweek lesson programs available. Your kids will have fun while learning new skills and you’ll get a few hours of uninterrupted quiet time for maximum productivity.
As we continue to navigate the new normal, it is important that you have something in your life that can help release stress, bring enjoyment, and support mental health. Skiing and snowboarding check all those boxes and with the flexibility of the 5×7® you’ll be able to enjoy your time on the mountain.
