mollybakercover
Molly Baker is the kind of girl you want to meet. Not only is she one of the most talented and passionate female skiers in the world, but she's probably one of the nicest as well. Educated at Berkeley and shred-educated all over the West, she is the kind of person who makes you want to be a better person. SheJumps supporter since Day 1. This winter, she is interning at Skiing magazine, and just got her first cover shot in November's Backcountry mag (taken by fellow jumper Re Wikstrom). Congrats Molly!

How did you learn about SheJumps?
Living in Salt Lake City, an epicenter for wonderfully talented female athletes, I knew about SheJumps while it was in the process of obtaining 501(c)3 status. I have admired the concept and goals of SheJumps from day one. Thanks girls!
About Me:
Currently living in Boulder, I aspire to travel and ski for as long as it keeps me healthy, happy, and always aspiring towards a new goal.
Personal blog or website?
www.mollykbaker.wordpress.com
How do you jump? (aka: What activities do you participate in?)
Skiing, Yoga, Mtn Biking, Hiking, Camping, Canyoneering, Swimming, Sailing, Moutaineering, Soccer, Running
What level of jumper are you?
I am a pro-athelete or aspiring pro-athlete
Coolest place you've ever traveled and why?
Mt.Baker, Washington, because it changed my life.

Here is a little something Molly just wrote and sent to SheJumps after she tore some ligaments in her knee this fall. This girl gets after it and is, well, incredibly intelligent. Thanks for taking a jump, Molly--to be yourself and to write this and send it to us!

  It always seems to be in our best interest to know the future.  We think we control the pieces and determine the time and place of each move; of each decision.  We disregard that changes that are ultimately bringing us towards our fate and forget to acknowledge that the only choice that we have is to handle the present differently than we handled the past.  In this moment we are all different from what we were 1 millisecond or 10 years ago.  We don’t have to react in a way people will expect us too.  In truth, we must renounce our former selves.  In our present selves is where our strength and beauty exists.    

      Right now I am lying in a semi-dark room surrounded by four walls that I have stared at for the past five days.  My past self would be out running, biking, working, thinking about the upcoming winter.  My mind would be in a constant state of planning and weighing the odds of what would work out best for the winter season.  Should I work this job? Will I have enough money to pay for the season? Am I staying strong enough? Should I give this up? Am I ever going to be successful? What could I be doing better to achieve my goal? Now I have to ask myself if I wasted all of that time thinking about a future that I could not control. 

      All my ego knows is the past and who I was last season and the seasons before that one.  My memories of friends, accomplishments, happiness, and passion are tied up in the past and the past is all that my ego knows.  My ego is the only thing keeping me from my next adventure, my next greatest happiness.

      Even though my ego does not initiate change, I am capable of constant change because change is the source of life.  My purpose as an individual is not to become one person identified strongly with one aspect of life.  Community is a wonderful product of identification with a group or activity, but it is not worth sacrificing my capacity to change.  If I feel as if my energy was not becoming stagnant in skiing I will revisit this area of my life as a new, changed person.  My body will be different, my mind will think differently, my experience will not be the same. Change is my jump.  We do it every day at a cellular level, unconsciously letting our body do the work, unaware of how truly adaptive we are in every moment.  I am pulling change into the conscious realm and surfing it for whatever it is worth.