Nearing a crossroads in my life. I turn 29 this upcoming season and have been in the resort game since I was 17-18. While it's given me the best days of my life and it's easy to be like "don't worry about the money, you're living the dream", It just feels like you try to reinvent the wheel every season and "it'll be better for sure this year I'm sure" only to wind up with another shitshow. Also being broke sucks too, and having to work 2nd/3rd jobs on your days-off makes it kind of shit. The notion that these are just "for fun" jobs that only college kids, rich dudes, or retired folk get to enjoy without the stress of deciding between groceries or gas for work for the week gets old after a while. No disrespect to anyone because it can be fun, but it just doesn't pay the bills anymore and it makes me jaded as fuck.
Between poor management, greedy owners and GM's, and everything else in between, you really do start to wish that you could just go back to skiing on your time off for fun to really enjoy it and not feel like you have to prove yourself to others. I enjoyed helping people who were hurt on the ski hill but it also bums you out and I still think about some calls I've ran to this day. Coaching was fun as well but there's also bullshit behind the scenes that makes you upset and you can't do anything about it unless you want to keep your job. But then again, pass prices are outrageous and having access to free skiing is a huge benefit. But Idk if its worth it anymore.