As most of you know, over the last 2 years I have become and avid rock climber. Let's be a bit more realistic and say and avid "indoor" rock climber, as I really haven't done much of the outdoor stuff up to this point. Anyway, I was reading one of my very old blogs from 2008, shortly after I graduated from undergrad, and the thought in that particular blog really stuck a cord with me.
In essence the message was this: that internal battles, those fought within yourself, are the most difficult and take the longest to win. In our daily lives we usually only get one chance to face our fear or to make the "right decision," if there is such a thing, but in climbing you get to make those choices every time you lay hand on to wall (or rock). Some days you may feel as if everything just works, just jives. Other days, not so much. You can do the exact same route 20 times get to the exact same point in the route and WHAMM! you are right back going toe to toe with that fear, faced with the same choice: go, fall, take. You can try the route 20, 30, 100 times and eventually that move that scared you or that clip that seems impossible, isn't any more.
So what changes? How does the fear lessen? I can't speak for every climber, or maybe even most. I can only speak for myself and to be honest the fear doesn't lessen or get defeated. The change is in you. You choose to see it differently, you choose to believe that this time you can make it. And when it does happen, you realize something on your way down...."I just did it! I didn't even have to think about it!" That's right, your emotional brain was put on pause and your analytical brain took over. No more can I, am I too tierd, whats the fall going to be like. No, none of that, just hold, foot, move, clip; hand, grab, toe hook, jump, grab, clip....
So what does this have to do with anything. If you look at climbing as a physical expression of everyday decisions then you can apply it to your life as a whole. Your analytical mind knows what has to be done and just does it when you can figure out where you left the remote so you can shut your emotional side up for a bit, just until you can get the task at hand done, with out all the that annoying background music. That isn't too say that emotional side is bad, it just means that sometimes we let our emotions get in the way and then we get in our own way. In the case of climbing (and other decisions for that matter), the emotional side is like that roommate or friend that , deep down inside you really love and are glad you have, but sometimes you wish you could just pretend they didn't existing. Climbing is a physical expression and mental challenge of facing tough decisions and learning to navigate through them. Learning how to take that emotional side and clam it down in the bathroom so that you can go back to the party and have some more fun.
And with all that said here are some, long over due, photos of my friends and I climbing outdoors. :)
In essence the message was this: that internal battles, those fought within yourself, are the most difficult and take the longest to win. In our daily lives we usually only get one chance to face our fear or to make the "right decision," if there is such a thing, but in climbing you get to make those choices every time you lay hand on to wall (or rock). Some days you may feel as if everything just works, just jives. Other days, not so much. You can do the exact same route 20 times get to the exact same point in the route and WHAMM! you are right back going toe to toe with that fear, faced with the same choice: go, fall, take. You can try the route 20, 30, 100 times and eventually that move that scared you or that clip that seems impossible, isn't any more.
So what changes? How does the fear lessen? I can't speak for every climber, or maybe even most. I can only speak for myself and to be honest the fear doesn't lessen or get defeated. The change is in you. You choose to see it differently, you choose to believe that this time you can make it. And when it does happen, you realize something on your way down...."I just did it! I didn't even have to think about it!" That's right, your emotional brain was put on pause and your analytical brain took over. No more can I, am I too tierd, whats the fall going to be like. No, none of that, just hold, foot, move, clip; hand, grab, toe hook, jump, grab, clip....
So what does this have to do with anything. If you look at climbing as a physical expression of everyday decisions then you can apply it to your life as a whole. Your analytical mind knows what has to be done and just does it when you can figure out where you left the remote so you can shut your emotional side up for a bit, just until you can get the task at hand done, with out all the that annoying background music. That isn't too say that emotional side is bad, it just means that sometimes we let our emotions get in the way and then we get in our own way. In the case of climbing (and other decisions for that matter), the emotional side is like that roommate or friend that , deep down inside you really love and are glad you have, but sometimes you wish you could just pretend they didn't existing. Climbing is a physical expression and mental challenge of facing tough decisions and learning to navigate through them. Learning how to take that emotional side and clam it down in the bathroom so that you can go back to the party and have some more fun.
And with all that said here are some, long over due, photos of my friends and I climbing outdoors. :)
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