A Lesson from Climbing

I shared with you in my little video last week that I was going on a climbing trip with some friends to City of Rocks National Reserve. It's an incredible place with these big granite monoliths that just pop up all around you and, as you might guess, they are really fun to climb.

Now, I'm still newish to climbing so the method of climbing I generally participate in is called "top rope." This is where the rope is already secured at the top of the route and my belay partner is constantly pulling it tight as I climb, so if I fall anywhere along the route, I'm only falling a couple of inches.

You might wonder how the rope gets secured to the top. Well, that's where someone has to lead the climb. This person needs to be quite experienced because what they are doing is securing the rope to the wall as they climb it. This is usually done about every 5 feet - either to bolts that are already in the wall or to devices like cams and nuts that the climber places into cracks in the wall - but sometimes there can be 10-15 feet in between these secure points. Every time you secure the rope to the wall, you are ensuring that, if you fall, you'll only fall as far as that last secured point.

Needless to say, the idea of falling several feet can be scary. And I decided I wanted to lead a route on this trip. We found something definitely within my capabilities, but towards the top of the route, there was one of those sections where, if I screwed up, I was going to take a pretty big fall. My brain did that human brain thing where I started to flip through every possible thing that could go wrong. I subconsciously started to panic slightly, realizing the only way out was to keep going up (as is with life, generally speaking).

Thankfully, because of climbing practice and all the mental work I make a conscious effort to do on a daily basis (journaling, meditating, etc...), I was able to land on the only thought that would get me where I wanted to go - the top.

"Heide, you're scared of falling right now. But the best way to prevent that is not to think about all the bad things that might happen, but to focus all your energy on doing your best climbing possible. Focus."

I took a deep breath. I looked at the next best move I could make. And I climbed.

I can't tell you how good I felt when I got to the ground. Type II fun, it's often called. Fun that is hard but leaves you feeling even better in the end than fun that comes easily. Fun that does all the magical work with those chemicals in your brain, producing resilience, courage, self-efficacy, confidence, and joy.

When was the last time you challenged yourself?

I ask not to get you rock climbing. I ask because, in the several days since that climb, the lessons I learned through physically challenging myself in that way have found themselves popping up in multiple other areas of my life.

Just focus on what's in front of you and make the next best move you can make.

Maybe you're starting a business.

Maybe you're fighting an illness.

Maybe you have a challenging weight loss ahead of you.

Maybe you have mounds of debt to tackle.

The lessons you learn through challenging yourself physically can help you through most any challenge you face in life. That's why I always say it's about so much more than fitness. It's about using fitness to build a foundation so solid that, no matter what life throws your way, you'll feel confident in your ability to face it.