Climbing Lessons

It is almost a year now since I started going to the climbing gym and the lessons learned so far are significant. Just wanted to share a few points that made a big impact on who I am and how I approach the situations with this newly acquired knowledge, which is not actually new but sometimes we need a good reminder

Lesson 1 - Not giving up until you really tried

I will start with this point because it made the greatest impression as it was a very obvious example that I observed one day during my training session. I was sitting down resting between my climbs when I noticed one guy trying to complete one route that required him to jump from a platform and grab a hold higher on the wall. I was watching his first 10 attempts which were nowhere close to reaching that grab, yet he still continued.

In my mind I was laughing at him and in my thoughts I was saying
“that’s enough man, you should find something else to do now instead of wasting your energy here”.

He still kept trying. Eventually I went on to do my thing where at a moment I glanced back just to see that the guy was already hanging on the grip he was aiming for. After few moments of reflection I went back to one of the routes on which I gave up very quickly. I was really determined to do it, and I did it, even though just moments ago it seemed completely impossible.

This event truly challenged the ideas I have in my mind about what is possible and what is not. Since that day I started noticing how far and wide I am actually living this idea of things being very hard or impossible where because of that idea most of the time I never really start anything. I mean why bother; I am never gonna make it. Now whenever I catch myself participating in such thoughts immediately in my mind I see this “poor” guy jumping, with absolute dedication, to reach something that is seemingly so far away.

Lesson 2 - Joining others or asking for some assistance

This was another great lesson of which I was aware and even though I have many times proven to myself of its effectiveness, still sometimes there is this tendency to become so stubborn that I miss this simple truth.
In climbing gym many routes that you have to climb are like a puzzle that you need to solve because there are many variations of how you use the grabs as well as many variations of how you position your body on each move. Almost on all occasions when I climbed together with somebody I achieved much better results, generally because it’s way easier to figure out most effective ways to do it, also there is the aspect of motivating each other or simply utilizing playful competition which is also a booster.

Here it’s not to say that climbing alone cannot be effective as well, it’s perfectly fine as long as the relationship with self is cool and you are not banging your head after each failed attempt or something like that.

When looking at other areas of life I see that many times I exhaust myself unnecessarily trying to figure something out by myself instead of asking for support when I am really stuck on some point. So in this case it’s useful to remember that there are other people in this world and as I am willing to assist another who is struggling perhaps they also would be glad to share their perspective.

Lesson 3 - Focusing on the process instead of the goal

By far the best days of climbing are those when I come to exercise without having any expectations, no need to achieve or reach new highs. That’s when I am present with each move that I make. It’s truly amazing experience and doesn’t happen very often. Now that I write about it looks that there are probably more dimensions involved than just the desire to achieve because, some days, I can honestly say I have to desire to have an amazing performance or any other noticeable obstructions in the mind and yet the climb is distracted and the presence of self on the wall is just missing. In any case I noticed that a conscious decision to be present with each move is very important.

There are many other lessons that I learned and keep learning almost every day which I am sure can be also learned in any other type of sport activity or any activity for that matter, as long as we are willing to be watchful and learn.